A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat, generated by heating elements typically made of nichrome wire, to brown sliced bread into toast. The first stand-alone electric toaster, called the Eclipse, was manufactured in 1893 by Crompton and Company of Chelmsford, England, and toasted bread on only one side at a time using bare heating wires, requiring the user to turn the bread by hand to brown both sides, a limitation that later automatic pop-up designs would eliminate.
Facts
YearSourced to the subject's own account SignificanceSourced to the subject's own accountThe automatic pop-up toaster, ejecting the toast once done, was first patented by Charles Strite in 1921; in 1925 the Waters Genter Company introduced the redesigned Model 1-A-1 Toastmaster, the first automatic pop-up household toaster able to brown bread on both sides at once, setting the pattern for the modern household toaster. 1 FAQs
Why did it take until the twentieth century for electric toasters to become practical?
The heating element was the hard part; Nichrome in 1905 made practical toasters possible.
The main obstacle was the heating element, which had to withstand repeated high temperatures. In 1905 Albert Marsh created Nichrome, a durable alloy of nickel and chromium, and the first United States patent application for an electric toaster followed in 1906. Early models still needed the bread turned by hand, which a 1913 design addressed, and Charles Strite received his patent for the automatic pop-up toaster in 1921.
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1. Toaster (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory section, opening paragraph, Wikipedia article Toaster
The first stand-alone electric toaster, the Eclipse, was made in 1893 by Crompton & Company of Chelmsford, Essex.
History section, automatic pop-up paragraph, Wikipedia article Toaster
The automatic pop-up toaster, which ejects the toast after toasting it, was first patented by Charles Strite in 1921.
In Field: Electrical Engineering, Lead section
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to cook sliced bread into toast.
Invented By: Charles Strite, History
The automatic pop-up toaster, which ejects the toast after toasting it, was first patented by Charles Strite in 1921.
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