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 PurposeSourced to the subject's own account Material or Power SourceSourced to the subject's own account 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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Invented By
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Sources
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.
Introduction
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to cook sliced bread into toast.
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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