The History of the Toaster
 

People have been toasting bread since the Roman times. Toasting bread not only makes it crunchier, but more importantly preserves it, a very useful tool for early civilisations. Toasting bread began as a method of prolonging the life of bread. It was very common activity in Roman times; 'tostum' is the latin word for scorching or burning. The first electric toaster was invented in 1893 in Great Britain by Crompton and Co (UK) and re-invented in 1909 in the United States. It only toasted one side of the bread at a time and it required a person to stand by and turn it off manually when the toast looked done.

Up until the start of the 20th Century, toasting was performed over an open fire. It was not until 1905 that the electric toaster became feasible, when Nichrome (an alloy of nickel and chromium) was discovered to have essential properties for the toasting wire.

The surface of toasts needs to be heated to temperatures over 155 degrees celsius and this Nichrome wire enabled such temperatures to be met, without it becoming damaged or catching fire.

However, early toasters did not have a thermostat and toast was often burnt, if not kept an eye on!

In 1919 Charles Strite invented the automatic pop-up toaster and by 1926 the toastmaster was made available to the public.