Nancy Thompson’s vintage fruit press wasn’t broke — but it still needed fixing.

Her modernised version of the 1928 gadget is now on sale through her online business, Vintage Kitchen Appliances.

The Bermuda resident started working on it 18 months ago, fed up after years of cleaning the original.

“I love to cook, and I love to use natural ingredients,” said Mrs Thompson. “I don’t necessarily look for gadgets, but I really like things that make it easier to use natural ingredients.”

The vintage press once belonged to a friend’s grandmother.

“My friend said, you’re going to love this,” said Mrs Thompson.

And she did. The original was made of uncoated aluminium and did not require electricity. She found it worked well on fibrous fruits such as citrus, apples and pomegranates as opposed to pulpy fruits like mango. At first, she used it to make healthy low-sugar fruit drinks for her daughters, Paige and Missy. When the girls grew up, the family used it for cocktails.

“It was the best fruit extractor I ever used,” she said. “The only problem was it wasn’t coated and was hard to clean. It didn’t go in the dishwasher.”

She shopped around trying to find a modern version, but was unsuccessful. The patent on the device had run out years ago.

“I was surprised there wasn’t a newer version,” she said.

Until she decided to sell the press, she had exactly zero experience in product design and marketing. She did have a head for business, having trained as a chartered accountant years earlier.

She started researching the product and was thrilled that the original engineer’s surname was Van Dusen, her maiden name.

“Maybe we are related, somewhere along the way,” she said.

The first challenge was finding a factory to make the machine. She wanted to use a company that treated its workers fairly.

“I went all over the place,” she said. “I started out in China, because that’s where everyone manufactures things, I thought.”

In the end she was uncomfortable with the working conditions she saw and felt it wasn’t the place for her product. She settled on a company in Muskoka, Canada.

“It is quite an expensive thing to make,” she said, “because it is made from hand-poured aluminium. Each one is poured into a mould. Then they have to be coated, so they can be used with food and put into the dishwasher.”

The press sells for about $95 and is only available through www.vintagekitchenappliance.com. It comes in a box shaped like a fruit juice carton.

“It says on the box, this is the last fruit juice carton you’ll ever need to buy,” said Mrs Thompson. “You can make your own juice with the press.”

The carton comes with a recipe for the Thompsons’ favourite self-created cocktail, Friskey Whiskey.

So far, Mrs Thompson has sold about 50 of the presses.

“The feedback has been wonderful,” she said.

The press was recently featured on a popular cocktail blogging site, 12 Bottle Bar (www.12bottlebar.com). It was described as the “one juicer to rule them all”.

Mrs Thompson is now revamping a vintage meat grinder so it can be used to grind meat or to make baby food. “These devices don’t use electricity,” said Mrs Thompson. “They are environmentally-friendly.”