Electric Egg Cookers

The earliest electric egg cooker we know of was manufactured by Hankscraft Company of Madison, Wisconsin with a patent date of 1916.

Vintage Electric Egg Cookers can, hard boil, soft boil & poach an egg and do it consistently every time . These electric egg cookers do not boil the egg, they steam them with a small amount of water.

See tables below for Sunbeam, Hankscraft & other manufacturer models with information about them.

We use a vintage Sunbeam 1940's electric egg cooker, model E and it has never had a problem. We have used the earliest Hankscraft egg cookers and they work fine, but we prefer the Sunbeam models. Use distilled water in your egg cooker and you will not have the residue left by tap water.

There is a product called an egg coddler. The egg coddler cooks the egg after the shell has been removed from the egg. For more information on egg coddlers go to http://www.egg-coddlers.com/.

As we learn more about the other manufacturers of vintage electric egg cookers, we will expand on these cookers.

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Model	Circa.	Information
E	1943 -	First Sunbeam automatic electric egg cooker - aluminum lid with bakelite knob - cast aluminum base with bakelite trim & tear drop On/Off lever - egg piercer inside lid - comes with 6 egg steaming tray & a 3 egg cast aluminum poaching tray Click Here: to see the components of a complete unit
E1	1951 -	same style/design as model "E" - has a plastic measurer on top of lid as lid handle - tear drop On/Off lever
E2	1954 -	same style/design as model "E" - has a plastic measurer on top of lid as lid handle - new style On/Off switch
E2A	1957 -	same style/design as model "E" - has a bakelite knob for handle - new style On/Off switch
E3-B3	1965 -	new style & design - cast aluminum cooker with plastic base & handles - dark brown plastic cover top that has markings inside for water amounts to cook; "Very Soft", "Soft", "Poach" or "Medium" & Notice the "Hard" boiled water level line is inside the cooker bottom - comes with a 8 egg steaming tray with egg piercer & a 4 egg brown aluminum poaching tray with Teflon coating or white plastic tray
EP3	1964 -	same style/design as model "E3-B3" - The shipping box markings indicate it is a model "EP3", but the egg cooker has "E3-B3" on the base unit - clear glass poaching tray
EP4	1967 -	same style/design as model "E3-B3" - The shipping box markings indicate it is a model "EP4", but the egg cooker has "E3-B3" on the base unit - poaching tray is clear glass
23-10	1976 -	same style/design as model "E3-B3" - only noticeable difference is that the poaching tray is white plastic
23-1A	1970's	new design & all plastic - light plastic cover top with markings inside - comes with a 8 egg steaming tray with egg piercer & a 4 egg poaching tray

These vintage Sunbeam egg cookers are designed to cook your eggs to a hard boiled condition in under 13 minutes using less than a 1/3 cup of water. Depending on how you like your eggs soft, medium or hard cooked, place water as needed in the base unit, pierce the large end of the eggs, place the eggs on the tray, place the lid on the base, turn on by operating the On/Off lever or switch on the front of the unit to the ON position.

There is a heating element in the base unit that turns the water to steam. When the water inside the unit is steamed away, the base unit heats up and a heat sensitive metal contact, trips the electric switch and turns the cooker switch to the OFF position (with a loud click on the earlier models).

The lid is used to measure the amount of water needed to cook your eggs with markings of soft, medium or hard.

1) Models with plastic lids seem to leave an odor in the air while the cooker is active.

3) Eggs stick to poaching trays even when using butter or Crisco, unless the trays are Teflon coated or Glass ( later models).

4) There are several variations of the model E3-B3 egg cooker with different poaching trays and brown or white cover tops.

5) Always use distilled water to keep the inside of the cooker from getting water stains.

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Model	Circa.	Information
no model #	1916 -	This is the earliest model. The base is made of ceramic with decorations around its edges, the egg holder is stainless, the lid is stainless with a ceramic knob on top, the ceramic knob has a cup with a hole in it to pour the measured amount of water into the unit, these units do not have a switch to turn on or off , instructions are on the units bottom - 4 steamed eggs & no poaching option on this model
599	1920 -	This model is the first known model number and is the same style as above - instructions & model # on units bottom.
730-B		new cosmetic design not plain like earlier models - base & lid are ceramic & water placed into the base unit before the lid is placed on base - no on or off switch - unit is plugged into an electric outlet after water is placed in base unit. (Mfg. in Madison, Wis) There are matching egg cups for this model with the same design as the cooker unit (egg cups have "740" on bottom)
794
794-B	1936 -	original style and shape - the base is made of ceramic - the lid is made of aluminum - water is added to this model before the lid is placed on the base unit & power applied - there is no poached egg holder on this model (Mfg. in Madison, Wis.)
815		original style and shape - the base is made of ceramic - the lid is made of aluminum, the lid knob does not have the cup built in for pouring water - water is added to this model before the lid is placed on the base unit & power applied - there is no poached egg holder on this model (Mfg. in Toronto, Canada or Madison, Wis.)
815-A		same as 815 (Mfg. in Reedsburg, Wisconsin)
874		original style & shape - first model with instructions for poaching egg in a poaching dish ( Mfg. in Toronto, Canada)
874A		same as 874 ( Mfg. in Reedsburg, Wisconsin )
947		original style & shape - 5 1/2" across - base made of ceramic - clear glass lid & clear glass poaching dish - model was also available with the egg cups shown
300 & 301	1958 -	new style - 8" across x 6" high - lid made of sheet aluminum - base is molded plastic with aluminum trim - 6 steamed egg holder & 4 poached egg holder made of aluminum - has a aluminum cooking disk
302	1960's

The Hankscraft egg cookers are designed to turn "ON" when water is placed inside the base unit. There is a heater coil in the base unit and no ON/OFF switch, the water touching the two electric contacts that complete the circuit to turn on the heater coil. When the water is steamed away, the heater circuit is opened and the heater turns off. There is a slight hum while the eggs are being steamed/cooked.

On early models after the lid is placed on the base unit, water is poured in the cup on top of the lid, which holds the water and has a hole for the water to pass into the cooker. The unit can be plugged into an outlet at anytime, but should be unplugged while not in use.

On later models, water is added before the lid is placed on the base and before the power cord is plugged into an electric outlet. The amount of water will determine the cooking time of the egg. See the information on the base of the cooker for how many tea spoons of water to use.

The Hankscraft egg cooker should not be plugged into an electrical outlet unless the unit is in use!

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Some of these egg cookers shown on the table below are electric and others are not

Mfg.	Model	Circa.	Information
Dormeyer	6700	1950's	electric - 800 watt - "The Electric Hurri Hot Cup" - 5 1/4" D x 7" H - has (3) settings for warm, hot or boil - can be used to heat water or boil eggs by placing up to 3 eggs in the egg holder that comes with the unit - cord is detachable
Tetfoam	Egg-Alarm	1950's	manual - "Egg-Alarm" - this aluminum formed egg holder is placed in a 3 qt. sauce pan & water added to levels shown on side of unit - Note: tried the unit using the instructions, but took to long and did not sound as instruction indicated after 30 min

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