The First Toaster – A Brief Timeline of Its Evolution 1

The story of toasting bread dates back to ancient Egypt. Egyptians discovered that when they left dough out for a while, it would rise, thanks to natural yeast spores in the air. When baked, the bread would maintain its airy, risen structure — a major breakthrough at the time.

They also found that lightly toasting bread helped prevent mold from developing, allowing it to last longer. By around 3000 B.C., Egyptians were already practicing early forms of bread toasting, though not with devices we would recognize as toasters today.

Centuries later, around 500 B.C., the Romans adopted the practice from the Egyptians and made it a widespread tradition throughout the Roman Empire. In fact, the word “toast” comes from the Latin word “tostum,” meaning “to scorch” or “to burn.”

In the early days, Romans toasted bread by placing it near a hot fire or on heated stones. Over time, they developed simple tools — like wire frames — to hold bread over open flames, allowing for more even toasting. They even used sticks, much like the ones we use today to roast marshmallows over campfires.

As the Roman Empire expanded its reach, it spread the habit of bread toasting across Europe. Britain adopted the practice around 40 A.D., and early settlers later brought it to America, where it became a kitchen tradition.

Before the invention of the electric toaster, Americans typically used long-handled toasting forks or metal frames to hold slices of bread near an open fire.

While some sources have incorrectly credited a Scottish inventor named Alan MacMasters with creating the first electric toaster in 1893, this claim has since been debunked as an internet hoax. In reality, the early development of electric toasters was the result of gradual advances in both heating technology and appliance design.

The real breakthrough came in 1905, when two Chicago inventors, including Albert Marsh, developed nichrome — a nickel-chromium alloy that was highly resistant to heat. Nichrome made it possible to create heating elements that were durable, efficient, and safe, solving the fire hazard issues that had plagued earlier designs.

Thanks to this invention, engineers could take another shot at building a reliable electric toaster. Around this time, several models were developed. However, most early toasters could only brown one side of a bread slice at a time, requiring users to manually flip the bread to toast the other side.

Though primitive by today’s standards, these early toasters laid the foundation for the convenient and reliable appliances we now rely on every day.

The first electric toaster to achieve commercial success was the D-12 model, patented by Frank Shailor of General Electric in 1909. However, early users still had to manually flip the bread slices to toast both sides, which left room for further innovation.

In 1915, Lloyd Groff Copeman and the Copeman Electric Stove Company introduced a toaster with an automatic bread-turning mechanism. This innovation made toasting more convenient, but it wasn’t the final step toward the modern toaster we know today.

A few years later, another breakthrough was in the works — the pop-up toaster. Charles Strite, an American inventor, is credited with creating the first automatic pop-up toaster. Working in a factory cafeteria, Strite became frustrated with burnt toast and sought a solution. He designed a toaster that used a timer and springs to eject the toast once it was perfectly browned.

Strite applied for a patent in 1919, received it in 1921, and went on to establish the Waters-Genter Company. In 1926, Waters-Genter launched a redesigned version of Strite’s invention under the brand name “Toastmaster.”

The Toastmaster became the first widely successful automatic pop-up toaster, revolutionizing the way people prepared breakfast and cementing the toaster’s place as a household essential.

Another game-changer in the world of toasters was the invention of sliced bread. Although the idea of pre-slicing bread had been discussed as early as the 19th century, bakers were hesitant. They worried that sliced bread would go stale too quickly before it could reach customers, even if carefully packaged.

There were also concerns that consumers wouldn’t understand — or accept — the trade-off between convenience and reduced shelf life.

That changed in 1928 when Otto Frederick Rohwedder developed the first commercial machine capable of both slicing and wrapping bread. The Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri was the first to use his invention, introducing pre-sliced loaves to the public.

Two years later, sliced Wonder Bread hit the market, produced by the Continental Baking Company. By 1933, for the first time in history, American bakeries were producing more sliced bread than unsliced loaves.

This explosion in the popularity of sliced bread further boosted sales of automatic pop-up toasters like the Toastmaster, making them a staple in American households — especially as electricity became more widely available across the country.

In the late 1940s, Sunbeam Products introduced a major innovation with their “radiant control” toaster. This design used a sensor that detected the heat reflected from the bread’s surface, not just from the heating elements. When the surface of the bread reached approximately 154 degrees Fahrenheit, the sensor would shut off the toaster automatically.

This meant that no matter the starting condition of the bread — whether fresh, frozen, or slightly dry — the toaster could deliver perfectly consistent results every time.

As you can see, like every great invention, the toaster has gone through countless tweaks and improvements to reach the level of convenience and reliability we enjoy today.

And the innovation hasn’t stopped. Modern toasters now feature options like “lift and look,” adjustable browning settings, and even the ability to toast bread to different shades. In fact, as early as the 1990s, a toaster was introduced that could be controlled over the internet — a glimpse of how technology continues to shape even the simplest appliances.

Who knows what the future holds? One thing’s for sure: breakfast will only keep getting better.