Past Cubes

I was in a store yesterday that specializes in things for the kitchen. I discovered an item that I didn't realize was even made any more.

I stopped dead in my tracks and laughed out loud when I saw metal ice cube trays. If you are forty years of age or older you might remember these things. The cubes are formed by a mechanism that resembles something that might be used to force a confession. A series of metal plates (ice cube dividers) hinged to a center bar. Raising or lowering the bar causes the dividers to ratchet back and forth.

I can't begin to count the number of times I reached into a freezer with damp hands only to have my fingers weld to the sides of a metal tray. It was sometimes necessary to run the whole contraption under water just to get my fingers to release. By that time the cube release bar was glistening with frost. Just the sort of thing I wanted to wrap my hand around.

The screeching of frozen hinges as the release bar was levered back and forth was like chalk squeaking on a blackboard. The end result was a tray of half cubes. The top of of the ice cubes stayed in tact while the bottom half was grated into chopped ice.

Why are these things still made? Who would possible want to expose themselves to such a tortuous method of making ice cubes?