MODERN GADGETS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 143, 30 March 1948, Page 6

MODERN GADGETS

WIDE RANGE FOR U.S. HOUSEWIFE

America’s modern housewife, whose home daily grows more like a railway signal box, will soon spend as much time operating gadgets as her grandmother spent in house work. Gadgets range from practical items to Heath Robinson-like devices which seem merely to do simple things in complex fashion. Among the more useful items available in 1948'are:

A liquefier with knives whirling at such high speed that vegetables, meats and nuts are quickly turned into paste or liquids. Latest craze: almond juice. A stove in which fr&en foods taken from a locker are cooked literally from the inside out by high-frequency waves in 15 seconds.

A garbage disposal unit built into the kitchen sink. A cutter chops up all refuse, including bones, grinds it finely. It is washed away by turning on the tap. An automatic dishwasher that eliminates a loathed chore. Dishes are placed in a receptacle and the housewife’s job ends when she closes the lid. This act turns on the hot water, brings an electric motor into action to whirl the dishes, lets out the water, dries the dislffis, shuts itself off when the job is done. An automatic clothes drier which delivers clothes cleaned, dried and ready to go to the automatic circular ironer. * - * Foot-operated taps, like those used by surgeons, to avoid hand contamination. Infra-red lamps that sterilise the air, provide a head therapy unit, or can be used to defrost refrigerators. Among items which tend to turn the home into a machine-room are: Slot machines installed by companies in the kitchen which, for a stipulated coin, deliver food from frozen vegetables to tinned goods, even butter and milk. An aerator which fits on a tap to provide “spring-like, splashless water.” Venetian blinds which operate with a flick of a switch. Slot machines in the bedroom. These deliver clean underwear, nylon stockings, shirts and the like. No coin is needed —they operate when the housewife dials an appropriate number. Assuming there is no space for the installation of further machinery in the home, round the corner is the local slot machine store. The housewife pops in a coin and obtains: Soft drinks mixed to desired flavours. Hamburgers, cheese dishes, sandwiches, all cooked electronically within 10 seconds. Coffee with a pre-selected amount of cream and sugar.

Tooth brushes, toothpaste, magazines, books, pens, pencils—virtually anything sold by a big chain store. Most ingenious time-saver, the brain child of one company, is: A bathroom, divided into four sections, to permit multiple use by members of a family, in privacy.