Going for a Spong

As "Which" the consumer magazine brings out on its 60th anniversary a definitive list of gadgets and inventions that have revolutionised our lives over the last six decades I thought that I would bring out the following bit of writing from my blog in 2014.

Take a look around any kitchen from the last 30 years and you will recognise many household names on the small appliances. Electrolux, Moulinex, Russell Hobbs, Kenwood, Salter and Bosch to name but a few of the myriad of consumer goods that we use on an everyday basis.

Go back just a few more years and perhaps ask parents or grandparents if they have ever owned, or perhaps still own and regularly use a utensil or piece of domestic equipment by the manufacturer-Spong.

We recently had given to us a heavy, bulky cast iron apparatus manufactured by Spong and Co under the product name of a National 20 meat mincer. 

It is a striking example of something made to last forever by an English Company from the post war period which earns it the title of a vintage and collectible item. 

I can just about lift it with one hand in order to clamp it securely to a table top or kitchen worktop.

The main body is a bit tarnished now but when brand new it will have been quite dazzling and taken pride of place when brought out to reduce the remains of the weekend beef or lamb joint into a fine mince for the more mundane meals of the working days. 

It is an industrial tool for the domestic environment. 

The handle is solid and dependable which is essential in order to get a good amount of torque into the screw thread which drives the meat into the business end of the machine. A large nut holds in place a selection of perforated rings depending upon what size mince is required for the shepherds pie, cornish pasty, spaghetti bolognese or meat balls, beefburgers and chilli or just good old savoury mince. 

The mincer is the sort of heirloom that would be passed down through the generations of a family but in more recent years is likely to have been relegated to the back of the kitchen cupboards or surrendered to grace the on-line shop window of E-Bay. 

Spong disappeared in the 1980's after a few failing years saw it fall into the hands of investors who promptly dispensed with the name which destroyed a rich heritage which dated from 1856. 

The company was founded by a 16 year old, James Osborn Spong who was evidently a genius inventor on the basis that in his lifetime he registered more than 100 patents for just about everything from a boot cleaner (1874), horse shoes (1876), an appliance to produce musical notes (1881) and in 1884 burglar alarms. 

It was however the Spong and Co manufactured output of household utensils or as they were called domestic machinery that brought them national acclaim and a Royal Patronage by Queen Victoria. 

The factory in High Holborn, London was a centre for a hardware and wireworks  but by 1882 Spong were market leaders in meat and vegetable mincers. Sales peaked in 1882 with 200,000 units and with diversification by 1895 into the original sausage and general mincing machine as well as coffee and spice mills, knife cleaners, bean slicers, a portable shampoo appliance (the forerunner of the shower), gas utiliser, corner weights to hold down carpets, animal traps from mice to wolves, bread slicer, ale barrel , an ice cream and solid ice freezer and a fire extinguisher. 

Under the marketing names of Servants Friend and Lady's Knife Cleaner the Spong Company found a niche in promoting domestic economy which appealed greatly to families in the emerging Victorian middle class who could not afford their own servants. 

The lasting legacy of Spong was of kitchen equipment and utensils in every home and the establishing of a market for collectors and enthusiasts of the brand.