Forgot to Mention....
....Dormeyer was famous for three things:
1) They had more models than Sunbeam. Sunbeam did not offer anything but the Mixmaster and Mixmaster, Jr. for a long, long time. They did eventually come up with the Vista series as a second-tier offering. Dormeyer had at least three model series at any one time.
2) They were a little more expensive than Sunbeam, but you got a lot for the money. Dormeyer usually gave a meat grinder attachment or a juicer with the machine; Mixmasters did not come with any attachments.
3) Dormeyers used a power take-off design that allowed attachments to be inserted directly into the machine, instead of using an adapter like Sunbeam did. This made attachments more powerful and also simpler to use.
Sunbeam was the big sales leader, no doubt about it - can you think of a more perfect name for a mixer than Mixmaster? But Dormeyer had a lot of fans and they did very well for a long time.
Several things killed Dormeyer. One, their "house brand" activity cheapened the brand name in many consumers' eyes. Two, Sunbeam had the Mixfinder Dial, which was much more intuitive than Dormeyer's lever control and had more "eye candy" appeal in stores. Three, Dormeyer styling could be a little weird. In some instances, make that a LOT weird. Four, in the later 1960s, women were entering the workforce in huge numbers; many were far less interested in homemaking than before, diminishing the market for small electrics.
But they made a damn solid machine, and lots of Dormeyers are still happily running today. I grew up with a Dormeyer Mixwell, the same as my current Princess, but in white enamel instead of chrome. Here's a shot of my Princess:
