1950-1954 Archive
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Children's dental care, 1950
No tooth powder or toothpaste has been proved to keep your teeth or gums healthy. But in some cities, we report, dentists
are swabbing sodium fluoride on children's teeth. The treatments come at ages 3, 7, 10, and 13. Each treatment requires four
weekly visits to the dentist.
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Food mixers, 1950
Food mixers are put through a durability test. A mixture of crankcase lubricant and sawdust is used in the bowls instead of
food, and the mixers are run in regular cyles until they break down.
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Miniature electric fan, 1950
The Tom Thumb is advertised as a miniature electric fan you can carry in your pocket and hold in your hand to cool yourself.
We find that it's just what the ad says it is, except for that part about the cooling.
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Nylon shirts, 1950
Nylon shirts have been on the market less than a year--and still have a lot of bugs to be worked out. Of 11 staff volunteers
who wear the shirts for 20 days, 7 conclude that they wouldn't buy nylon shirts at any price.
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Record changers, 1950
The world of records has become complicated: three speeds, three diameters, two groove widths, and two center-hole sizes.
But we've found a new record changer, the Webster, that can accommodate any of these formats and play a stack of 10 or 12
records. But it's not completely automatic. With 45-rpm records, it plays the last record endlessly.
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Steam irons, 1951
During tests to measure the life of steam irons, a Silex iron is judged Not Acceptable. The thermostat failed to function,
and the soleplate melted in two different test samples.
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Citrus juices, 1951
Our titration test determines the vitamin C content of frozen concentrates. All the reconstituted juices would supply the
minimum adult daily requirement in a four-ounce glass.
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Plastic dishes, 1951
The scale measures how much pressure is exerted by the knife to cut various foods on the plastic plate. Using an average of
four pounds of pressure exerted by a knife on a plastic plate resulted in scratches on all plates in this test.
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Shower curtains, 1951
Metal grommets from plastic shower curtains are soaked in soap and detergent to test for corrosion and durability of the curtains.
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Automatic toasters, 1952
"The Toast-O-Lator has a unique design with a conveyor to move bread between two heating units, and to dump out the finished
toast--sometimes too violently."
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Electric dishwashers, 1952
The best models wash most dishes clean enough to please even a very fastidious consumer. But not all the tested dishwashers
do a generally satisfactory job.
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Home freezers, 1952
"The advent of the home freezer appears to be bringing about what amounts to a revolution in the housekeeping habits of American
families who own them." We have some concerns about the Kelvinator FR-63, though. It's hard to reach items in the bottom,
and the lid can slam down on your hand.
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Sunglasses, 1952
We test 38 brands -- and find 23 of them Not Acceptable.
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Diapers, 1954
We cut a sample from each diaper and subject it to the strenuous action of our "Accelerotor," which quickly duplicates the
effect of many washings.
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Electric blankets, 1954
Inside a temperature- and humidity-controlled test room, an electric blanket is measured for heat. The changes in temperature
in the blanket are recorded by the machine at the far right.
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Vacuum cleaners, 1954
Vacuum cleaners' suction ability is tested by forcing air through the vacuum cylinder as the tester reads the measuring gauge.
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