Electric toasters have been in existence for less than 100 years. Yet, people have been consuming bread for the past 6,000 years, and people have been toasting bread since the time of the Romans. Toasting bread makes it crunchier and preserves it, an especially important characteristic for early civilizations. Before the advent of the electric toaster, bread was toasted over an open fire with the help of a variety of simple tools. Toasting bread does more than just preserve it, of course, it changes its nature; bread becomes sweeter, crunchier and the perfect surface on which to spread all sorts of things.
Milestones:
1905 Albert Marsh discovered Nichrome the filament wire needed to toast bread
1906 George Schneider applied for a patent for his version of the electric toaster. It is never built.
1909 General Electric introduces their first electric toaster for the home. Invented by Frank Shailor
1913 Hazel and Lloyd Copeman apply for toaster patents
1913 Copeman Electric Stove Company introduced toaster with automatic bread turner
1914 Westinghouse introduces electric toaster for the home. Under license of Copeman patents
1919 Charles Strite invents a automatic pop-up bread toaster and applies for a patent
1921 Waters Genter Co. formed to manufacture Strite's toaster and market it to restaurants.
1921 Two of Strite's patent application are approved
1926 Strite file patent application for his design for a home toaster
1926 Waters Genter Co introduce their first electric toaster for the home under the Toastmaster name
1926 Max McGraw purchased Waters Genter Co. and the Toastmaster brand
1928 first mechanical pre-sliced bread goes on sale to the public in Chillicothe, Missouri
1929 Patent 1,698,146 issued to Strite for the automatic pop-up toaster for home use
1930 Wonder Bread begins selling pre-sliced bread, most bakeries follow suit
1933 toaster sales skyrocketed, thanks to the standardized size of sliced bread.
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