ABSTRACT
Six years ago I bought a new grand electric cooker, with two ovens, a grill with a twiddling mechanism for chickens, and four rings. The controls for the grill and the ovens are arranged horizontally along the top, while the ovens are placed vertically one above the other, with the grill at the top. The rings, which of course are horizontal, form a square, though their four controls which are to the right and above are arranged in a vertical row. How do the controls correspond with the rings? Like this: The rings Ring controls A C O(a) O(b) B D O(d) O(c) Note, in this negative-transfer cooker, the vertical spatial reversal of the controls d and c for the right-hand rings C and D. During six years of use I have burned out umpteen pans, all on the right-back ring C which gets switched on in mistake for the most-used right-front ring D. These, fortunately minor, disasters have happened because the right-hand rings are spatially reversed from their corresponding controls. Isn’t it ridiculous that a major manufacturer can make this perceptually fundamental design error?
