The same class that see the invention of the atomic dud also ease up the humanity another blistering gadget : the microwave oven oven . The principle behind microwave cooking was discovered by Percy Spencer , an locomotive engineer who worked for defence contractile organ Raytheon . After noticing a cocoa prevention melted after accidentally being place in front of a new “ magnetron ” vacuum tube , Spencer experiment with other intellectual nourishment , admit popcorn ( yes ! ) and an ballock ( not exactly).After these experiments , Spencer deduced that the intellectual nourishment was being heated by miserable - density microwave energy that could infiltrate solid objects . By October of 1946 , Raytheon had filed a patent for a microwave oven base on Spencer ’s idea .
The first oven designate for commercial-grade sale in 1947 was almost six foot tall , fee the scale at 750 Sudanese pound and cost $ 5,000 in 1947 buck . The 2nd version , bring forth in 1954 , was better but still needed work : it gobbled electricity and be $ 2,000 – $ 3,000 , at a clock time when the average toll of a young car was about $ 1,700 . project a home gadget manufacturer might have better fortune than a defending team declarer , Raytheon licensed the design to the Tappan Stove Company in 1952 , but at $ 1,295 , Tappan ’s 1955 model still fell flat than a microwave soufflé .
The food service manufacture was quicker on the uptake . Microwaves let the new multiplication of fast - nutrient restaurants to thaw , cook , and trade large amounts of perishable nutrient quickly , without rape health code . Before long , manufacturers were employ microwaves to roast coffee berry noggin , nuts , and Solanum tuberosum Saratoga chip . Factories even protrude using the ovens to deal non - food item like leather , tobacco plant , and cotton cloth . steady home did n’t deal much about microwave until 1967 , when a relatively low - energy model costing just $ 500 came out .
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