Veg-O-Mat Juice Extractor

At first I thought that was some sort of industrial machine, the sort of thing you'd find in a factory, or on a construction site. Then I read the label and realized it was "just" a juicer, the Veg-O-Mat juice extractor.

An advertisement from the February 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics declared "A New Industry is born! Veg-O-Mat extracts delicious vegetable juices containing all minerals, vitamins. Highly recommended by physicians."

Electric juice extractors were all the rage during the 1930s. Other brand names included Sunkist Jr. and Dormeyer. Sunkist introduced their first juice extractor in 1921, partly as an effort to increase the sales of oranges (hand-squeezing oranges at soda fountains was too laborious).

The Veg-O-Mat was marketed for home use. A pair of photographs in the March 1939 issue of Popular Science illustrated its use.

Although the brand name wasn't given, this is clearly the Veg-O-Mat.

A second illustration from Popular Science, showing the celery being fed in the top and coming out the bottom into a cloth bag.

An advertisement in the Madison Health Messenger, from about 1940 (reprinted in History of Seventh-day Adventist Work with Soyfoods, Vegetarianism...) extolled the virtues of the electric gadget:

No more laborious hand-grinding--no more dribbles of juice and waste of good fruit and vegetables. The Veg-O-Mat puts an end to the unsanitary, wasteful, and tedious old methods of juice extraction by hand. The Veg-O-Mat, a midget in size but a giant in power, comes in one compact unit which is easy to clean and economical to use. It employs the most advanced process of juice extraction, it thoroughly triturates every cell and fibre of the vegetable, and then subjects the pulp to a pressure of many tons. This insures that the juice will contain the most valuable minerals and vitamins, those found only in the interior of the fibre. Guaranteed for one year; 8 inches by 14 inches; has a capacity of sixteen to twenty pints per hour.

Here's another, very dramatic, advertisement: "Thoroughly rips every cell, subjects pulp to tons of pressure, juice contains all minerals and Vitamins." Notice that The Veg-O-Mat Machine Company also sold a "valuable booklet" on juice therapy.

Advertisement in Life & Health, The National Health Journal, May 1940.

The Veg-O-Mat was patented in April 1939 by William Wishinsky of NYC as a "Vegetable and Fruit Press."

Diagram Sheet 1 of William Wishinsky's patent (No. 2,154,649)

Wishinsky had a business supplying parts to watchmakers (hey, look! a connection to horology!), starting in 1920 or 1924. He advertised custom movement blocks and dies for platinum watch cases (among other items). His office was located at 100 West 21st Street in New York City.

Wishinsky was born on January 15, 1894 in Mlawa, Poland. He emigrated to the United States in 1913 with his mother and siblings, settling first in Boston, where he found work as a first class machinist for an electric company. In Boston, Wishinsky met his wife Rose, who came here from Russia in 1912. Both spoke Yiddish. The couple were living in Roxbury, Massachusetts when William was naturalized in 1920.

At some point between 1920 and 1923, the Wishinskys moved to New York City. They lived at 1487 Teller Avenue in the Bronx and had two sons: Jonas and Myron.

After receiving the patent for his Veg-O-Mat, William Wishinsky opened up a new office for his new business, at 655 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. He remained at that address until the late 1950s, listing himself in the directories as a tool and die maker.

I have not found a record of William's death. Rose died in 1983.

The Veg-O-Mat was the precursor to the Veg-O-Matic, which was introduced in 1963. The invention of the famous Veg-O-Matic ("It slices! It dices!") is credited to Samuel Popeil, who moved to Chicago from New York in 1945. He introduced his Chop-O-Matic in 1956. The main difference between the Veg-O-Mat and the Veg-O-Matic is that the later, more famous gadget was manual, not electric.

I don't know what the connection is between the Veg-O-Mat and the Veg-O-Matic, other than the obvious trademark infringement with the name and general concept. The Veg-O-Mat Machine Company was still in existence in 1957, located at 655 Sixth Avenue in New York City. They were gone by 1960, which is about when Popeil applied for his vegetable cutter patent.