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This page is part of a website devoted to swing dancing and retro culture from the 1930s through the 1950s. You may be asking yourself, "Why do they have a special page about Westinghouse Roasters?" The answer is purely statistical --- we get more mail about the Roasters than any other collectible. Further, we keep finding pictures of the Roasters and their associated support devices -- they were beginning to swamp their former category, Kitchen Appliances. So, to aid you with your special requests, here are some navigational tools

• About the Westinghouse Roaster
• Roasting a Turkey
• Key Patents for the Westinghouse Roaster
• Parts for the Roaster
• Value of a Roaster
• The Timer
• Glassware for the Roaster
• The Griddle Attachment
• The Rotisserie Attachment
• The Ultra-Art Deco Roaster
• Roasters from our Readers
• Roasters in Color
• The Roaster and the Atomic Bomb
• Other Roaster Manufacturers
• Why are parts hard to find?
• About High Heat Paint
• Replacement Cords for the Roaster and Other Appliances as well
• Send us a picture of your Roaster!

In addition to roasters, we have a Calendar of Swing Dancing in DC, a Directory of Vintage Clothing Stores and a Guide to 1940s Collectibles. Thanks for tuning in! Feel free to Contact Me if you have questions or want to share photographs and appliance stories with the rest of the readers.

This page is part of a website devoted to swing dancing and retro culture from the 1930s through the 1950s. You may be asking yourself, "Why do they have a special page about Westinghouse Roasters?" The answer is purely statistical --- we get more mail about the Roasters than any other collectible. Further, we keep finding pictures of the Roasters and their associated support devices -- they were beginning to swamp their former category, Kitchen Appliances.

We suspect the reason that we get so much mail is that the Westinghouse Roaster is a supremely durable product. There are effectively no moving parts. The things were outrageously expensive in the 1950s and were built to last. They are so blindingly simple that it is very easy to keep them running indefinitely. The downside is that they also appear to be stunningly inefficient. My version uses 1320 watts --- use this for three hours at Thanksgiving and your utility company can also have Turkey (including Istanbul) ... [that's a joke... we get lots of letters from electrical engineers on that subject. Let's just say that the Westinghouse Roaster doesn't get an "Energy Star"...]

Wheel of Fortune/Appliances
Click to Enlarge

The Westinghouse Roaster is always included in period ads about the "ideal kitchen" -- as shown in the above photo. We have information about most of the other appliances on the "Wheel of Fortune" on out Kitchen Appliances Page, including the Pressure Cooker, the Fryryte, the C30 CoffeeMaster and the like.

        

Westinghouse Roaster Advertisements
(l. to r.) 1946, 1947, 1950, 1954
Click to Enlarge

Above are a few more ads for the Roaster from 1946-1954

Click here if you are looking for parts.

If you are seeking to get a valuation for your roaster, Check this source

If you have broken the glass in the lid: Only tempered glass will work. Go to a shop that specializes in glass and have a piece made to the specific size for the roaster; after the glass has been cut to size, the glass shop will temper it so that it may withstand the heat of cooking... this will be expensive...

With all its faults, I still love my Westinghouse Roaster. It occupies a proud place in my kitchen!

The Famous Westinghouse Roaster

June, 1999: This is a Westinghouse Roaster Oven and its associated Forgee (4G) stand/cart. This has a special memory for me. Early in the 1950s, my Mom and her sisters chipped in to buy one of these for my grandmother. As I recall, this must have been quite an expense because I can remember the comments my Dad made when he heard the amount. My guess is that this was more expensive than a TV set. I certainly remember Betty Furness touting the virtues of this appliance on TV. (I always wondered why my Mom didn't parade through the kitchen in an evening gown...)

Most families used this as an auxiliary oven, especially during the holidays. My personal memory is that the thing was used to make lasange for Sunday dinners (like about 25 people...). Also, on Christmas eve, the oven was used to keep Zeppole (sort of like doughnuts, but better) warm.

Thus, it was with a wave of nostalgia that I seized upon the opportunity to buy one of these remarkable devices. The fact that both pieces were only $5 (at a rescue mission in Winchester) served only to reinforce my decision.

Roasting the Turkey

At thanksgiving time, many of you may be wondering if you can cook a turkey in the Westinghous Roaster. The answer is DEFINITELY YES!

Roasting the Turkey
From the Westinghouse Roaster Manual

In Case, you can't read this, here is the text:

Clean and stuff turkey using favorite dressing recipe. Place turkey on rack in large inset pan. If an especially large turkey is to be roasted, it may be placed in the well of the roaster-oven on a flat shallow pan and the inset pan inverted over the well to form the cover. The small pin on either side of the well will hold the inset pan in place. To clean well after roasting, wipe with a damp cloth. Do not immerse oven-roaster in Water.

This marvelous gadget was designed in 1938 and changed very little. Knockoffs of this appliance (made in China, of course) are still being sold today in a form almost unchanged from 1938. From the beginning, Westinghouse envisioned a Roaster with a Griddle and Rotisserie attachment, as shown below.

        

Westinghouse Roaster Patents
Exterior Design Patent D115,168
Heating Mechanism and Controls Patent No. 2,156,215
Broiler-Griddle Patent No. 2,156,216
Rotisserie Patent No. 2,795,183
Click to enlarge

We had to go to a hot rod specialty store to find a special epoxy high heat gloss white paint to refinish the rusted exterior. However, the visit paid a bonus in that we were also able to find a matching grey color to refinish the bottom. The paint took five days to cure between coats. (NOTE: this is an insulated exterior wall -- see the note at the bottom about "High Heat" Paint, particularly if you are thinking about using this trick on a Stove Top)

We were successful in restoring the roaster to its original glory. We celebrated with Lasagne --- as I watched the electricity meter speed up into overdrive.

For those with interest in the technical details, here is the a photo of the manufacturer's nameplate:

Manufacturer's Data
Courtesy of Jamie and Alan Myers

Here is the Text

Roaster with the Indicator Light "ON"

The "Time Cooking Chart"
Courtesy of our friend Betty in Charlottesville, Va

  

We were forunate to find The Timer
(left) Knockout Panel for the Timer
(right) The Timer
Click to enlarge

One small note: the knobs that set the time are threaded and when they are turned to their maximum, they come loose. It is very rare to find a timer with all the knobs.

Thanks to Darwin, one of our reader, we now have a copy of the Timer Manual. He writes:

"... I like your site so much I thought I’d send you something to share with others: the Westinghouse Roaster timer clock manual for the model TC-81 timer clock. My sister loaned her vintage roaster to me for the Thanksgiving turkey and I became curious about it. Eventually, I came across your website for the Westinghouse Roasters and learned that her roaster and stand, model R0-541 was manufactured around 1950. And you know what? After 59 years, it will still roast a turkey with the best of them. ...

Here are the pages (out of order) for you to enlarge and print directly -- or you can Click Here to download a copy as a ".pdf".

        

The Clock Timer Manual
Pages are out of order...
Click to Enlarge

Equipment Inside the Roaster
Courtesy of Jamie and Alan Myers

Hall Baking Dishes for the Westinghouse Roaster
Click to enlarge

8-11-2000: Thanks to one of my WONDERFUL readers, I was able to obtain a copy of the Instruction Manual for the Roaster. The manual showed pictures of the original baking dishes that came with the roaster. While I was strolling throught an antique mall in Frederick, what should appear but the very same dishes with their very distinctive arch and letter "W" on the top. I was thrilled to add yet another touch to the restoration of the Roaster! They are shown in the last photo above.

Here are some more references about the Baking Dishes

• Hall China and the Roaster --- this site also has a fragment of the Manual

• check out this site on Hall China Ads
  

The Baking dishes are the rarest components of the Westinghouse Roaster, and hence the most valuable.

Here is a lovely 1958 Roaster sent in by Cassie. This is in especially good condition AND Cassie has the very rare griddle attachment -- and it looks like the griddle is in its original packaging. It also looks like Cassie has all the baking dishes.

She has "posed" her Roaster to show how the Lid Support works. When the roaster is in use, moisture condenses on the inside of the lid. If you need to stir the contents or add things, you would make a big puddle if you set the lid down. The lid support allows you to rest the lid (upside down) while you deal with the food.

Cathy's Roaster and Griddle


The Rare Griddle


The Griddle, Mounted for Use


Front, Original packaging for The Griddle


Obverse, Original packaging for The Griddle

During the 1940s and 1950s, manufacturers sold expensive appliances on the basis that they were a Good Investment --- that is, they could perform many functions and would last forever. The Westinghouse corporation was no exception -- over the years, they modified the roaster so that it was practically a stand-alone stove. Here is a wonderful example of one of these attachments, a Rotisserie. There are more radiant heating wires inside the hood; a bird or roast would rotate below these wires and cook, dripping fat into the pan below. This adds about another 800 watts to the power draw. This appliance was not designed for a society with an energy shortage...

        

The Rotisserie Attachment
(left to right)
Advertisement for the Rotisserie Attachment
Cart for the Rotisserie Attachment
Manuals for the Rotisserie and the Roaster
Click to enlarge
It could be used with the Roaster (left) or with a "Dummy" Well Pan (right)

We got this note from Scott Schaut, Curator of the Mansfield Memorial Museum (Mansfield was the site of the Westinghouse factory where the Roaster was made) Scott writes:

"... I commend you on your web site and the information that is available. One you your bolggers said that they lived close to Mansfield and was going to see what was at the library on Westinghouse. Unfortunately they hardly have anything. I have been collecting Mansfield factory items for the past 13 years. Between the Museum and my personal collections we have amassed a great deal of material on Tappan, Dominion Electric and of course Westinghouse.

"...I also bought with the file collection a Westinghouse Roaster. It is high deco with a black and silver stripped exterior and a beautiful silhouette of a woman. (I have never seen a woman and turkey on a platter on any other roaster) It also included the original cords and the broiler griddle and instruction manuals. It is called the Deluxe Adjust-O-Matic Roaster Grill. If you and your readers would be interested in photos and other material I can over time copy them and send them to you. I hope that you enjoy them. . ..."

     

  

  

  

The Ultra-Deco Roaster
(Click to enlarge

THANK YOU, SCOTT!!!

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1955 Model Westinghouse Roaster
Click to enlarge

November 9, 2001: Here is the 1955 model roaster. It is the same thing inside, but it has some color and three lights which show whether the thing is on and whether it has reached the desired temperature.

Here are some photos of a late 1950s Roaster and Forgee Stand that were sent to us by Randy, one of our readers from Oregon. Here's what he has to say:

Hi!
Just bought this westinghouse roaster at a garage sale near Portland Oregon. It was an end of the day special....$10.00 for the works! It seems to be in perfect shape, works like a dream (although the electric meter did whiz 'round at the speed of sound...
Anyway...just thought you might liketa see it. If you have any leads on an original manual, cookbooks, any accessories....I would love to hear from you!
Thanks and here's to roaster cookin'!

1958 Model Roaster and Stand

1958 Model Knockout for Timer

1958 Model Top

1958 Model Interior

Here is a VERY nice Roaster and Stand, dating (I believe) to the late 1940s, sent in by Beth. She writes:

"A few years ago I inherited a roaster from an elderly aunt who passed away. While seaching the web, I found your site and am taking you up on your request to send pictures of roasters! Do you have any idea what year this model is? It has the glass insert in the top of the lid. "

Beth's Roaster and Stand

Here are some photos of a roaster sent in by our readers Greg and Barb. They write:

We came across your site doing some research on Westinghouse roasters.  We purchased our roaster on July 21, 2006 at a garage sale for $25.00!  I am sending along several pictures of the roaster.  It came complete cabinet with a clock timer, the dishes (with the arched tops), the booklet with recipes, and the small booklet for the timer!  The timer is only missing one of the small knobs.  It is in immaculate condition!

Thanks for all the great information on the roasters!

Indeed, Greg and Barb got a FANTASTIC DEAL! This roaster is really in good condition.

 
Simply Beautiful!


The Timer


The Glassware

There is areason that the timer knob is missing --when you set the time back, you unscrew the knob. After a while, the knob becomes loose and falls off.

Our reader, Raul sent us these great pictures of his rotisserie set:

Front View


Left Side (Motor) View


Right Side View


Skewer and Cord

Our reader, John sent us these great pictures of his rotisserie set:

     

  

John's Rotisserie Set
Click to Enlarge

John writes:

"... I’ve enjoyed your site for years now and have admired the devoting to the Westinghouse Roaster. I’m a long time fan of the device and have two stunning examples that see regular use. I’ve attached several pictures of the uber rare Rotisserie attachment I recently acquired. I hope they make it to posting on your site. Little is seen about them anywhere. I plan on using it Sunday. The pictures were taken yesterday evening after a complete dismantling and thorough cleaning, tweaking and lubing ..."

John was the first "fan" on our new Facebook Raoaster page

---

Roasters in Color

The "Frosting Pink" Roaster

A reader sent us a picture of a Pink roaster from the 1950s. They were offered in a variety of colors -- Frosting Pink, Mint Aqua, and Lemon Yellow. I got this from Melinda:

"We were just looking for information about my grandfather's Westinghouse Roaster Oven and came upon your site. We knew the roaster has been in the family for years, but were wondering how old it was. The roasters were indeed Pink. My grandfather's has a broken handle, but it is still pink and gray, and otherwise looks great. Thanks for your site. "

Here's the cover page of the sales brochure for the colored roasters:

The Versatile Roaster in Designer Colors

Our reader Cynthia (from California) sent us these lovely photos of her yellow roaster. She says: "... I intend to fully use the roaster and all its accessories, not just look at them as vintage decorations ...."

  

Cynthia's Yellow Roaster
(click to enlarge)

Here is a lovely 1938 Roaster sent in by the newest addition to our "Roaster Roster", the celebrated 40s Phil of Indiana. This is the earliest roaster that I have seen and those red handles are just awesome! Roaster fans all over the world are drooling, Phil!

Phil's 1938 Roaster

Here is a photo from one of our readers who has THREE roasters!

This home really appreciates the Roaster!

Here is a Roaster owned by reader Russell. Here is the information on the base Plate:

Cat. No. RO-81 115 Volts 1320 Watts
Mansfield, Ohio
Made in the USA
Alternating Only
H154878

Russ wants some help in dating this Roaster. My best guess is that it is from the 1940s. Since appliances were not made during WWII, it is conceivable that this could have been designed in the 1930s.

     

Russell's 1940s Roaster
(click to enlarge)

Here is a nice letter from one of our readers who didn't realize what he had. He was about to throw away a fairly rare 1940s roaster that may even be older than the one Russ has.

He writes:

"... was really looking for the glass that was broken on thanksgiving day...Did not realize it was so old!We did do a 20 pound turkey in it , and was cleaning up when the glass fell out and broke into 1000 pieces.... Is it worth anything to anybody,or do I put it out for the trash ..."

     

A Rarer 1940s Roaster
Click to Enlarge

All he has to do is buy a less rare 1950s roaster and switch out the lid.

We got these photos from our reader Lisa. She'd like some help in placing a date on the Roaster.

  

A Rarer 1940s Roaster
Click to Enlarge

Here are my observations:

The Forgee stand is from a different era than the roaster. My guess is that the Roaster is from the late 1940s to the early 1950s based on the typography (slick) and the dial (not so slick). The stand (judging by the handle) is from an earlier period. You are lucky to have the timer!!

Please Contact Me if you can place a specific date on the roaster.

Parts for a Roaster were an integral part of the detonator mechanism for Fat Boy, the Nagasaki bomb.

Of course, that is not true... However, a reader sent us this photograph of an actual kitchen in the Luxury (?) apartments (Sundt Block) of the Los Alamos project (Site Y) in about 1944. We are told that the Army furnished the scientists with wood stoves. Note that the family has augmented its cooking capacity by adding a Roaster.

The Roaster at Site Y

If you would like to see more photos of day-to-day life of real people who worked on the Manhattan Project, check out the website of the Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association.

The General Electric Oven Roaster

Westinghouse wasn't the only company making roasters. Here's the cover of the instruction manual for the General Electric version.

Parts for the Roaster

Only "You Guys" would be interested in technical details...

In general, it is not possible to find parts for the Westinghouse Roaster, per se. On the other hand, you might try the Factory services Catalog for some items like cords and light bulbs. I have even seen replaccement cords that will work with the Roaster in Home Depot and Lowes stores. The T-43 indicator bulb may be found at Radio Shack. You might also want to check out Nelson Appliance Cords

Westinghouse was one of America's industrial powerhouses -- literally and figuratively. The company made thousands of useful products and employed many, many people in good, solid, stable jobs. Here is a photo of a gigantic monument to George Westinghouse that still stands in Schenley Park on the East Side of Pittsburgh. The monument shows "youth" (in the foreground) gazing across a large reflecting pool ("history") remembering the achievements of Mr. Westinghouse, listed in detail on the various panels. Indeed, these achievements are significant and worthy of admiration - the Air Brake, the Dynamo, Broadcast Radio, in short all the precursors of our modern society.

The Westinghouse Monument in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
There really was a time when Americans made something besides Hamburgers and Lawsuits

During the 1980's and 1990's, Westinghouse Electric Corporation sold all of its industrial assets and focused on its media businesses. In 1997, Westinghouse was renamed CBS Corporation and in 2000 merged with Viacom Inc. (a media company). Westinghouse is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. and licensor of the Westinghouse name for consumer products. In 1972, the historical Westinghouse small appliance business was sold to Scoville Manufacturing. Scoville went out of business in the 1980's. Today's Westinghouse appliances are made by Salton (phone 800-947-3745, e-mail salton@saltonusa.com). Needless to say, they are manufactured in far-off dictatorships where "Unions", "Benefits" and "Decent Life Style" are not words in the language. You provide the money while smirking MBAs conspire with foreign tyrants to reap the rewards. If the monument (above) were to be constructed today, "youth" would be shown burdened with debt and insecurity while being forced to gaze across a vast ocean to watch the antics of sybaritic foreign potentates as they are served by a cadre of shameless Americans who are willing to sell out the future for a BMW today.

Principally due to a large tax deduction, most of the Westinghouse corporate historical records were given to the George Westinghouse Museum, 325 Commerce Street, Wilmerding, PA 15148; phone: 412-823-5000; e-mail museum@georgewestinghouse.com; website http://www.georgewestinghouse.com/museum.html; or the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, 1212 Small Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222; phone 412-454-6000; e-mail hswp@hswp.org.

The paint which I used on the insulated sides of my roaster may be found at auto specialty stores Click Here for one source of the paint. This is gloss white auto engine paint which is good up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. It's about $6 a can plus about $4 in shipping. For a roaster, buy two cans "just in case". You must be VERY VERY careful in applying the paint. The surface must be cleaned several times with a high quality degreaser. Then it must be "etched" with an acid product. (Paint will NOT stick to a smooth porcelanized surface). Finally, the paint must be evenly sprayed on the surface in many small coats. Allow plenty of time for each coat to harden thoroughly before applying the next.

HOWEVER!

If you want to refinish a Stove Top, look in your yellow pages for auto repair paint shops. What you want is something called a "powder coat" which is used for all kinds of high heat or high corrosion situations. Hot rodders want their exhaust systems to be glossy colors, and many restorationists want the actual frame of the car to be totally impervious to rust. In this process, a powder is affixed to the metal and then baked on under high heat. This is almost the same thing as firing a clay pot with enamel, or the process used to make your stove top. This is STRICTLY NOT a do-it-yourself project and can be expensive because the materials are useless shortly after the can has been opened. You might find a fellow who is going to do a gloss white batch and maybe he will include your stovetop in the lot.

Restored stoves go for $1,500 - $3,000 because it is SOO difficult to refinish the porcelain.

Send us pictures of YOUR Westinghouse Roaster!

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