| West
Bend Cookware
The West Bend Company began producing top quality household items in 1911. Seven men formed this company in an old button factory located on the west bend of the Milwaukee River in West Bend, Wisconsin, USA. Together with 14 employees they began to produce pie plates, pans, ladles, and cups. In a strategic move to combine the strengths of the two great companies, Regal Ware, Inc. of Kewaskum, Wisconsin, acquired West Bend in 2002.
Today, West Bend Cookware, a division of Regal Ware, Inc., is among the top small appliance manufacturers in the United States, and its West Bend® brands are known internationally for their quality. West Bend Cookware's production facilities continue to be headquartered in West Bend, Wisconsin. Waterless cookware has been a strong part of West Bend Cookware's history and is a good example of true innovation. In the 1920s, West Bend introduced its famous "waterless cooker", a large pot with inset pans designed to cook an entire meal over one burner. The lid of the cooker was fitted with clamps that prevented the escape of steam during cooking, enabling meals to be cooked without the addition of water. Advertising for the cooker illustrated the convenience, healthfulness and economy of waterless cooking. The new product was marketed coast-to-coast and world-wide. The "waterless cooker" evolved into cookware sets which adapted the cooking method to sauce pans, skillets, and roasters. During the 1920s, The West Bend Company was granted exclusive rights to the trade name "waterless cooker" and held patents for its detachable cover. The success of the product allowed the company to continue expansion. Company histories state that the success of the "Waterless Cooker" allowed the company to remain open during the Great Depression while still making a profit, and permitted the introduction of a successful new line of copper giftware in the fall of 1932 which included beverage sets, ashtrays, serving trays, lamps and mugs. |
