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Re-activateOne hundred years ago this week, a General Electric technician named Frank Shailor submitted the patent for the first commercially successful electric toaster. Shailor's invention had capitalized on another recent invention—nickel-chromium, or ni-chrome, wire—that could be heated repeatedly without breaking, according to the National Museum of American History.
Shailor's D-12 model (shown) arranged grids of ni-chrome wire and mica plates in an open configuration on a porcelain base. Early models sold for $4.50 and were an instant hit. Owners had to turn the bread by hand, so burned fingers were common.
Safety issues with toasters remained, as Consumer Reports covered in a 1956 report; three models were judged Not Acceptable due to electric shocks they caused. Recent toasters and toaster ovens we've tested are safer and more stylish.
You might not see many versions of Shailor's toaster around these days, but one reader still uses her 1936 Toastmaster, which was featured in our roster of great old appliances. (If you're a nostalgia freak, check out the Vintage Consumer Reports posts on fluorescent lights, air conditioners, and the planned obsolescence of appliances, among other blasts from the past.—Gian Trotta |e-mail | Twitter
Essential Information: The centennial of the toaster comes a year after the invention of the vacuum cleaner, whose 100th birthday was marked by the Hoover Anniversary Windtunnel vacuums.
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