Even the phrase Old Fashioned Popcorn Machine has something about it that makes the mouth water in anticipation. It’s interesting these vintage machines did the same thing contemporary popcorn machine do but there’s a certain charm about them that was getting lost along the way.
This may explain why some businesses such as theaters and nightclubs are going back to the older machines. In simple terms nostalgia is known to have rich flavor associated with it and that’s hard to resist. Besides the nostalgia factor a popcorn machine only has one purpose and all the gimmicks designed to liven up the popping process just get in the way.
There were two types of machines from the vintage era or that could otherwise be called old fashioned. The first is powered by electricity and the second is powered by natural gas.
An old-fashioned electric popcorn machine works on a very basic principle. A person adds the ingredients in the proper openings, one for the seeds and one for the oil. In some machines the ingredients are added by opening a pair of glass doors that access the hopper. In other machines there are oil ports and the seeds are added separately. Then an on-off switch that is most often located on the side of the machine is flipped on. This triggers the electrical current that heats the coils and in a matter of minutes the oil reaches the popping temperature.
These electric machines were manufactured in lots beginning the 1920’s and through the 1950’s and the first designs featured wheels that made it easy to get the machine on and off the delivery truck. The wheels soon became a standard feature that was accented with brass axles and shiny hubcaps to compliment the ornate design of the machine itself. These machines were extremely popular in theater lobbies and meeting halls across the country. The designs of the electric machines ranged from basic to elaborate depending on the extravagance of the buyer which in many cases was a theater owner.
Occasionally public venues such as movie theaters and meeting halls used natural gas popcorn machine but not very often. An electric machine could be moved out of the way and reconnected for a short time, then moved back depending on the situation. A natural gas machine on the other hand required a steel pipe sub out and these were usually not favorable in lobbies and other public halls.
The benefit of natural gas as a heat source is the hopper heated much quicker than that of an electric machine. As a result the gas powered popcorn machines were most often used in situations where frills and flashy designs were secondary to simply having a lot of popcorn on hand. Some were installed behind the concession counter in theater lobbies and remain to this day.
By definition an Old Fashioned Popcorn Machine would be any machine that didn’t have an automatic function of any kind. When the supply of fresh popcorn became low it was time for someone to grab the seed and oil and load it up again. Then eveyone could watch the process with that special anticipation.
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