Drip-o-lator

I inherited an old coffee pot from my mother.  It was called a "drip-o-lator".  This was before the days of automatic coffee pots and paper liners.  I'm not sure how it came into my possession, but I remember my parents using it when I was a little girl.  So, folks, this thing is definitely over 50 years old.  Here is a picture of it showing the various parts:

It is made of aluminum.  The piece in the lower left position is the grounds container.  Here is a better picture of it.

Notice the small holes in the bottom.  They are big enough to allow water to drip through, but are small enough that the grounds would stay in it and not get in the coffee.  This piece fits on top of the pot itself, like this.

After the coffee grounds were added, the next piece was assembled on top.

This piece is the water container.  Water was heated in a sauce pan and when it got to boiling, it was poured into the water container.  The container has small holes in the bottom that allow the water to drip through to the coffee grounds underneath.

There is also a lid that fits on top of the entire assembly.

The lid also fits on the pot.  So, I assume the idea was that once the coffee was finished, you could remove the top part and use the lid on top of the pot to help keep the coffee warm.

I also recall they had a "perc-o-lator" at some point.  It was electric and was one step up from the drip-o-lator.  Apparently, the name stems from the fact that the water was put into the bottom of the pot and as the water heated to a boil, it rose through a tube and dripped or percolated over the grounds at the top.  Percolators were once state of the art, but were supplanted in the early 1970s by automatic drip coffee makers.

I'm not sure what happened to the percolator.  Maybe it broke and was thrown away at some point.  At any rate, I've never actually used this old drip-o-lator.  I'd like to try it out sometime, but I usually steer clear of aluminum cookware because of concerns over its safety.

In September 2008, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released Public Health Statement CAS# 7429-90-5.  You can read a copy of it here:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp22-c1-b.pdf

It makes several alarming statements regarding the dangers of aluminum in the body.  It also states that the average person ingests about 7–9 mg of aluminum per day in their food and that many everyday foods and products contain it.  For example, all of the following items contain aluminum:

• astringents

• buffered aspirin

• food additives

• antiperspirants

• cosmetics

• flour

• baking powder

• coloring agents

• anti-caking agents

I'd rather play it "safe" than be "sorry".  So, for now, I'll just keep the old drip-o-lator as a memento of my childhood and display it where others can enjoy it was well.