Toastmaster Strite 3 slice

Brand: Toastmaster | Style: Popup | Decade: 1910s | Year: 1919

Right rear quarter. Just look at those windows, how cool, right?

You can see just how beefy the top plate is.

The front controls. You can see that mine has a broken handle, but it's still perfect to me :)

The clockwork internals. The cloth covered wiring is really cleverly routed through the case.

Ever see a toaster with the appliance cable of a dishwasher?

This is such a special toaster. So Charles Strite is this manufacturing worker in Stillwater Minesota. He notices constantly burnt toast and starts to realize a solution to the problem. He started working on toasters that would send the toast through the top of a solid case. Initially, he started producing this beast. The 1919 “Strite Toastmaster”. It was marketed as an industrial appliance for restaurants. The learnings from this early model were transferred to the Toastmaster 1A1, the first consumer available popup toaster.

This toaster uses cast aluminum top and bottom shell casings, robust (however usually age worn) clockwork internals, micah windows, and 4(!!!!) heating elements. Just get a load of this cord, this thing means bisuness!

One of these toasters were the first toaster I ever worked on with my Dad. Very good memories :)