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Hi Martha,
Here's a bone - I have had my ultra lite beehive kiln for many, many years. The
manufacturer was Jecproducts - www.jecproducts.com-
If worse comes to worse, you can buy new - its probably cheaper and they are not
that expensive.
Thanks for the reply. I think I will email JEC products and ask them. If they did make the early kiln or are familiar with it, they should be able to advise me. As for the expense, a new heating element for their kiln is $37.00 plus shipping and a new kiln is $178.00 plus shipping. The only part that wears is the heating element, so I would rather replace just the element if I can get away with it and save myself $141.00 which will then suddenly appear in my bank account as "money made" that I can spend on something else. How's that for logic? Think I can get a job with the Fed? 
ARF!
Well Ms. Fed,
You have had that kiln for 41 years - divided by $178.00 equals $4.34 that it has cost you to own the kiln each year. You have come out the winner at both ends of the deal. Altho, you may think that just replacing the element is going to give you another 41 years, you are wrong. Depreciation has taken effect all over that little kiln, including the plug, the insulation etc. So go ahead and spend another $37.00 plus shipping, but you will never know when the next part is going to break down, and then you will have to order something else. I think that kiln gave you its life and then some, time to make a new investment for another 41 years.
ka - ching!
Trish, I depreciate appreciate your comments. Someone else had the little kiln for 41 years. I have had it for 3 weeks. I have taken it apart and it is resting comfortably in my workshop. I did remove the old insulation which was happy to be released after 41 years because insulation and little kiln had a disagreement years ago and never made up, and the living arrangements were tense.
You're right-You never know when another part is going to break down. The way I am going, one of my parts is more likely to break down before little kiln's. I am not ready to pull the plug on Little Kiln ( ah, now I am referring to it in capitals) just yet. Where there's life, there's a chance of throwing good money after bad. My mother never would cough up the money to buy a decent toaster. I must take after her. But I can promise you one thing: I will never, ever make toast in Little Kiln. You have my word.
I would share it with you, but I have come up empty. If I come across one, however, I will let you know.
And Now, You win, Trish. I now have a Beehive kiln, but I did get a used one at a great price so I am happy.
The saga of the heating element:
As suggested, I contacted the tech guy in X company with pictures and an explanation of what I was looking for and asked if I could substitute the Beehive element. His response? "Won't work, bye." Um, fine. Will you throw me a bone maybe? "Will I don't know if the ceramic fiber case in your kiln would hold up and I don't know yadayadayada but I will sell you one without a warranty." I never could get a physical description of the element his company sold (I had never seen one in person), even though I had sent him pictures of my element and my kiln.
Prying information out of him was like - well, it was like he had to give me a pound of flesh with every word.
I told him I would think about it.
I called the tech guy at Otto Frei. He had an elemement right there and described it to me.
It became pretty obvious to me that although the two elements were the same size, amp and wattage and the kilns were of a similar design, one element had prongs and one had no prongs. The prongs came out of the side of the old element and in the newer element, wires came out the bottom of the element. I would have had to do some major adjusting to the old trinket kiln to get it to accept the new element. But even if I could do that, and I wouldn't attempt it (too much danger of cracking the kiln and safety issues if I succeeded and much too much work overall. I might be cheap, but I'm not a moron. Not all the time anyway)
So, I got a barely used Beehive kiln at a great price and am very happy with it. I wonder about the guy at X company though. He never bothered to tell me how the element was built and then said he would sell it to me without a warranty. What could he have been thinking?
Martha,
Thank god you saw the lite!!
Hi,
I have used the ancient trinkit kiln for over 30 years. My husband replaced the element severa times with little diffiuclty.
jenniferjh1@mac.com
Jennifer Friedman
Ventura, CA
I have an ancient trinket kiln circa 1969-1975 exactly like the one depicted on p. 5 of