DAILY APPLIANCE
JANUARY 3, 2022
Microwave Oven : From Accidental To Household Appliance
Microwave oven : from accidental to household appliance. From unplanned invention, came one of the most useful tool for daily human life.
A microwave oven is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range.
The history of microwave website writes that between 1937 to 1940, British physicist Sir John Turton Randall began developing multi-cavity magnetron which allowed for production of electromagnetic waves of a small enough wavelength (microwaves) and development of radar along with his team of British coworkers. In September 1940, magnetron was given to the U.S. government in exchange for their financial and industrial help during the Second World War.
Percy Spencer, an American engineer is credited with inventing the modern microwave oven after world War II. It was developed from the radar technology and was first sold in 1947 by the name “Radarange”.
One of the companies that were given contract by U.S. government at the time to build magnetrons was Raytheon Manufacturing Company that was founded in 1925. It is an American company producing military stuff like missiles, military training system and electronic warfare products. Spencer was a Raytheon engineer back in the day.
He was trying to improve the power level of magnetron for radar sets. In 1945 Spencer was testing one of his magnetrons and found that the peanut cluster bar had melted in his pocket had melted. He later found that this was the cause of his magnetron experiment.
After the accidental founding, he deliberately cooked corn and the first popcorn from a microwave process was born. The second food he tried in his new machine was an egg. It exploded moments later, covering his face in egg. From that day, the microwave oven was born.
On October 8, 1945, Raytheon filed a United States patent application for Spencer’s microwave cooking process. The Radarange, the first commercial microwave oven was introduced in 1947. It wasn’t a big seller due to its weight and the cost was more than $2.000.
In 1961, Sharp Corporation from Japan began manufacturing their own microwave ovens and between 1964 and 1966 they introduced the first microwave oven with a turntable. In 1965, Raytheon acquired Amana Corporation, American brand of household appliances and in 1967 they introduced the first popular home mode at a price of US $495 ($4.000 in 2020 dollars). This was know as the Amana’s compat “Radarange”. By 1975, a million microwaves were sold every year.
How does the effect of microwave to human’s health ? According to Popular Mechanics website the low doses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by microwaves are generally considered safe, although the FDA admits no studies have been done to learn the impact of microwaves on humans over time.
By 1986, about 25% of households in the United States owned a microwave oven and over 90% in 1997. In 2008, a market research study in Australia found that 95% of kitchens contained a microwave oven and around 83% used it every day.
In the less developed countries adoption of microwave oven has been slower as households are concentrated for more important household appliances like refrigerators and ovens.
Microwave ovens for consumer usually come with a cooking power of 600 watts to 1000 or 1200 watts for some powerful models. The size of the consumer microwave is vary but usually the internal volume is around 20 liters.
Traditional microwave rely on internal high voltage power, but newer models are powered by an inverter. This can be useful for even more cooking as it offer a seamless stream of cooking power.
related post