Wednesday 9 July 2014

Canadian Invention: The Electric Kettle

         No one knows who pioneered the first electric kettle, but we know for sure it is a Canadian original. Legend has it an unknown engineer in the steel stamping factory at Canadian Motor Lamp Company saw a headlight of a McLaughlin Buick and thought that, turned upside-down, would make a perfect receptacle for an electrical coil. From this concept, in 1940, the electric kettle was born. Fred Moffatt, an industrial designer at Canadian General Electric in Ontario, was given the task of improving the design and Moffatt's is the name we associate with the iconic "K42" kettle.

        One of Moffatt's improvements was to raise the handle away from the kettle's hot exterior, to avoid burned knuckles. Moffatt also improved the spout to prevent spillage.

        The kettle's dome was created by drawing a flat circular sheet of brass using a powerful hydraulic press. Over fourty separate parts were incorporated into the first model, including a steel base plate and Bakelite handle. The gleaming shine was achieved by a process using sixteen separate polishing steps.

   
     This amazing Canadian invention will be showcased at the Museum, so stop by and take a look!

      

2 comments:

  1. this is really a good information and good to know that kettle was originated from Canada

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grand salute to them for doing so. This is a life saving invention sometime.

    ReplyDelete

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