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| Russell Hobbs K2 kettle | |
 Russell Hobbs pioneered the automatic electric kettle in 1950s Great Britain. Much safer than previous electric kettles, as it could be left unattended without the risk of it boiling dry and overheating.Click here to buy a replacement Russell Hobbs K2 kettle element. |
Before this kettle was introduced in 1955, boiling water by electricity could be a hazardous affair. Not only did some early electric kettles boil the water by making it live, if the kettle was not switched off in time, it could boil dry, which at best would wreck the kettle, and at worst could cause a fire. Later on, manufacturers introduced a variety of fail-safe methods to prevent this from happening. some kettles had replaceable fuses, whilst others had spring-loaded ejectors. These too could be hazardous, especially if the ejector propelled the kettle lead into the sink... This situation carried on until the 1950s, some time after toasters and irons had been automated with their heat controls. The kettle that changed all this was the 1956 Russell Hobbs K1. At the rear of the appliance was a bimetallic strip, and when water boiled, steam was forced through an aperture in the lid to the strip, which knocked the switch off. It was simple but ingenious, and the standard K1 lasted until | |
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1960, when it was replaced by the very similar K2. This is the machine on this page, an early example with a two-pin lead socket, earthed against the rim. Naturally, the automatic Russell Hobbs proved a great success, and the K2 remained in production until the late 1970s. Even today, a quarter of a century after it was replaced by the more contemporary looking K3, examples of the K1 and K2 can be found in regular domestic use, proving it not only to be a highly popular design, but a most durable one as well.