Remember that baffling photo that went viral last year?
A strange, spout-like metal object with a coiled wire cage—shared thousands of times with captions like:
“Alien artifact?”
“Dental torture device?”
“1950s spy gadget?”
Turns out, it’s none of the above.
This mysterious piece is actually a vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster juicer attachment—a brilliant slice of mid-century kitchen innovation that once sat proudly on countertops across America.
And its story reveals something fascinating: our grandparents didn’t just cook—they engineered meals with precision tools most of us have never seen.
π What Is It, Really?
The object is the juice spout and strainer assembly from the Sunbeam Mixmaster Juicer Attachment, produced in the 1940s–1960s.
Here’s how it worked:
- Fresh fruit (like oranges or grapefruit) was halved and placed on a rotating reamer attached to the Mixmaster motor
- As the fruit spun, juice flowed through the central spout
- The coiled wire cage held a fine mesh strainer to catch pulp and seeds
- Clean, smooth juice poured directly into a waiting glass—no squeezing, no mess
π§ Fun fact: This was the “cold press” of its day—long before $400 juicers existed!

