More like: "8 completely ordinary examples of late 70s, early 80s design". From what I remember stuff looked like that back then.
There is nothing particularly "Soviet" about these examples. Doesn't mean that Soviet Design didn't have its idiosyncrasies, but the examples presented here are completely unsuitable to show that. For example the "Boiling Wand" was ubiquitous in Western Europe in the 80s. The "Aesthetics Journal" shown in the article is - apart from the Cyrillic lettering - Swiss Design par excellence.
Also "Russians abroad had a reputation for shorting out whole city blocks by plugging these babies into 110-volt sockets".
Since I assume this is a basic resistive heating element, with resistance determined by the wire gauge and length, wouldn't it draw quarter power in a 110v socket compared to a 220v one?
I don't get how it could cause overcurrent in the generally thicker US wiring.
Something like the boiling wand was available in the 1950's in the US. It had the heavy coil that was immersed in the liquid but was bent so as to hang over the lip of a cup or mug. My parents made their morning (instant) coffee with one on vacations. Blazingly hot and had to be watched closely...
There is nothing particularly "Soviet" about these examples. Doesn't mean that Soviet Design didn't have its idiosyncrasies, but the examples presented here are completely unsuitable to show that. For example the "Boiling Wand" was ubiquitous in Western Europe in the 80s. The "Aesthetics Journal" shown in the article is - apart from the Cyrillic lettering - Swiss Design par excellence.