Magic Bullet (appliance)

Last updated
The Magic Bullet
Type Blender
ManufacturerHomeland Housewares

The Magic Bullet is a compact blender sold by Homeland Housewares, a division of the American company Alchemy Worldwide, and sold in over 50 countries. [1] It is widely marketed through television advertisements and infomercials and sold in retail stores under the "As seen on TV" banner. A feature-limited retail version not under this banner called the "Magic Bullet Single Shot+" is also available.

Contents

Since the introduction of the Magic Bullet, other incarnations include the Magic Bullet To Go, the Magic Bullet Mini, the Bullet Express, the Baby Bullet, the NutriBullet, the Party Bullet and the Dessert Bullet.

Product

The Magic Bullet is a personal blender that is designed to be used as a space saving replacement for other appliances such as a blender, food processor, and electric juicer. [2] The name is derived from the ogive-shaped curve of the blending cups.[ citation needed ] The entire Magic Bullet system consists of an electric blender base with a number of attachments. Attachments included with the product include:

Other add-ons can be purchased separately:

Lawsuit and explosion allegations

In May 2018, Fox affiliate KTTV in Los Angeles obtained test videos from NutriBullet which appeared to show the machine exploding in different situations, and some consumers told FOX11 they were injured by using the blender. Fourteen people have sued the company saying they were cut or burned when their NutriBullet exploded. The company has denied responsibility for the consumers’ injuries. [3]

Usage

The appliance is used by attaching a blade attachment to the desired cup and fitting the assembly upside down on top of the base. The base contains the motor that turns the blade, which is inside the cup. When one applies pressure to the top of the unit, the blade spins. If one turns the cup to lock into the base, it will continue to spin until it is disengaged. [4]

Infomercial

The Magic Bullet is known for its 30-minute infomercial, broadcast mostly in the early hours of the morning. [5] [6] [7]

History

The design for the Magic Bullet and its attachments is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to Lenny Sands, CEO and founding partner of Alchemy Worldwide. [1] Its origins lie with Philips and Douwe Egberts. They designed in the 1960s an electrical coffee grinder. It was essentially the same as the present Magic Bullet, but only with the small dome and the cross blade, firmly attached to the housing; included was a small brush. The collaboration between the two Dutch companies later resulted in the development of the Senseo.[ citation needed ]

Homeland Housewares has introduced add-ons and different versions of the Magic Bullet including the Bullet2Go (with various accessories), the Bullet Express, and a Fat Burning Boost supplement to be used in conjunction with the Magic Bullet.[ citation needed ] In 2015, Magic Bullet introduced an app that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes to Magic Bullet users. [8]

In October 2017, the Bluetooth-enabled NutriBullet Balance was released. [9] The blender works with a companion app which allows users to track calories from ingredients processed using the machine. [10]

Patent infringement

The Magic Bullet has been replicated and imitated on more than one occasion. [11] Homeland Housewares, LLC, is a member of eBay’s Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program [12] and has created a Consumer Counterfeit Watch web page in order to help educate consumers regarding these issues.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Small appliance</span> Portable or semi-portable machine in use to accomplish household task

A small domestic appliance, also known as a small electric appliance or minor appliance or simply a small appliance, small domestic or small electric, is a portable or semi-portable machine, generally used on table-tops, counter-tops or other platforms, to accomplish a household task. Examples include microwave ovens, kettles, toasters, humidifiers, food processors and coffeemakers. They contrast with major appliances, such as the refrigerators and washing machines, which cannot be easily moved and are generally placed on the floor. Small appliances also contrast with consumer electronics which are for leisure and entertainment rather than purely practical tasks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juicer</span> Tool for extracting fruit and vegetable juices

A juicer, also known as a juice extractor, is a tool used to extract juice from fruits, herbs, leafy greens and other types of vegetables in a process called juicing. It crushes, grinds, and/or squeezes the juice out of the pulp. A juicer clarifies the juice through a screening mesh to remove the pulp unlike a blender where the output contains both the liquids and solids of the processed fruit(s) or vegetable(s).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daiquiri</span> Cocktail

The daiquiri is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum, citrus juice, and sugar or other sweetener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blender</span> Home appliance used to mix or crush food

A blender is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating metal or plastic blade at the bottom, powered by an electric motor that is in the base. Some powerful models can also crush ice and other frozen foods. The newer immersion blender configuration has a motor on top connected by a shaft to a rotating blade at the bottom, which can be used with any container.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juicing</span> Process of extracting juice from fruit or vegetables

Juicing is the process of extracting juice from plant tissues such as fruit or vegetables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat grinder</span> Kitchen appliance

A meat grinder is a kitchen appliance for mincing and/or mixing of raw or cooked meat, fish, vegetables or similar food. It replaces tools like the mincing knife. The food to be minced is placed into a funnel, which sits on top of the grinder. From there, the material enters a horizontal screw conveyor; the screw conveyor may be hand-cranked or powered by an electric motor. The screw squashes and mixes the food. At the end of the screw, the food is passed through a fixed plate, where it exits the machine. The fineness of the minced food depends on the size of the holes in the plate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food processor</span> Type of home appliance

A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food processors".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixer (appliance)</span> Kitchen device

A mixer is a kitchen device that uses a gear-driven mechanism to rotate a set of "beaters" in a bowl containing the food or liquids to be prepared by mixing them.

Sunbeam Products is an American company founded in 1897 that has produced electric home appliances under the Sunbeam name since 1910. Its products have included the Mixmaster mixer, the Sunbeam CG waffle iron, Coffeemaster (1938–1964) and the fully automatic T20 toaster.

KitchenAid is an American home appliance brand owned by Whirlpool Corporation. The company was started in 1919 by The Hobart Manufacturing Company to produce stand mixers; the H-5 is the first model that was introduced. The company faced competition as rivals moved into this emerging market, and introduced its trademarked silhouette in the 1930s with the model "K", the work of designer Egmont Arens. The brand's stand mixers have changed little in design since, and attachments from the model "K" onwards are compatible with the modern machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innocent Drinks</span> British beverage company

Innocent Drinks is a British-based company that produces smoothies and juice sold in supermarkets, coffee shops and various other outlets. The company sells more than two million smoothies per week. Innocent is over 90% owned by The Coca-Cola Company.

An immersion blender, also known as a stick blender, mini blender, hand blender, or wand blender, is a kitchen blade grinder used to blend ingredients or purée food in the container in which they are being prepared. The immersion blender was invented in Switzerland by Roger Perrinjaquet, who patented the idea on March 6, 1950. He called the new appliance "bamix", a portmanteau of the French "battre et mixer". Larger immersion blenders for commercial use are sometimes nicknamed boat motors. Uses include puréeing soups and emulsifying sauces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dualit</span> British kitchen appliance manufacturer

Dualit is a British manufacturer of kitchen and catering equipment, coffee, tea capsules. It is known for its range of heavy-duty toasters. It was primarily designed for the commercial catering market, its domestic usage increased during the 1990s

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoothie</span> Drink made from fruit or vegetables

A smoothie is a beverage made by puréeing ingredients in a blender. A smoothie commonly has a liquid base, such as fruit juice or milk, yogurt or ice cream. Other ingredients may be added, including fruits, vegetables, non-dairy milk, crushed ice, whey powder or nutritional supplements.

Nutritional rating systems are used to communicate the nutritional value of food in a more-simplified manner, with a ranking, than nutrition facts labels. A system may be targeted at a specific audience. Rating systems have been developed by governments, non-profit organizations, private institutions, and companies. Common methods include point systems to rank foods based on general nutritional value or ratings for specific food attributes, such as cholesterol content. Graphics and symbols may be used to communicate the nutritional values to the target audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blade grinder</span> Machine with spinning blade, such as a food processor and lawnmower

A blade grinder, also known as propeller grinder, is a machine that chops material while mixing it, by means of a high-speed spinning blade. Applications of blade grinders for preparing foods include numerous electric kitchen appliances such as blenders, food processors, some garbage disposals, and some coffee grinders. The terms "blade grinder" and "propeller grinder" are in popular use to distinguish the blade grinder type of coffee grinder from other types. Other consumer applications include rotary lawn mowers.

Vita-Mix Corporation, doing business as Vitamix, is an American company that manufactures and sells commercial and residential blenders. Vitamix was founded in 1921 by William Grover Barnard and is privately owned by the Barnard family. It has been based in Olmsted Township, Ohio, since 1948. It employs more than 700 people, most at its Northeast Ohio headquarters and manufacturing facilities. Vitamix products are sold in over 130 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermomix</span> Kitchen appliance by Vorwerk

The Thermomix is a multi-purpose kitchen appliance of the Multicooker type made by the Vorwerk Corporate Group. The current Thermomix has a heating element, a motor for fast or slow blending and stirring, and a weighing scale. The functions can be accessed simultaneously to carry out steaming, emulsifying, blending, precise heating, mixing, milling, whipping, kneading, chopping, weighing, grinding and stirring. The 2014 Thermomix TM5 also has a touchscreen with a guided mode which allows the user to follow recipes step by step.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electrolux Ankarsrum Assistent</span>

Assistent is a household kitchen appliance, introduced by Electrolux in 1940.

Molly McButter is an American-made flavored butter substitute manufactured by B&G Foods. Originally developed by food chemists at Alberto-Culver, it is a lower-calorie replacement for butter.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alchemy Worldwide LLC CEO and Direct Response TV Veteran Lenny Sands Appointed by President George W. Bush to President's Export Council", TheFreeLibrary.com (February 12, 2007)
  2. AGE, Megan (2020-06-24). "Should you buy a bullet blender? Yes! Here's why". OrganizeMe. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  3. "Nutribullet sued by consumers who claim product blew up; test videos show machine malfunctioning" by Kathleen Joyce, Fox News, 4 May 2018
  4. "The Magic Bullet Review" by Diane Vigil, Designer Jones, 28 October 2005
  5. "Juicer Review", Juicer Reviews, 10 October 2016
  6. "Everblasting Life" by L. V. Anderson, Slate , 28 June 2015
  7. Magic Bullet by Paul Lucas, April 24, 2007, infomercial-hell.com
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2016-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. McGrath, Jenny (10 October 2017). "See how food changes your smoothie's nutrition with NutriBullet Balance". Digital Trends . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  10. Clark-Thompson, Ashlee (13 October 2017). "NutriBullet Balance shows how many calories hide in your smoothies". CNET . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  11. "About Potentially Hazardous Counterfeit Blenders" Archived 2011-07-12 at the Wayback Machine , press release (August 28, 2007)
  12. "Most of the purported 'Magic Bullet' Blender/Mixer Systems, parts and packaging available on eBay are counterfeit."