Drinks mixers

There's nothing like a warming drink after a hard day's digging or shopping.

Long before the invention of blenders,  brand-promoting hot drinks manufacturers produced a variety of gadgets to ensure that consumers enjoyed the product lump-free and at its best.

First off the block was Bournvita Cocoa who produced a little spiral whisk. (They also produced a little aluminium measuring spoon which you can find here.)

Horlicks and Ovaltine introduced family-sized pottery jugs with tin plungers for beating out the lumps. These were eventually replaced by glass measures for single portions, although Ovaltine introduced a plastic one for a short time.

Other kitchen utensil manufacturers produced lidded jugs where you could just - with a lot of luck - blend the drink by shaking: No more so than the patent Quickmix in its Bakerlite tiered, cup shape.

The earlier version of our hand blender was a little sixties battery-operated blender called the Rand Liquid Mixer.

Pyrex, seeing another use for their heat resistent glass, also introduced a one pint atomic-style colourful mixer with a lid.