KFC initially used stove-top covered cooking pots to fry its chicken.[150] In the 1960s, the officially recommended model was the L S Hartzog developed "KFC 20-Head Cooker," a large device that cost $16,000.[151] The Hartzog model had no oil filtration system, meaning that filtering had to be done manually, and the pressure fryers occasionally exploded.[150] In 1969, an engineer called Winston Shelton developed the "Collectramatic 519" pressure fryer that would self-filter the oil, and used precision timers and temperature controls.[150] Fred Jeffries, then vice president of purchasing at KFC, claimed that the invention helped fuel the company's rapid expansion and success: "There's no way it could have grown like it did without the Collectramatic. Stores were doing about $200,000 a year in sales on average with the pots but they could never have done the $900,000 a year it became without Win's fryer."[150]
Although a number of franchisees bought the Collectramatic, which had the support of Colonel Sanders from 1970 onwards, John Y. Brown had already signed an exclusive contract to only use the L S Hartzog fryer.[150] Brown warned franchisees that they were in violation of their contract if they used the Collectramatic.[150] Brown held his ground on the issue until he learned that his father, John Y. Brown, Sr., who was a KFC franchisee himself, was also using the Collectramatic.[150] The issue was eventually resolved after Heublein purchased KFC and acquired Hartzog in order to invalidate the contract.[151] The Collectramatic thus became the official pressure fryer for KFC from 1972 onwards.[151]
Winston previously supplied KFC with holding cabinets, but since 2010, these have been supplied by