The Antique Toaster that's Better than Yours

Technology Connections
11 HN recommenders · recommended in 11 months, 2019–2026
YouTube
3.4M views · 7 years ago · explainer · evergreen

Technology Connections' Alec Watson examines a 1960s Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster and explains how it works. It senses the bread's browning, lowers and raises the bread automatically, and does all of this with analog mechanical parts and no electronics.

HN holds it up as an example of elegant, user-friendly product design, and a toaster that does more than modern ones with no chips.

“In case you haven't seen this video of a toaster from the 60s before, you're in for a treat”
Industrial designDesign of everyday things
#productdesign#toaster#analogmechanisms#vintageappliances#userexperience

24 comments from Hacker News

t
@tpoacher2025 · in “The hidden cost of AI coding”
A related thought, just leaving this here. There's something great about old technology (though obviously one must be aware of survivorship bias when citing such technology), despite the fact that, logically speaking, new technology should have obviously been better. Perhaps it's some variant of Jevons' paradox. The better / more efficient things get, the more of an impetus there is to use them in truly crappy ways. And this is how I'm starting to feel about programming with vs without an AI: you can either program manually to create truly creative, functional, elegant stuff, or use AI to produce garbage more efficiently. There just doesn't seem to be an in-between category, at least in terms of demand. In case you haven't seen this video of a toaster from the 60s before, you're in for a treat: ▶ this video I'm also reminded of Edsger Dijkstra's quote on elegance: link
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w
@wumms2024 · in “How a car cigarette lighter works, in CT scans”
> You might think such a system would involve a thermostat, a microcontroller, and an actuator, but this design [...] has bimetallic arms with steel on the outer surface and copper on the inner surface. As the filament heats up, the arms warm up, causing the copper to expand faster than the steel. This expansion pushes the arms open, releasing the lighter. The coil spring then causes the handle to pop out, signaling that the lighter is ready. Maybe I am in a picky mood, but for me the intro made it sound like all three items (thermostat, microcontroller, actuator) would not be necessary, though of course only the microprocessor is missing from the design (thermostat -> bimetallic arms, actuator -> spring). Mandatory link to another marvel in the same problem space (I found the 19min video worth the time): "An Antique Toaster That's Better Than Today’s [video]" ▶ this video link [2019, 386 points|5 years ago|232 comments]
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m
@mikewarot2023 · in “Ask HN: Something that you learnt and made you go Wow”
They used to make damned clever toasters, like the Sunbeam Automatic toaster... it was freaking amazing. My dad had one with sales display board, etc... he was super proud of it. Here's a nice video about them.[1] [1] ▶ this video
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s
@shagie2023 · in “A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now”
One of the YouTube channels that I watch from time to time is a guy who is ranting/passionate about technology. The Antique Toaster that's Better than Yours - ▶ this video and How to design an actually good toaster with lessons from the 1940's - link It's not a fridge... but similar design thoughts. There is a recent video about a fridge... This goofy fridge has a really clever design. It's also kinda terrible. - link
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L
@LuckyLineWife132022 · in “Ask HN: What are some of your favorite YouTube channels?”
Technology Connections! They are all great, but the ‘toaster’ is my current fave! ▶ this video
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t
@thatguy09002022 · in “Most Expensive vs. Cheapest Toaster”
▶ this video a interesting video on a similar subject, a antique mechanical toaster that works better than many modern ones
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e
@eurleif2021 · in “Ask HN: What Toaster Are You Using?”
I don't own a vintage Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster, but this video made me want one: ▶ this video
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C
@CRConrad2021 · in “The global chip shortage is starting to have consequences”
YouTuber Technology Connections was featured in the recent discussion on diswashing machines and detergents. He's done a video on a lovely ancient toaster, too: ▶ this video Fully automatic brownness selection, and hands-free insertion and pop-up -- all without any electronic chips at all.
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m
@modeless2021 · in “Overnight Pizza and the Consistent Unreliability of Expert Guidelines”
The reason is that old toaster designs had unpolarized plugs and therefore a good chance of uninsulated live wires inside, even when off. Modern toasters don't anymore, but folk wisdom lasts forever. Although you make a good point that if your outlet polarity is reversed, you might still have a problem. I don't know if modern designs are robust to that... I learned this from a video about old Sunbeam toasters that was unexpectedly fascinating: ▶ this video
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c
@chiph2019 · in “How to Make Toast: Electrical Engineering vs. Computer Science (2001)”
But then how could you make toast when you're not home, like at a conference, or driving in your car? /s This is a pretty cool toaster: ▶ this video
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a
@adfm2019 · in “Smart Toaster Can’t Hold a Candle to the Apollo Computer”
The Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster predates both and seems worth mentioning here for it’s superior user experience and unique analog technology. Technology Connections produced a fantastic teardown video of it a while back. ▶ this video
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i
@inhumantsar2026 · in “Introducing Toast 1”
"the perfect slice, every time" is a solved problem: ▶ this video butter application is still unsolved AFAIK, though I'm sure there's a robotics company out there hard at work on it.
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