Happy Birthday to the Hand Mixer! Anybody Remember Using This Monstrosity?

Happy 157th birthday to the egg beater/hand mixer.  It was patented in 1857 by Ralph Collier, a Maryland tinner.

Long before the electric model came along, these were in use in the kitchens of America by Moms and Grandmas from coast to coast.  Funny thing  though I remember my Mom using one of these things in our 1950s kitchen and it was almost always accompanied by her gentle cussing.  The thing, to my memory, never worked right.  It stuck, she really had to put her biceps into it and the thing was a pain in the neck to use and to clean.

When the electric mixer became a commonplace item in the 1960s kitchen my Mom was thrilled to throw this old thing in the garbage can.

I found her old mixer in my garage the other day.  It was all rusted and beaten.  i showed it to our 16-year old and asked him what he thought it was used for.

He said "gardening?"