The Silex Coffee Maker & Turnover Toaster

Memories of early mornings during my pre-school years include an electric glass Silex coffeemaker situated near the middle of the table, close to the kitchen wall. Alongside it sat the turnover toaster. 

The coffee brewing in the Silex fascinated me then, and might even do so today. When I'd wake and come into the kitchen to sit at the table, water bubbled in the glass, bulb-shaped pot sitting in its curved, electric hot plate. On top of that sat another glass container that held the ground coffee. A filter kept the grounds from falling into the bottom part. The top container had a hollow tube reaching deep into the water heating in the pot below it. As the water reached the boiling point it rose, miraculously all by itself, up the tube into the top container where the coffee brewed. Soon the brewed coffee rushed back down into the bottom pot ready for Mom to remove the emptied top container and put the lid on the bottom, full pot of coffee.

I had a job to do that required quite a bit of concentration. Flip the bread slices in the turnover toaster.

The first side toasted, then, if you guessed right--that it was nicely browned--you quickly opened each side and the curved flanges at the base of the bread slices caused it to slide down to "turnover" the bread so that the untoasted side was now up. Then, close the toaster sides to toast the second side. Successful, guesswork timing yielded nicely toasted bread.

Mom added buttered toast (oleo) to a plate of bacon and a fried egg for me to eat. Even though I could cut the egg up for eating, I'd ask her to do it for me because when she did it each square stayed in place, just so. I've never been able to duplicate that. I liked seeing Mom's pretty presentation.

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