Toaster is 100 years old

[Drewster]

......... created his toasting machine 20 years before the sliced bread was even invented.

Thanks Brillo a mildly interesting article/fact-ette.

I do find it amusing that (the original author) seems to think its amazing that people used to slice bread (and toast it) before it was readily available to buy (ready) sliced.....

And that sliced bread was "invented" at some particular point..... rather than a commercialy viable way of mass-slicing loaves prior to sale....

[Toastiness]

Toasty !

[BrilloPad]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencean...years-old.html

Toaster is 100 years old
The toaster is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year a century after it was first patented by technician Frank Shailor.

Shailor who worked for General Electric created his toasting machine 20 years before the sliced bread was even invented.

The D-12 became an instant hit with million sold in the US before the design crossed the Atlantic to become common feature in virtually every British home.

Originally, the toaster was constructed of a wire fence with no covering and users had to place the bread inside and turn it by hand.

But by 1919 mechanic Charles Strite had incorporated springs and a timer to create the first pop-up toaster.

The first automatic electric toaster the 'Toastmaster' was created in 1926 by Waters Genter Co but the phenomenon really took off when Otto Frederick Rohwedder introduced the pre-sliced loaf in 1929.

And in 1930 The Continental Baking Company introduced sliced Wonder Bread which soon appeared in households everywhere.

Modern inventors looking at new and innovative ways of updating the toaster have recently brought to the market a device which enables the user to poach an egg at the same time.

In 1990 Simon Hackett and John Romkey created The Internet Toaster, a toaster which could be controlled online.

And in 2001 Robin Southgate from Brunel University created a toaster that could toast a graphic picture of a sunny or cloudy weather prediction onto a piece of bread.

A spokesman for the Kingsmill said: "Toasting is a relatively new phenomenon and it's interesting that in the 100 years we've been eating toast, the process hasn't changed that much.

"The 1926 Toastmaster looks pretty similar to the toasters we have in our kitchens today"