The latest Oobject gallery is full of streamlined "World of Tomorrow" gadgets and vehicles, including this "Streamliner" meat slicer from 1942. I bet that sucker still works. On the right, an air compressor manufacturer by American company "Spray-It" in the '40s.
24 sky captain gadgets & vehicles [Oobject]
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I've always thought art-deco streamlined objects were cool. Great find!
Oooh, so bitchin'! That spray compressor looks like a high speed train ready to take flight.
I've got a streamliner, post-war Craftsman Circular Saw that looks like they mounted a Cadillac fender as the blade guard.
State of the art in its day, I couldn't imagine hefting the 20 lb beast all day on the jobsite, but damn, it's cool - who would have thought that a saw would cry out for its own Electra swept-wing hood ornament.
http://grouchosuave.wordpress.com/
Beauty from a more...civilized age.
Also remember: Rounded internal corners are much easier to keep clean. Rounded external corners are much less prone to damage. Form follows function...
The Hispano Suiza looks as though it were designed by Boccioni.
Every day I use a Sunbeam T-20 toaster built in 1942... it's never been serviced, and has pretty much been used every single day for the last 65 years. They sure don't make 'em like they used to.
BTW: The Sunbeam T-20 embodies what people in the 40's envisioned the future to be like.. Everything is streamlined, there are no levers, you just put your toast in, a weight-switch triggers a slow autoloading mechanism, a thermal sensor detects the doneness of the toast, and smoothly ejects it when it's ready.
Theo has it right, much easier to clean. It's a shame they don't make more consumer goods with metal instead of the plastic that tends to dominate. A case of "it's a bargain at twice the price (since it will last 4 times as long)"