Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Oldest working electric hairdryer: British hairdryer set world record PAIGNTON, Devon, UK--An 80-year-old electric hairdryer, made by aSiemensbranch in Britain, remains in perfect working order and, according to its owner, retired insurance company director John Wilcox, it has never broken down or even needed a service
, setting the world record for theOldest working electric hairdryer
.
Weighing a hefty 2lb the dryer's only controls are on/off and hot/cold. It came with a Bakelite carry-case ? now slightly cracked ? complete with a vanity mirror.
The brown Bakelite item's only concession to technological advances has been a new plug ? and only then because its original round-pin type became obsolete.
Though Siemens is a German firm, according to the engineering history website Grace's Guide, it established Siemens Electric Lamps and Supplies Ltd in Britain in 1931 to manufacture domestic appliances such as this dryer.
Mr Wilcox, 83, from Paignton, Devon, recalls watching his mother Florrie use it at the family home in Birmingham, 70 years ago.
Portraits of Florrie, spanning five decades, show her sporting a variety of hairstyles.
His wife Kay, 73, who is a hairstylist, says the portraits indicate when the machine arrived in the household.
They progress from an unfettered look in her teens to a more structured cut. 'Having an electric hairdryer in the Thirties was still a luxury for women,' said Mrs Wilcox.
The Guinness world record for the oldest steam engine in working order was set by the Smethwick Engine. Designed by James Watt and built by the Birmingham Canal Company (UK) in 1779 at a cost of £2,000 the pump worked on the locks at Smethwick, West Midlands, UK, until 1891.
Guinness World Records also recognized the Oldest computer mouse, invented by Douglas Engelbart (USA) in 1964.
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