Those Happy Waffle House Days

QUESTION: One of the happiest memories I have from when I was a kid were the Sundays spent at the local Waffle House. My dad took Mom and us kids there after church on most Sundays. If I close my eyes, I can still smell their delicious aroma, smothered in melted butter and warm maple syrup. It’s been a while since I visited a Waffle House—there aren’t too many around anymore. Today, I use a shiny stainless steel and chrome electric waffle iron when I want to indulge. But it’s just not the same. Recently, as I was browsing through an antique coop. I noticed a pile of old, neglected waffle irons. Now I’d like to know more about them. When did the waffle originate? Who invented the first waffle iron? Who came up with the idea to electrify them?

ANSWER: Reading about your waffle memories makes me want to go make one. To me, waffles have always been a treat, especially if smothered in fresh strawberries, syrup, and whipped cream.   

The origin of waffles is highly debated. Some historians believe the earliest waffle irons originated in the Netherlands in the 14th century. These consisted of two hinged iron plates connected to two long, wooden handles. The plates often imprinted elaborate patterns on the waffle, including coat of arms, landscapes, or religious symbols. The waffles would then be baked over the hearth fire. Though blacksmiths made waffle irons back then, historians are unsure whether they or their customers created the designs imprinted on the waffles.

In fact, waffles can be traced back to ancient Greece, when Athenians cooked obelios—flat cakes between two metal plate—over burning embers. The word waffle evolved from wafer, one of the only foods early Catholics could eat during fasting periods because they contained no milk, eggs, or animal fats. Monks were the only ones making these wafers until the late 12th century, when peasant bakers began making their own flour and water waffles, although some started adding eggs and honey to make them lighter and sweeter. 

Eventually, waffle iron makers molded the plates with religious symbols and the familiar honeycomb pattern, which was supposed to represent interlocking crosses. In 1270, bakers founded a special guild to train the street vendors who sold waffles. 

To use a traditional waffle iron, a baker poured batter between the plates then held it  over a wood fire to bake the batter poured between them, one side at a time. Knowing when to turn the iron took skill learned by trial and error since these early waffle irons had no temperature controls.

The Pilgrims discovered waffles while seeking asylum in Holland before sailing to America and brought them across the Atlantic in 1620. Later, Dutch immigrants popularized the waffle in New Amsterdam.

But the waffle wouldn’t achieve nationwide appeal in America until Thomas Jefferson brought a waffle iron back from France in the 1790s as a souvenir. He had his cook make and serve them at the White House, which helped popularize "waffle parties." 

It wasn’t until 1869 that Cornelius Swarthout patented the first waffle iron in the U.S.. What made his waffle iron unique was that he joined the cast iron plates by a hinge that swiveled in a cast-iron collar.

Soon after the invention of electricity came the electric waffle iron. Lucas D. Sneeringer eventually designed the first electric heating elements that used a built-in thermostat to prevent overheating, a common pro with early versions. With his revolutionary design and General Electric funding, the first electric waffle iron rolled off the assembly line on July 26, 1911. 

While the first electric waffle iron did the job—the process of making waffles this way is a relatively simple one—it didn’t look very pretty. So designers began to make the exterior of their waffle irons more attractive. Other innovations, like an iron that could cook two waffles at the same time, soon followed.  Charles M. Cole invented the first twin waffle iron in 1926, but it wasn’t until 1939 when Karl Ratliff designed the "Twin-O-Matic" for the New York World's fair that it really caught on with the public.

By the time the New York World’s Fair rolled around, Art Deco design had influenced everything from dishes to utensils and small appliances. Some waffle irons, like the Hotpoint Waffle Iron by Edison General Electric, became works of art in themselves. Some resembled flying saucers, having lost their legs and taking on a lower, sleeker look. One of these was General Electric’s Diana, designed by August Propernick. Toastmaster and Sunbeam soon got in on the act and began producing their own electric waffle irons.

Because of the "teeth and gaps" of the waffle mold or "iron", considerably more of the surface area is heated and caramelized relative to the "pancake" -- thus, the waffle has more taste and a crispness that enables it to serve as a support for other foods. Even though the waffle makers have changed over the centuries, the basic waffle recipe----a blend of flour, milk, eggs, and oil—hasn’t. In the mid-1930s, brothers Frank, Tony and Sam Dorsa created a dry waffle batter that only required users to add milk. 

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Inauguration Mementos

 

QUESTION: One of my father’s most cherished possessions is a silver presidential inaugural medal produced for the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961. I wasn’t born until 1966, so I don’t know much about the Kennedy years. What can you tell me about the inaugural medals and this one in particular?

ANSWER: Of all the presidential inaugural medals, the one produced for John F. Kennedy’s inauguration is one of the most popular, and depending on its condition, the highest priced. But the tradition of producing a commemorative medal for a presidential inaugural is a long and often complicated one. Ironically, it didn’t begin with George Washington but with Thomas Jefferson.

President Jefferson received the first unofficial inaugural medal produced by German engraver John Mathias Reich in 1802. Reich asked Jefferson to hire him to design an inauguration medal. After examination of his sample works, Reich got the job. The silver medal sold for $4.25 and a tin version for $1.25.

The presidential inaugural medals became popular souvenirs for the attendees at the inaugurations for Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James Polk, and Zachary Taylor. Since there was no standard medal, historians have uncovered medals in various sizes, qualities, and different metals.

When the government decided it could no longer afford the inaugural celebrations at the turn of the 20th century, Washington D.C. residents took it upon themselves to raise all the funding for inaugural festivities. One way to raise funds was through the sale of official presidential inaugural medals. Instead of various presidential medals being produced for tourist consumption, they decided to have the official Inauguration Committee produce and sell an official inaugural medal to the public.

In 1901, William McKinley received the first official presidential inaugural medal—it had his portrait stamped on one side and the Capitol building on the other. Surrounding the Capitol building are the words, "William McKinley President of the United States/Theodore Roosevelt Vice-President." Instead of being produced by the United States Mint as were previous the medals, the McKinley medal was produced by the Joseph K. Davison Company of Philadelphia, which produced three gold medals for the President, Vice President, and President of the Official Inauguration Committee for Medals and Badges. Committee members received silver medals while the bronze medals were sold to the public, originating a tradition that’s still followed today.

But President Theodore Roosevelt decided that the previous medal produced for McKinley wasn’t sufficient for him. He wanted his medal to go beyond a simple portrait. Roosevelt turned to renowned sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design a superior inauguration medal for his election. One side displayed a distinguished portrait of Roosevelt and the other side held a high-relief eagle---the same eagle that later adorned the $10 coins produced by the U.S. Treasury.

Roosevelt's artistic design continues to influence presidential inaugural medals today. Following Roosevelt's presidency, the Chairmen for the Committee on Medals and Badges purposely chose an artist to design the inaugural medal. But time constraints and the limitations of producing the medals always affected the final results. Consequently, various degrees of artistic medals have been produced, from the less ornate Woodrow Wilson medals with his portrait on one side and his name and Vice President's Riley Marshall's name on the other, to the more elaborate John F. Kennedy medal that has his portrait on one side and a high relief of the Presidential Seal on the reverse.

Compared to previous inaugural medals, the number of medals produced and sold for Harry Truman’s inaugural totaled 7,500. This allowed the Inaugural Committee to not only raise enough funds to pay for the inaugural ball, gala, and parade, but to amass a sizable profit. By President Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1952, the number of inaugural medals produced had climbed to over 26,000.

The inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961 was met with great enthusiasm. Mrs. Kennedy suggested Paul Manship be contracted to design the medal. Again, the Medallic Art Company was contracted to strike the medals that would be produced in gold, silver and bronze. As part of the promotional campaign, the firm also designed six-piece sets to show the process in which the medals were made. It produced 7,500 silver medals, all of which sold.

The number of medals produced by the Franklin Mint for the second inauguration of President Richard Nixon reached 106,000 in bronze and 20,000 in silver. And by the time of President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1997, the Inaugural Committee had chosen the T.V. sales program “QVC” to sell them.

The production of inaugural medals now follows a set procedure. The sculptor first has the President-elect sit for a clay sketch. Then the artist turns the sketch into a mask to which he adds facial features. He then transforms the mask into a plaster model, followed by an epoxy cast which can be used to create the die cuts used for striking the medals. After the medals had been created, they’re immersed in chemicals to darken them, creating a two-toned effect. The medals finally receive a coating of  lacquer to preserve them.

Traditionally, the Inaugural Committee presents the gold medals as gifts to the newly sworn in President and Vice-President at the luncheon following the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol.

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Periodicals of the Times

QUESTION: I have some old almanacs dating from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Can you tell me if these have any value, and if so, where might I sell them?

ANSWER: Unfortunately, just because something is old doesn’t make it valuable. This especially applies to old books and periodicals. Of course, different people have varied reasons for purchasing old periodicals such as these. Before we talk about their possible value, let’s take a look at how this type of printed matter got started.

During the Colonial period of the United States, people got their news from small one-sheet flyers and four-page newspapers. During the 1750s and 1760s, these often appeared only once a week, but as the population grew and towns developed, the daily newspaper came into existence. Printing technology also improved, allowing small publishers to print larger numbers of their papers.  Some of these early almanacs had a political bent. Such was the case for Porcupine’s Political Sensor, a short-lived monthly periodical succeeded by the daily newspaper The Porcupline’s Gazette, both published in Philadelphia by William Cobbett.

The Porcupine’s Gazette ran for 770 issues. Cobbett, the prolific, controversial and often contradictory, and anti-authoritarian writer, wrote under the pen-name of "Peter Porcupine." In 1796, a few years after he arrived in the United States, he began a monthly periodical called the Porcupine’s Political Censor, which he used to poke fun at his political opponents, usually those supporting a pro-French or Jeffersonian- Republican sentiment. Cobbett published his Censor until March 1797, when he replaced it with the Porcupine's Gazette. The first issue appeared on March 4, 1797, the day of John Adams’ inauguration. It had a subscription base of about 1,000 readers, which more than doubled within a few months. By November 1797, Cobbett was printing 3,000 copies a day.

Cobbett used the newspaper to support the Federalist party and to strike out against the French and their American supporters during the period of increased tensions between the United States and France. His contentious articles thrived in the politically charged atmosphere, though Cobbett often found himself on the receiving end of libel suits. He filled his newspaper with articles on national and local politics, foreign policy, news from Europe, and economics. Today, issues of the Gazette provide a rich source of information on daily life in Federal Philadelphia, with each issue containing commercial ads and notices, reports of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia, local prices for goods, advertisements for schools and doctors, and much more.

Another form of printed matter was the almanac. These were smaller in size and usually had a number of pages. They were the first periodicals and usually appeared less frequently, often just once a year. They contained articles of interest to the rural society, including information about the weather and farming techniques, plus some local stories.  A good example of this type of periodical was The Burlington Almanack, published by Isaac Collins.

Collins was a printer, publisher, bookseller and merchant in Colonial New Jersey. He’s most noted for this New Jersey Gazette and New Jersey Almanack, which followed his original one, The Burlington Almanack, a periodical for west-central New Jersey that ran from 1770 to 1777.

He was a firm believer in the freedom of the press and had even refused to reveal his source of a pseudonymous article even though the New Jersey legislative council demanded it.  He stood on his grounds as a faithful guardian of the liberty of the press and would not reveal his source unless the source gave him permission. He wrote many persuasive articles on the principle of freedom of the press

The Port Folio was another political periodical, published by Joseph Dennie,  an American author and journalist who was one of the foremost men of letters of the Federalist Era. He originally wrote for various periodicals in Massachusetts but in 1800 moved to Philadelphia to found the Port Folio, along with Philadelphia bookseller Asbury Dickens. Writing under the pseudonym Oliver Oldschool, Esq., Dennie composed and published in 1803 a scathing attack on Jeffersonian democracy, for which he was brought up on charges of seditious libel.

The last of your periodicals is The American Magazine, first published in the fall of 1757 and only running for 12 issues and a supplement.

While all of these periodicals are historically important, their condition is rather poor. Even more so than with other antiques, the condition of books and other printed matter is very important. Collectors seek out those in the very best condition. But that doesn’t say that no one would be interested in your items. All of them contain a wealth of information about life and culture, as well as the political climate, of the time. Historians and writers working on historical novels and history books would find their contents invaluable.

Selling your periodicals will be challenge, however. It will take a very special person to buy them and finding that person may be difficult.

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Better to See You With My Dear

QUESTION: While recently going through some boxes in my attic, I discovered a pair of old spectacles that seem to be in rather good condition. Are these collectible?

ANSWER: While most people might just give these away or sell them at a yard sale, you should definitely hang on to these, as they’re very collectible.

Lots of people wear eyeglasses. With the advent of contact lenses, some don’t even show it. But these devices, first invented to magnify text, have become as ubiquitous as cell phones in today’s society.

Church sales and thrift shops often get plastic bags filled with old eye glasses, as people either get new ones or contact lenses. Today, eye glasses are not only a seeing aid but also a fashion accessory. And, what about the spectacles you found in an old family trunk and sold at your last yard sale? Believe it or not, just like other out-of-fashion accessories, those glasses are collectible.

Spectacles have been around since the late Middle Ages when wealthy people in Italy and China wore them. Another early form of sunglasses were goggles, first created by the Eskimos to protect their eyes from snow glare.

The use of eyeglasses grew by the 18th century as their technology improved. They became fashionable when famous Americans began wearing them. Everybody is familiar with the paintings of Benjamin Franklin wearing the bifocals that he invented. Franklin created the first bifocals in the 1760's while living in London.

Thomas Jefferson created the first oblong lenses for his reading glasses to increase his field of vision. Before that glass lenses were round or oval. Later, President Theodore Roosevelt started a fashion trend when he first wore pince-nez glasses—those held on a person’s face by a spring on the nose.


While women didn't wear glasses in public in 18th century America, one woman advertised in 1753, that she “grinds all sorts of Optic Glasses to the greatest perfection." Known in her ad only as "the widow Balthasar Sommer on Pot Baker's Hill,'' she became the earliest recorded American eye glasses maker. But it wasn’t until after the American Revolution that people recorded eye glasses as made in America.

By the early 19th century, glasses adjusted over the ears to fit the entire family. A device called a “Temple" slid back and forth. As with earlier versions, their sole purpose was to magnify.

Eye glass makers used gold and silver for early frames, mostly because they were the most common workable metals available. So a pair of glasses wasn’t cheap. If you think you have old ones, check the hallmark to learn date, country and maker.

Don't pass up examples in brass or steel. They could be 18th or 19th century. In this plastic age, look for authentic tortoise shell frames. Don't limit yourself to 19th and early  20th-century glasses. Remember, they’ve always been made in the fashion of their day.

The 1970's were a great time for unique styles. An example would be the tinted sunglasses designed by artist Peter Max, along with his Pop Art design cases. And don’t forget the outsize sunglasses in the Jackie Kennedy Onassis style. Celebrity styles with funky frame, like the ones worn by Elton John and John Lennon’s small,   round, black-rimmed ones, also debuted in the 1970's. Never mind that the frames are plastic. Like other 1970's objects, they’re also collectible.

If you wish to collect eye wear and related objects, you can build a collection of not only pairs of eyeglasses showing a variety of frames and clear and tinted lenses, but also  opticians' trade signs, related documents, and paintings of people wearing glasses. In most cases, you’ll find many eye glasses for sale for a song at flea markets, church and garage sales.

The First Lawn Chair

QUESTION: We’ve had a Windsor chair in our family as far back as I can remember. I believe it belonged to my great-great grandmother. Today, I use it as a chair at my computer desk. What can you tell me about this chair?

ANSWER: You have a standard bow-back Windsor chair, the kind found in just about every upper class household in Colonial America. While most people consider them delicate antiques, they’re quite sturdy and have many uses.

Today, the ubiquitous white modeled plastic patio chair appears on decks and patios throughout the world. It’s a serviceable chair, easily stacked and stored. But this isn’t the first chair of its kind. In fact, the lowly Windsor chair holds that honor.

One of the most graceful and usable of all traditional chairs, the Windsor is also the most successful piece of furniture in American history. Its origins, however, are English, dating back to the turned and joined stools of 16th-Century England. The name probably derives from Windsor, where a prolific chairmaker  produced and sold the chairs in the 18th Century. He sent them down the Thames River to London where people referred to them as coming "up from Windsor."

Wheelwrights rather than cabinetmakers made Windsor chairs in England. They remained farmhouse or tavern furniture for a long time. But here in America, homeowners embraced the Windsor as a sort of all-around chair. They could be stored in a hallway and brought into any room that needed more seating when guests arrived. They could be easily carried. And they could be brought outdoors to provide seating on the lawn on hot summer days. Even the most prominent members of Colonial communities used them. George Washington seated his guests on the East portico of Mount Vernon in 30 Windsor chairs.

As a piece of furniture, the Windsor holds historical significance. Thomas Jefferson sat in a bow-back. writing-arm Windsor while composing the first draft of the Declaration of Independence in late June of 1776. And when Benjamin Franklin and other members of the Continental Congress voted to secede from the mother country on , July 1, 1776 in Independence Hall, they sat in bow-back Windsors.

There are eight different kinds of American Windsors, including the low-back, or Philadelphia Windsor, named for the city where a craftsman constructed the first Windsor in the colonies, the comb-back, fan-back, bow-back, loop-back, arch-back or New England armchair, rod-back, and arrow-back. Each had its distinct use. Windsor makers socketed all parts together except for the shaped arms of the fan-back, arrow-back, and rod-back chairs. On these, they doweled the inner ends of the arms or screwed them to the back uprights.

Windsor makers preferred pine, whitewood, and basswood for seats, hickory or ash for spindles, maple. yellow birch, or beech for turned legs. stretchers, and supports, and hickory, oak, ash, or beech for hoops. bows, or combs. And because of this, makers gave their Windsors several coats of dark green paint. In the 19th century, small factory workshops produced Windsors of pine and maple. And even to this day, craftsmen still use the same time-tested techniques for constructing reproduction Windsors.

The most common form of Windsor is the bow-back with its elliptical seat and seven tapered spindles that pierce a semi-circular arm rail and bowed top rail.

I Scream, You Scream...We All Scream for Ice Cream

QUESTION: I have an old pewter or white metal cylinder form which stands about 8 inches tall and has three parts: a decorative molded top in the shape of a bunch of fruit, a long tube center that’s ribbed on the inside, and a screw-on base that supposedly belonged to my great-grandmother. Can you tell me what it is?

ANSWER: What you have is what’s known as a banquet ice cream mold, topped by a sculpted bunch of fruit with leaves. This type of mold, made of pewter, dates from the early 1900's and would have been used for parties or holiday gatherings.

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, often combined with fruits or other flavors. It’s origins can be traced back to at least the 4th century B.C.E. when people living in the Persia (in today’s Iraq and Iran) would place snow in a bowl and pour grape juice concentrate over it, inventing what has come to be known as the snow cone.

During the first century A.D. , Roman Emperor Nero had ice brought from the mountains and topped it with fruit. But it wasn’t until the reign of China's King Tang in the 7th century that the idea of icy milk concoctions became popular, a idea that would ultimately become fashionable in European royal courts.

Arabs were perhaps the first to use milk as a major ingredient in the production of ice cream. They sweetened it with sugar rather than fruit juices, and came up with ways to produce it commercially. By the 10th century, ice cream had spread to Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus. Makers used milk or cream, plus some yogurt, and flavored it with dried fruits and nuts.

Charles I of England so loved his "frozen snow" that he offered his ice cream maker a lifetime pension in return for keeping the formula secret. But it was the Quaker colonists who first introduced ice cream to America in 1772. During colonial times, confectioners sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities and some of the founding fathers, including George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson regularly ate and served ice cream. First Lady Dolley Madison served it at her husband's Inaugural Ball in 1813.

In 1843, the U.S. Government granted Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia a patent for a small-scale hand-cranked ice cream freezer. Eventually, the creation of the ice cream soda by Robert Green in 1874 added ice cream's popularity.

Decorative molds, enhancing ice cream's presentation at the table, appeared at fancy parties in the late 19th century, a tradition borrowed from British molded puddings. The most notable of the American mold firms were Eppelsheimer & Co., Krauss Co. and Schall & Co. However, the first ones came from European makers. Makers used pewter, white metal or tin to create a variety of forms ranging from animal, human and bird figures to floral, architectural, and holiday-oriented themes that came in various sizes.
                               
Joseph Micelli, Sr., one of the country’s premier mold makers, sculpted them with remarkable details of animals, people, flowers, fruit and even vegetables for the Eppelsheimer & Co. of New York. Their molds have E & Co NY and the mold’s catalog number stamped on the bottom.
 
The molds produced by Krauss Company, also of New York, are distinguishable by their integrated mold hinges rather than soldered hinges. 

Ice cream molds are now highly collectible. The barrel banquet mold in question above sells for around $250, but smaller ones in the shape of individual bananas, pears, peaches, and other fruit and flowers sell for $30 to $70. From the outside, these molds often look plain, but inside they include minute details. While the barrel mold was meant to be unscrewed and lifted off, most ice cream molds, as with their chocolate counterparts, have hinges that allow them to be broken open to release the creamy confection.

What's Cookin'?

QUESTION: My great-grandmother died recently and my husband and I now have the task of disposing of her monstrous, cast-iron kitchen stove, which we understand belonged to her mother. Is it worth moving the stove to our place or should we just call a junk dealer to remove it?

ANSWER: Depending on the ultimate condition of your great-grandmother’s stove, you may find that it’s worth far more than you imagine. You have two options: Clean it up, restore it, and use it in some way in your house or sell it. Either way, there are a few things you need to know about old kitchen stoves before you decide.

Colonial life centered around giant smoking, inefficient fireplaces. The walk-in Colonial hearth dominated the most important room in the house—the kitchen. Housewives or their servants continually added fuel to the cooking fires throughout the day. After supper, cooks kept the fading embers alive until the following morning, when they began the daily routine of stoking, feeding, and cooking once again.

During the 1790s, a Massachusetts-born physicist named Benjamin Thompson (aka Count Rumford) discovered how inefficient these fireplaces were and set out to invent a better solution. The Rumford stove had shallower fireplaces and a more streamlined chimney that forced out smoke but not heat. It featured one fire source that could heat several cooking pots and enabled the cook to regulate the heat individually for each pot. It was more of a fireplace insert than a stove and required modification of the huge hearths. These became  status symbol among the wealthy. Even Thomas Jefferson had several installed at Monticello.The downside about the Rumford stove was that it was meant for large kitchens.

Foundries began producing small wood-burning kitchen stoves, complete with ovens, in the early 19th century. Forty years later, makers produced full-sized kitchen stoves by the thousands. The size of kitchen stoves increased the manufacturers offered such options as warming ovens, extra surface burners, shelves, water reservoirs, and decorative panels of enamel or porcelain.

Historians refer to this style of six-and ten-plate wood-burning, box stove as a laundry stove because housewives or servants could place wash kettles on the flat, top surface. Some laundry stoves, such as the one invented by J.T. Davy, featured hooks for six flat irons around the belly of the stove. These, plus a putting one on the loading plate, enabled the laundress to heat seven irons at once.

British inventor, James Sharp patented the first successful gas stove in 1826. During the 1910s, gas stoves appeared with enamel coatings that made the stoves easier to clean. Most households had gas stoves with enclosed ovens by the 1920s. However, the slow installation of gas lines to most households delayed the progress of gas stoves. By World War I, the new gas stoves permanently replaced fireplaces for cooking.

If you’re planning on selling your great-grandmother’s stove, check the porcelain areas carefully. While you can easily clean it with a strong kitchen degreaser, you cannot replace any part that is badly cracked or missing. The only thing you can do in that case is to paint the damaged area with white or colored porcelain repair paint. But this only works on small areas.

Monumental monstrosities like your great-grandmother’s kitchen stove, are some of the most sought-after antiques. They helped raise and bake bread and simmered soup for hours on cold winter days. Today, the old time kitchen stove has come to symbolize the concept of "home."   

Waffling Around

QUESTION: I recently purchased an old electric waffle iron at a garage sale. Are these things collectible and can I still use it?

ANSWER: Mmmmmmm. Just the mention of waffles reminds me of the smell of them baking on a cold Sunday morning, then smothered in butter and warm maple syrup, and perhaps topped with strawberries and whipped cream. But I digress...

Depending on the age of your electric waffle iron, it has the potential to be collectible. Small appliances like this are just coming into their own as collectibles. However, if you plan to use it, you had better have the appliance checked out and the wire replaced with a higher-voltage cord by a certified appliance repair dealer. Once that’s done and the waffle iron cleaned up, you should be able to enjoy delicious old-time waffles whenever you like.

Before the waffle iron became electrified, the making of waffles had an interesting history. Traditional waffle irons consisted of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern, which the maker held over a wood fire to bake the batter poured between them, one side at a time. Knowing when to turn the iron took skill learned by trial and error since these early waffle irons had no temperature controls.

Some historians believe the waffle dates back to ancient Greece, when Athenians baked obelios—flat cakes held between two metal plates—over hot coals. The word waffle evolved from wafer, one of the only foods early Catholics could eat during fasting periods because they contained no milk, eggs, or animal fats. Monks were the only ones making these wafers until the late 12th century, when lay bakeries began making a tastier version which they called waffles.

Eventually, waffle iron makers molded the plates with religious symbols and the familiar honeycomb pattern, which was supposed to represent interlocking crosses. In 1270, an special guild to train the street vendors who sold waffles came into existence.

Peasants soon began making their own flour and water waffles, although some started adding eggs and honey to make them lighter and sweeter. Even Geoffrey Chaucer mentions waffles in his Canterbury Tales: "He sent her sweetened wine and well-spiced ale/ And waffles piping hot out of the fire."

Waffles became a staple of the Dutch diet by the 1620s and early immigrants brought them to New Amsterdam, eventually to become New York..

But the waffle wouldn’t achieve nationwide appeal until Thomas Jefferson brought a waffle iron back from France in the 1790s as a souvenir. He had his cook make and serve them at the White House, which helped popularize "waffle parties."

It wasn’t until 1869 that Cornelius Swarthout patented the first waffle iron in the U.S.. What made his waffle iron unique was that he joined the cast iron plates by a hinge that swiveled in a cast-iron collar.

Soon after the invention of electricity came the electric waffle iron. Lucas D. Sneeringer eventually designed the first electric heating elements that used a built-in thermostat to prevent overheating, a common problem with early versions. With his revolutionary design and General Electric funding, the first electric waffle iron rolled off the assembly line on July 26, 1911.

While the first electric waffle iron did the job—the process of making waffles this way is a relatively simple one—it didn’t look very pretty. So designers set about making the exterior of the waffle iron more attractive. Other innovations, like an iron that could cook two waffles at the same time, soon followed.  Charles M. Cole invented the first twin waffle iron in 1926, but it wasn’t until 1939 when Karl Ratliff designed the "Twin-O-Matic" for the New York World's fair that it really caught on with the public.

By the time the New York World’s Fair rolled around, Art Deco design had influenced everything from dishes to utensils and small appliances. Some waffle irons, like the Hotpoint waffle iron by Edison General Electric, became works of art in themselves. Some resembled flying saucers, having lost their legs and taking on a lower, sleeker look. One of these was General Electric’s Diana, designed by August Propernick. Toastmaster and Sunbeam soon got in on the act and began producing their own electric waffle irons.

It’s said that in the Midwest, the waffle iron holds a special place in marriages. It seems that the nuptials aren’t complete until a  relative gives a waffle iron to the happy couple. As long as the waffle iron remains intact and in use at least once a year, the marriage will prosper. If the couple neglects the waffle iron or lets it fall into disrepair, then so will same happen to their marriage.