Like so many other things we take for granted, the bread toaster had some folks with great imaginations behind it. The electric toaster was pretty radical when it first came out, I imagine. Here is a brief history of some of the early models!
The Toaster
Prior to the development of the electric toaster, sliced bread was toasted by placing it in a metal frame and holding it over a fire or by holding it near to a fire using a long handled fork. Crompton and Company, Leeds, England invented toasters for bread using electricity in 1893. The technology that makes electric toasters possible, a nichrome wire that can endure high heat, has existed for a long time. At least two other brands of toasters had been introduced commercially around the time GE submitted the first patent application for their model D-12 in 1909. In 1913 Lloyd Groff Copeman and his wife Hazel Berger Copeman applied for various toaster patents and in that same year the Copeman Electric Stove Company introduced the toaster with automatic bread turner. The company also produced the “toaster that turns toast.” Before this, electric toasters cooked bread on one side and then it was flipped by hand to toast the other side. Copeman’s toaster turned the bread around without having to touch it. Copeman also invented the first electric stove and the rubber (flexible) ice cube tray.
Can you imagine living in a time when sliced bread was fairly new and toasters were just coming to be everyday appliances? Makes breakfast a little more interesting, wouldn't you say?
Coffee out on the patio again today. Fresh toast and honey to start the day!
