Ronald Howes

Ronald B. Howes (22 May 1926 to 16 February 2010) was an American toy inventor, best known for the Easy-Bake Oven, which Kenner Products introduced to consumers in 1963. He grew up in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, left high school during the Second World War to join the United States Navy, served in the South Pacific, and afterwards earned a bachelor degree at the University of Cincinnati. He got the idea for the oven from street vendors who kept food warm under heat lamps. The first oven was heated by two ordinary light bulbs, one above and one below the baking tray, and it was widely introduced at the 1964 New York Toy Fair. As director of research and new product development at Kenner he also took part in creating or refining Spirograph, the Give-a-Show Projector and the Close-and-Play Record Player, and he went on inventing for the rest of his life, including electrostatic printers.