Thermos

[bykfixer]

I hope this is a good place for this or that there isn't a thermos thread elsewhere.

I wanted to brag on the Stanley stainless 25oz (750ml) thermos. I have been using a thermos since the days if you dropped it you heard rattling sounds from the broken glass liner. Coleman, Alladin, Thermos brand. I'd fill it with hot coffee and feel warmth a few minutes later. When stored in cold environments some absolutely sucked. I mean an hour later my coffee was cold. If stored in the sun an hour later my cold beverage would be hot. Even when 'pre-treated' with hot or cold prior to filling it with my daily beverage. Some would do ok but none I had ever used lasted all the work day.

I just got used to a thermos not being very good. Mrs Fixer gave me the Stanley a couple years back (with a company logo she had done up custom). It collected dust mostly, being it was special. But recently I started carrying it to work at night to have a small cup of coffee before driving home to ward off the whoozy drunk driver thing. Sure it held temperature for a few hours so I thought that was nice. But last night I did not drink any coffee and forgot to empty it out this morning. At 6 o'clock I remembered it had some coffee and instead of brewing a whole batch I figured why not just nuke up a little from the thermos in the microwave. Well 24 hours later it was a perfect drinkable temperature.
WOW!!

So two thumbs up for the 25oz Stanley thermos!!

Versus a 12 cup Mr Coffee machine.

 

[Poppy]

Fixer,
Great idea for a thread!

OK so here comes a story.

When I was a kid, oh, and young adult, my dad was a tractor trailer driver for a Union shop that pulled for "Best Foods" and one of their accounts was Maxwell House Coffee. Occasionally a case would break open at the warehouse, and everyone would grab a can or two of coffee. At 5:00 AM his day would start. Get up, put on the coffee in a on the stove percolator with Maxwell House coffee. A pinch of salt took some of the bitterness out. Take a shower, get dressed, fill his Stanley Stainless Thermos with coffee, and out the door.

His Stanly thermos looked something like this,

but a little more beat up, and it had a dent in the cap. His cap was copper or brass or some kind of alloy coated with stainless. Mine is plastic.

What makes the Stanley thermos so effective for keeping things hot or cold is that they are double walled stainless steel, vacuum sealed. A vacuum is the BEST insulator of all! And being made of stainless they won't rust or break!

Prior to these, the best thermos bottles had a double walled, vacuum GLASS insulating bottle inside of usually a plastic case. They were pretty good, but drop them once, and you are out to buy another one.

As Mr. Fixer stated, these are great at maintaining temperatures.

There were times that we went to the boat club in the middle of winter to bail boats after a storm, or to check on, and charge batteries (for the bilge pumps), and some hot coffee, or hot chocolate from his thermos was SO welcomed. :thumbsup:

It was great on camping trips too!

Of course when I grew older, I had to get some of my own.

Obviously it has been around the block.
I am sure that it has stories to tell.

Here's one.
I'm on the town's CERT Community Emergency Response Team. We have about 70 minimally trained members, but many are VERY trained in some aspects. At any rate the plan is to call us out when the SH** hits the fan and the first responders are overwhelmed, because there is too much to cover. For the most part we have been called out to help direct traffic. Thankfully we are well supplied with first responders.

One day, my partner was a gent a few years my senior, and known for being a little arrogant. Our job was to direct traffic around this fallen tree that had taken down some power lines. My shift was from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM.

I learned later that he was a retired Admiral from the US Coast Guard. He said to me, "You know... I am professional responder!" and after no response from me he added... "I have two thermoses of coffee, and two sandwiches."
My response was. "Gee, I only have ONE Thermos of Chamomile tea, and TWO servings of Hot Lasagna, do you want one?"
The look on his face was precious!

LOL.. he didn't know that he was lecturing Poppy, who had been taught by his old man, to heat cans of corned beef hash, or franks and beans, on the exhaust manifold of his car, or bulldozer.

If he had been a little more honest, and up-front, I'd have given him more respect. He was involved with containing the oil spill of a number of oil tanker calamities. Certainly, re-routing traffic was below his pay grade. But as a volunteer, there is no pay grade.

Oh yeah... the dent in the cap of my father's Stainless Stanley Thermos.
One day while at the loading dock, one of the dock-men gave my dad a hard time. In joke or not, I don't know. Certainly back then there was no such thing as political correctness. Pretty much anything goes until one goes TOO far. Fights might break out, and the cops are not called, and after it is broken up, everyone looks the other way, and it never happened. At any rate, my dad had this indestructible stainless steel thermos (where all others at the time, if they were any good had glass vacuum sealed bottles) and this guy gave him a hard time. My dad threw his indestructible bottle at him. My dad says that he laughed, seeing the guys face, thinking (who is this crazy SOB) that the thermos was going to be broken, but my dad knew that it wouldn't. I guess it landed on the cap, and the cap dented.

Every time I saw that dented cap, I thought of that story.

Oh yeah... back in the day, eh?

Hey my friend, thanks for bringing back old memories. :thumbsup:

Poppy

 

[peter yetman]

Well that's a coincidence, I've just ordered a Stainless Thermos for Mrs Yeti to take to work with her.
We're handing over the keys, at last, to our old house which was 2 minutes from where she works. Now there's nowhere to nip off to have lunch, as the new house is 20 minutes away.
We had a cheap Gas Station container, (I can't call it a Thermos) which was not bought by me, and it failed at its second outing.
Hopefully the one arriving today will do a proper job.
P

 

[Poppy]

Awesome Peter! :thumbsup:

Stanley also makes a wide mouth version. I have a few. They are good for keeping soups and stews, maybe "spaghetti-O's", or "franks and beans", hot for hours. The cap comes off and can be used as a bowl.

Another one of those tools that just work!
:thumbsup:

EDIT: As bykfixer mentioned above, to keep things hot longer, it is a good idea to preheat it with hot water, otherwise your hot drink/food will give up some calories of heat to bring the stainless liner up to temp.

 

[bykfixer]

When I was a lad the Evel Kneivel or Big Jim, or Star Trek or Scooby Doo or 'what-have you' lunch box came with a thermos. The lunch box lasted a long time but the thermos was about as durable as a whack-a-palm flashlight. Good for about 1 "oopsies".

For years my work thermos was just a vessel to put stickers on, which was the only reason to keep using it. Once it was covered completely it was usually time for a new one for one reason or another.

This one was retired in about 017 when I stopped taking coffee to work.
It's kinda special as it was a gift from my (first) pa-n-law (RIP) during the blizzard of '96. It has decades of decals representing various phases of my life.
Too much caffiene everyday was wrecking my health so I opted to stop drinking a thermos full of coffee in addition to 3 or 4 cups before work. I had gone nearly caffiene free since 019 until a recent night shift assignment at work prompted me to have a few sips of half-calf Folgers each night from the Stanley.

My dad carried one of those wide mouth soup thermos's Poppy mentioned to his work each day. He had a metal mail box shaped flip top lid lunch box he carried for decades. I think it was company issued as it had a company badge pop riveted on one end. At the beginning and end of his shift they were subject to a lunch box inspection and his was more of a cigarette pack carrier than lunch box. He smoked a lot back then.

 

[louie]

In the really good old days, you just used a cork to stopper your vacuum bottle.

Bykfixer, that is one vintage Premium metal saltine cracker tin you have. I haven't seen one of those for maybe 60 years.

 

[Poppy]

Yes, Louie, my Dad's Thermos had a big fat cork stopper!

Mine has a two piece plastic stopper with O rings, and it allows one to control the rate of flow through it. Honestly, it is an improvement.

Not too long ago, I came across my son's Spiderman thermos, and Campbells Soup thermos.

My daughter is currently into decorating our house in a 50's - 70's motif. She worked for Disney as a performer for a few years and is Disney... all in!

This weekend, she picked up, and installed a couple of shelves.

The poster in the back is a Poster of the 1971 Life Magazine Cover announcing the Opening of Disney World.

And for your reviewing pleasure a Disney Thermos set..

 

[chillinn]

I have that same green Stanley Poppy posted above... I think the dent is in the same place, too. I lost the cup years ago. But I use it every time I brew a pot, and because the cup is missing, it will balance upside down on the top. Heat rises, so storing it upside down keeps the coffee hot much longer. But I'm not traveling with it, and the microwave is nearby anyway. But I noticed that coffee from it is still drinkably hot after 30 hours upside down.

 

[peter yetman]

That seemed to be quite a bright time in States compared with over here.
There seemed to be so much colour and energy whereas here I remember it being quite dour and almost sepia. In the late Sixties I got my fix of colour and excitement from American Comic Books, and drooled over Walkie Talkies (which were illegal here) and Skeleton Spectacles. I had something called a Cinematograph which showed hand cranked early Disney movies in black and white.
Sorry, we're talking about Thermos'. I should never type before breakfast.
P

Mrs Yeti's spanking new stainless steel Thermos about to go on its maiden outing. Chicken and Vegetable soup, since you ask.....

 

[Poppy]

Ah Mr. Yeti, It looks like you have some paint and spackle compound in the background. Oh the JOYS of moving, painting and decorating.

I hope things went well for the Mrs. Yeti with her new Thermos.

Stanley makes a 24 oz wide mouth bottle that is much easier to clean. Great for soups, and stews etc.

And the cap can serve as a soup bowl.

 

[aginthelaw]

I have a couple of the big greens that my grandma used to fill for me when I worked in harmon cove, An apartment complex for the affluent. Jets and Giants players had residences there, and i worked security. I started working there in the winter on midnights, Outside mostly, right after I got out the coast guard (poppy's admiral reminds me of all but one of mine). I would start drinking an hour into my shift and burn my mouth every time. I would have to fill the cup and leave it out for a while to cool off enough to drink.
One night I noticed the coffee was a bit off. Really potent. A while later I was stumbling. A few hours later I went in for lunch and no one would sit next to me. One of the guys asked how can i come in and work 8 hours after drinking all night before my shift. I said I didn't drink all night. Then I realized grandma spiked the coffee with 151 overproof jamaican rum after i told her how cold it was (the parking garage was a wind tunnel).
I told her when i got home how drunk I was and grandma cut the dose in half. It's amazing how many new friends begged for a cup at work after that, even spending most of our shift outside.

 

[aginthelaw]

I have two of each. I picked up a few of the red ones when I worked at Borders bookstore as they were liquidating. They're made by Thermos Nissan. Doesn't keep the temp as long as stanley, but they're awesome nonetheless.

 

[Poppy]

aginthelaw,
that's a funny story :thumbsup:

I know where Harmon Cove is... right on the Hackensack River.
My wife had a cousin and his wife, who, lived there for a few years, about 40 years ago.

The Boat Club I speak of once in a while was about 3-5 miles south on the river, not too far from the Newark Bay. I spent most summer weekends there.

In the winter when a cold damp breeze blows by, it is a miserable dampness that cuts to the bone. More than once my dad offered me a swig from his bottle of whiskey.

I took my first driving test in January in Jersey City at the DMV located at the Roosevelt Stadium (right next to the Newark Bay.)
It was a cold, damp, windy, miserable day.

OK let me back up a bit.
As previously stated my dad was a tractor trailer driver. A professional driver. He finally had a kid who could share the driving to take a long distance trip to anywhere, and in 1971 "Disney World" had just opened. Every night after dinner he would take me out for a driving lesson. He was NOT the Gentlest of teachers. He had more confidence in me, than I had in myself, and we drove up and down on Kennedy Blvd. Kennedy Blvd. is a six lane road with parking on both sides of the street, so it is really a four lane road. It is a two way street, so two lanes in each direction. There is a traffic light at each intersection, only one city block apart, and often the lights were at the curb, not overhanging the center of the road. There were also a number of businesses with neon signs in their windows. At every other block a driver may suddenly stop to make a left hand turn. Busses ran up and down in the right hand lane, but the lanes were too narrow, so they were also taking up 25% of the left hand lane. You couldn't pass them unless there wasn't any traffic coming in the other direction in their left hand lane.

All this to say: IF you can drive on Kennedy Blvd., you can drive in Manhattan, or any where else in the world.

This was my training ground. He took me through the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, up the NJ Turnpike, and all the local highways. Through the city streets, and Kennedy Blvd.! Oh yeah... and hearing in my ear.... "What the hell are you waiting for!? GO!" "Why did you let yourself get stuck behind this guy who stopped to make a left hand turn, didn't you see his directional?"

I remember one night he asked me if I wanted to go driving and I said no. Whoops that was a mistake!
"What the hell is wrong with you!? Every 17 year old kid can't wait to get behind the wheel! Any chance they get, they would jump at it!!!"

Needless to say I became pretty skilled in a month of training.

My driving test was scheduled in December during Christmas break from school, and my dad planned to go to Florida. We drove to Florida, I did the bulk of it, and on my driver's Permit.

I had my driver's test rescheduled for January, after we got back.

So here we are, me and my Mom, on this cold, damp, windy, nasty day right next to the Newark Bay, in the middle of winter, and the driving tester came over and told my Mom that she had to get out of the car and stand over there, outside until we were done.

Here I am with a couple of thousand miles under my belt, a month of training from my old man, and even more time behind the wheel.
It was my understanding that you could fail one part, maybe two parts, of the test and still get your license.
I felt terrible that my Mom was standing out in the cold, so I was speeding, a little. 25 mph, probably did 30-32 mph.

There was a traffic circle, and a tractor trailer was approaching. I had the right of way, and didn't have to force the issue, I had plenty of room. The tester snapped... didn't you see that tractor? Yeah I had plenty of room.

Go up here, and make a K turn.
Park here.

OK... we're done. You failed.
What?!!!
You made your K turn and parked with ONE hand, and you were speeding.

A few weeks later I was retested. I got the same guy, and I told him so. He said that he wasn't supposed to take me out a second time that it should be someone else, but they were backed up so let's go.

He wanted to know why he had failed me.
I told him. But I had explained to him that I had all that training and so many hours and miles under my belt, and the reason why I was speeding.

He was like... you should have told me. I thought you were like some smart *** kid who only had a couple of hours behind the wheel, and I wanted to snip his wings. So we chatted about the girls in my town and the girls in his town. When we were done, I passed and he realized "Holy smokes! This is the first time, of all the people I tested that they didn't turn the radio off during the test!"

All this to say... "Yeah, the winds coming off of the Hackensack River in the winter can be really bone chilling cold!"
I got ya!

 

[nbp]

I have tried an assortment of interesting and trendy reusable water bottles over the years. As for vacuum insulated bottles I found Hydroflask to be very good and Yeti to be outstanding. I have a monster 64oz Yeti Rambler I lug with me every day to work. I dump refrigerator temp water in it about 7:00am on my way out, and that thing will sit in my boiling hot truck all day in the summer and the water will be frosty cold until I get home in the evening. It has proven very durable as well - stainless steel. I will recommend Yeti insulated bottles.

 

[aginthelaw]

Hey, Poppy, ask them if they remember me. I worked there around 1982. There used to be a Gran Torino from Starsky & Hutch in the parking garage. It had an inch of dust on it and flat tires from sitting so long (rich people! Go figure). I eventually bought it.

Back on topic, a client of mine just gave me a copper lined travel mug. If I preheat it, it works great. Only problem is the lid isn't tight and I dribble on myself. I use the lid from another cup and it works perfectly. Now the other two won't get any travel time unless it's more than a day away from home

 

[bykfixer]

Hey Poppy
I've learned that any wind off any river in winter can be bone chilling. There was one assignment I was on where the lake was frozen over and a wind was howling out of the north, even though it reached 60 degrees that day. There was this bulldozer fine grading dirt over the top layer of fill to become a widened roadway at the end of a new bridge. Normally people would stand around and watch that dozer do its thing. On this particular day that dozer was the most popular item on a large open area. Well, the south side of it anyway. A far away observor may have wondered if the Queen of England was driving that thing as a crowd of people were walking beside it all day.

And that day my Thermos brand thermos had allowed my supply of coffee to be cold by 10am.

 

[Poppy]

Hey, Poppy, ask them if they remember me. I worked there around 1982. There used to be a Gran Torino from Starsky & Hutch in the parking garage. It had an inch of dust on it and flat tires from sitting so long (rich people! Go figure). I eventually bought it.

Back on topic, a client of mine just gave me a copper lined travel mug. If I preheat it, it works great. Only problem is the lid isn't tight and I dribble on myself. I use the lid from another cup and it works perfectly. Now the other two won't get any travel time unless it's more than a day away from home

That's funny!
You mention "The General" and I think of two songs.

"My first love was Daisy Duke in her cut off jeans"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSBXV7gt8Fw

and
"Hood sliding like Bo Duke"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_uV3cbUkRI

My daughter has a stainless insulated mug that would be great, except when I drink from it, it is as though I have a hole in my lip!
Now I keep a hand towel in the front seat of my car and wear it as a napkin on the way to work. I don't use her mug anymore.

I typically use an Ozark Trail stainless insulated mug, from Walmart, that is probably made in the same China factory as Yeti.

 

[Poppy]

Hey Poppy
I've learned that any wind off any river in winter can be bone chilling. There was one assignment I was on where the lake was frozen over and a wind was howling out of the north, even though it reached 60 degrees that day. There was this bulldozer fine grading dirt over the top layer of fill to become a widened roadway at the end of a new bridge. Normally people would stand around and watch that dozer do its thing. On this particular day that dozer was the most popular item on a large open area. Well, the south side of it anyway. A far away observer may have wondered if the Queen of England was driving that thing as a crowd of people were walking beside it all day.

And that day my Thermos brand thermos had allowed my supply of coffee to be cold by 10am.

Humidity in the winter coming off of a lake or river can make the wind and cold much more bone chilling. Just as humidity in the summer can make life miserable.

One winter, I was a student in Georgia about 30 degrees, damp, and miserable. I went home to NJ and it was a cold winter about 15 degrees, that's cold. Then I flew up to meet with my girlfriend in Canada, It was 10 degrees with a -10F wind chill factor. That was friggen COLD, but if you could protect yourself from the wind, with adequate insulation 10F can be tolerable. Dampness, and wind, makes a huge difference.

Regarding the men using the bulldozer as a wind-break, not a bad idea!

 

[bykfixer]

I used a Bubba cup for a couple of years. It was better at keeping the preferred temperature than Yeti cups. Then came that fateful day I took off with it on the roof of my truck. RIP Bubba cup. Now I use a ceramic Alladin number from Wally world or a Starbucks ceramic core one Mrs Fixer was awarded as a prize a few years back. The Alladin is a slide to close while the Starbucks is a twist to close. The Alladin holds temps better but the starbucks lid stays on better. Plus the starbucks is a metal cast around the ceramic where the Alladin is all ceramic.
Neither are as good as that (discontinued) Bubba cup was at holding heat but I drink OJ instead of coffee now and both do what they need to do with a cool drink.

 

[FairFrank]

I hope this is a good place for this or that there isn't a thermos thread elsewhere.

I wanted to brag on the Stanley stainless 25oz (750ml) thermos. I have been using a thermos since the days if you dropped it you heard rattling sounds from the broken glass liner. Coleman, Alladin, Thermos brand. I'd fill it with hot coffee and feel warmth a few minutes later. When stored in cold environments some absolutely sucked. I mean an hour later my coffee was cold. If stored in the sun an hour later my cold beverage would be hot. Even when 'pre-treated' with hot or cold prior to filling it with my daily beverage. Some would do ok but none I had ever used lasted all the work day. It's not easy to clean it but solvable(thx to this article)

I just got used to a thermos not being very good. Mrs Fixer gave me the Stanley a couple years back (with a company logo she had done up custom). It collected dust mostly, being it was special. But recently I started carrying it to work at night to have a small cup of coffee before driving home to ward off the whoozy drunk driver thing. Sure it held temperature for a few hours so I thought that was nice. But last night I did not drink any coffee and forgot to empty it out this morning. At 6 o'clock I remembered it had some coffee and instead of brewing a whole batch I figured why not just nuke up a little from the thermos in the microwave. Well 24 hours later it was a perfect drinkable temperature.
WOW!!

So two thumbs up for the 25oz Stanley thermos!!

Versus a 12 cup Mr Coffee machine.

Hi and thx for recommendation! Looking for a decent thermos atm. Is it easy to clean this model?