Toaster
Electric appliance that toasts bread using radiant heat.
A toaster is a small electric device that uses radiant heat to turn sliced bread into toast. The browning happens through the Maillard reaction. The appliance typically has one or more slots where bread is placed, lowered, and cooked by heating elements, often made from nichrome wire.
There are three main types of toasters. The pop-up or automatic toaster has a vertical slot on top. A lever on the side is pressed down, lowering the bread and activating the heating elements. The toasting time, and thus the level of browning, is adjustable with a lever, knob, or buttons. When the cycle ends—determined by a timer or a thermal sensor like a bimetallic strip near the toast—the toaster shuts off and the toast pops up. Pop-up toasters can also handle foods like teacakes, toaster pastries, potato waffles, and crumpets, though fat and sugar buildup from these can cause failure. Two-slice models are more commonly bought than four-slice ones. Their appearance varies widely, from chrome, copper, or brushed metal to colored plastic. Price and marketing do not guarantee good toast. A typical modern two-slice pop-up toaster uses 600 to 1200 watts. Extra features include one-sided toasting (popular for bagels), powering only certain slots, slots of different depths and widths, and a lift that raises toast higher than normal for safe removal.
The toaster oven was invented in 1910. It is a small electric oven that can toast, bake, and broil. Food sits on a wire rack, and because of its small size, it heats faster than a regular oven. It is useful in places without a full stove and oven, such as small apartments or truck campers.
A conveyor toaster caramelizes bread as it moves on a belt or chain through a heated chamber. Designed for high volume, it is common in catering, restaurants, cafeterias, and other commercial settings. It can toast 250 to over 1800 slices per hour. The heat applied to each slice is controlled by adjusting the conveyor speed or the heating element output. Conveyor toasters come in vertical or horizontal orientations. A home-use version, the Toast-O-Lator, was produced in limited numbers in 1938.
Before electric toasters, bread was toasted by holding it in a metal frame or on a long-handled fork near a fire or grill. Long-handled forks were used from the 16th century onward, sometimes with rests for grate bars. Wrought-iron toasters with scroll orna
- inventor_of_nichrome_heating_element
- Albert Marsh, 1905 (separate patent from George Schneider's 1905 toaster patent)
Lore & Background
Before the development of the electric toaster, sliced bread was toasted by placing it in a metal frame or on a long-handled toasting fork and holding it near a fire or over a kitchen grill. From the 16th century onward, long-handled forks were used as toasters. Wrought-iron scroll-ornamented toasters appeared in Scotland in the 17th century, and the bar-gate toaster or lark spit appeared in the 18th century. Utensils for toasting bread over open flames appeared in America in the early 19th century.
The primary technical problem in toaster development at the turn of the 20th century was the development of a heating element that could withstand high temperatures without melting or becoming a fire hazard. George Schneider filed his own patent for an electric toaster in 1905, while Albert Marsh's patent for the nichrome heating element was filed separately that same year—there was no joint application between the two.
Reader's Guide
The toaster is a significant household appliance that evolved from simple open-fire utensils to a sophisticated electric device. Its development required solving the technical challenge of creating a heating element that could withstand repeated red-hot temperatures, a problem solved by Albert Marsh's invention of nichrome in 1905. The introduction of the automatic pop-up toaster in the 1920s revolutionized home toasting by eliminating the need to manually flip bread or monitor the process. Toasters have since diversified into pop-up, toaster oven, and conveyor types, each serving different needs from home use to high-volume commercial settings. The toaster's cultural impact extends beyond mere utility; it has been used as a platform for Internet connectivity (the Internet Toaster in 1990), weather-forecast toasting (2001), and even as a demonstration system for the NetBSD operating system (2005). Modern toasters can include features such as one-sided toasting for bagels, variable slot sizes, and automatic lowering mechanisms. The toaster remains a ubiquitous kitchen appliance, with typical two-slice pop-up models drawing 600 to 1200 watts.
Did You Know?
- The first stand-alone electric toaster, the Eclipse, was made in 1893 by Crompton & Company of Chelmsford, Essex, and toasted bread on one side at a time.
- The automatic pop-up toaster was first patented by Charles Strite in 1921.
- In 2001, Robin Southgate from Brunel University created a toaster that could toast a graphic of the weather prediction onto a piece of bread.
- A conveyor toaster can toast bread at a rate of 250–1800+ slices an hour.
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