Toaster
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/Wikiwikiwombat|Wikiwikiwombat]] ([[User talk:Wikiwikiwombat|talk]]) to last version by SmackBot
{{dablink|For the English town, see [[Towcester]]. For other uses, see [[Toaster (disambiguation)]].}}
[[Image:A Toaster.jpg|thumbnail|200px|A classically styled chrome two-slot automatic toaster]]
A '''toaster''' is a small electric [[kitchen appliance]] designed to [[toast]] slices of bread, an act also known as 'making toast'. A typical modern 2-slice toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200 [[Watt|W]] and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes.
== Types of toaster ==
[[Image:Light fitting plug with toaster.jpg|thumb|Toaster with light-fitting plug, ca. 1909]]
[[Image:Toasterovenphoto.jpg|thumb|A toaster oven]]
Modern toasters are typically one of three varieties: pop-up toasters, toaster [[oven]]s and conveyor toasters.
In pop-up or automatic toasters, bread slices are inserted vertically into slots (generally only large enough to admit a single slice of bread) on the top of the toaster. A lever on the side of the toaster is depressed, activating the toaster. When an internal device determines that the toasting cycle is complete, the toaster turns off and the toast pops up out of the slots. The heating elements of a pop-up toaster are usually oriented vertically, parallel to the bread slice - although there are some variations.
In earlier days, the completion of the toasting operation was determined by a mechanical clockwork timer; the user could adjust the running time of the timer to determine the degree of "doneness" of the toast, but the first cycle produced less toasted toast than subsequent cycles because the toaster was not yet warmed up. Toasters made since the 1930s frequently use a thermal sensor, such as a [[bimetallic strip]], located in close proximity to the toast. This allows the first cycle to run longer than subsequent cycles. The thermal device is also slightly responsive to the actual temperature of the toast itself. Like the timer, it can be adjusted by the user to determine the "doneness" of the toast.
By comparison, toaster ovens are small electric ovens with a door on one side and a tray within. To toast bread with a toaster oven, one lays down slices of bread horizontally on the tray, closes the door, and activates the toaster, usually by means of a lever. When the toast is done, the toaster turns off, but the door must be opened manually. Most toaster ovens are significantly larger than toasters, but are capable of performing most of the functions of electric ovens, albeit on a much smaller scale. They can be used to cook toast with toppings, like garlic bread or cheese, though they tend to produce drier toast and require longer operating times, since their heating elements are located further from the toast (to allow larger items to be cooked). They may also heat less evenly than either toasters or larger electric ovens, and some glass cookware cannot be used in them.
Conveyor toasters are designed to make many slices of toast and are generally used in the catering industry, being suitable for large-scale use. Bread is toasted 350-900 slices an hour, making conveyor toasters ideal for a large restaurant that is constantly busy with growing demand. However, such devices have occasionally been produced for home use as far back as 1938, when the Toast-A-Lator went into limited production. {{Fact|date=July 2008}}
As with so many home appliances, more elaborate toasters and toaster ovens now utilize computer-controlled mechanisms in place of [[electromechanics|electromechanical]] controls. Toasters are usually freestanding, counter-top appliances, although some toaster ovens may be hung beneath cabinets.
Sometimes toast gets stuck in a toaster, particularly pop-up toasters, and must be freed manually. As most toasters are in the kitchen, metal knives and forks are typically an easily available tool but can cause risk of [[electric shock]], unless the appliance is disconnected from the mains.
Some toasters also have a small round [[griddle]] on them for making eggs with toast.
== History of toasters ==
[[Image:Edicraft toaster.jpg|thumb|[[Edison]] ''Edicraft'' toaster, ca. 1929]]
Prior to the development of the electric toaster, sliced bread was toasted by placing it in a metal frame and holding it over a [[fire]] or by holding it near to a fire using a long handled fork.
Utensils for toasting bread over open flames go back at least 200 years. Toasters for bread using electricity were invented by Brock Hanson{{Fact|date=May 2008}}. The technology that makes electric toasters possible, a [[nichrome]] wire that can endure high heat, has existed for a long time. At least two other brands of toasters had been introduced commercially around the time [[General Electric|GE]] submitted the first patent application for their model D-12 in 1909.<ref>[http://www.toaster.org/1900.html 1900 - 1920<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
In 1913 [[Lloyd Groff Copeman]] and his wife Hazel Berger Copeman applied for various toaster patents and in that same year the Copeman Electric Stove Company introduced the toaster with automatic bread turner.<ref name=lloydcopeman>[http://www.lloydcopeman.com/biography/bio3.html LloydCopeman.com - prolific U.S. inventor<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The company also produced the "toaster that turns toast." Before this, electric toasters cooked bread on one side and then it was flipped by hand to toast the other side. Copeman's toaster turned the bread around without having to touch it.<ref>[http://www.absolutemichigan.com/dig/michigan/lloyd-groff-copeman-the-patent-man/ » Lloyd Groff Copeman: The Patent Man » Absolute Michigan<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Copeman also invented the first [[electric stove]] and the rubber (flexible) ice cube tray.<ref name=lloydcopeman/>
The next development was the semi-automatic toaster, which turned off the heating element automatically after the bread toasted, using either a clockwork mechanism or a bimetallic strip. However, the toast was still manually lowered and raised from the toaster via a lever mechanism.
The automatic pop-up toaster, which ejects the toast after toasting it, was first patented by [[Charles Strite]] in 1919. In 1925, using a redesigned version of Strite's toaster, the Waters Genter Company introduced the Model 1-A-1 Toastmaster,<ref>[http://www.toaster.org/tmaster_when.html Toastmaster Toasters: When They Were Made<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> the first automatic pop-up, household toaster that could brown bread on both sides simultaneously, set the heating element on a timer, and eject the toast when finished. By 1950, some high-end U.S. toasters featured automatic toast lowering and raising, with no levers to operate - simply dropping the slices into the machine commenced the toasting procedure. A notable example was the [[Sunbeam Products|Sunbeam]] T-20, T-35 and T-50 models (identical except for details such as control positioning) made from the late 1940s through the 1960s, which used a bimetallic beam structure to lower the toast; the inserted slice of bread tripped a lever to switch on the heating elements, and their heat caused the bimetallic pull-down mechanism to lower the bread. When the toast was done, as determined by a small bimetallic sensor actuated by the heat passing through the toast, the heaters were shut off and the pull-down mechanism returned to its [[Room temperature|room-temperature]] position, slowly raising the finished toast. As in most such toasters, one sensing unit controls the toasting of two (or four) slices, so the slot with the sensor is marked "ONE SLICE" because operating the toaster without bread in that slot will result in almost immediate shut-off as the heat from the heating element impinges directly on the sensor.
Significant ultramodern chrome designs were the Sunbeam T-9 "Half-Round" or "World's Fair" toaster, designed by [[Scharfenberg|George Scharfenberg]] and introduced in 1939, and the General Electric 139T81, produced in quantity from 1946.<ref>[http://www.toaster.org/museum.html The Cyber Toaster Museum<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Automatic electric toasters were very much a luxury item, with the better models costing up to $25 in 1939 (approximately $360 in 2006 dollars). Most toasters produced from the late 1930s through 1960 are generally considered to be of the highest standard in workmanship and material quality; many were built well enough to last for decades. Due to their aesthetic popularity, some of the classic toaster designs from the 1940s and 1950s are now being reintroduced into the market, though these reproductions for the most part are not constructed to the high standard of the original designs.
More recent additions to toaster technology include wider toasting slots for bagels and thick breads, the ability to toast frozen breads, and a single-side heating mode. Most toasters can also be used to toast other foods such as teacakes, [[Pop Tarts]], and crumpets, though the addition of melted butter and/or sugar to the interior components of automatic electric toasters often contributes to eventual mechanical or electrical failure.
Toasters can be modified to print images and logos on bread slices.
== High-tech toasters ==
There have been a number of projects adding advanced technology to toasters.
In 1990 Simon Hackett and John Romkey created The Internet Toaster, a toaster which could be controlled from the [[Internet]].<ref name="tIn">{{cite web | title=livinginternet.com | work=Internet Toaster, John Romkey, Simon Hackett | url=http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ia_myths_toast.htm | accessdaymonth = 22 November | accessyear=2006}}</ref>
In 2001 Robin Southgate from [[Brunel University]] in England created a toaster that could toast a graphic of the [[weather forecasting|weather prediction]] (limited to sunny or cloudy) onto a piece of bread.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1264205.stm BBC News | SCI/TECH | A small slice of design<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The toaster dials a pre-coded phone number to get the weather forecast.<ref>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/04/bread_as_a_display_device/</ref>
In 2005, Technologic Systems, a vendor of [[embedded systems]] hardware, designed a toaster running the [[NetBSD]] [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]] as a sales demonstration system.<ref>[http://www.embeddedarm.com/news/netbsd_toaster.htm NetBSD Toaster with the TS-7200 ARM9 SBC<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Other uses of the word 'toaster'==
{{Trivia|date=January 2008}}
*Toasters are commonly used as fictitious computer [[peripheral]]s for [[device driver]] sample [[Source code|code]]; for example, the [[Microsoft Windows]] Driver Development Kit includes a Toaster sample driver.<ref>[http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/foundation/toastersamp.mspx Toaster Sample Drivers in the Driver Development Kit<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*The original [[Apple Macintosh]] computer was sometimes referred to derogatorily as a [[beige toaster]] due to its lack of [[cooling fan]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
*The [[Commodore 1541]] floppy disk drive was also known among users as the "toaster", due to its internal power source which generated some heat.
*The term ''toaster'' is also used to refer to an email server via which users can retrieve their email using the [[POP3]] or [[IMAP]] protocols.
*''Toaster'' is slang for a recordable [[optical disc]] drive; [[Roxio Toast]] is one program which works with such devices. The term ''[[coaster]] toaster'' is also seen, particularly in reference to a drive with a high rate of recording errors.
*The New Zealand Railways EF Class ([[NZR EF class]]) locomotives are nicknamed toasters, probably because they are currently the only electric locomotives in revenue service, and they have a very boxy shape.
== See also ==
* [[Sandwich toaster]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{commonscat|Toasters}}
* [http://www.toaster.org/museum.html The Toaster Museum]: A detailed site devoted entirely to toasters and their history
* [http://www.toastermuseum.com The International Central Services Toaster Museum]
* [http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Engineering_Graphics/_EG2001/toasterama/toasterhistory.html History of the electric toaster]
* [http://www.howstuffworks.com/toaster.htm How Toasters Work (Howstuffworks.com)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv7jvyslRek What's the Job of Toaster's] A explanation on what toaster's do.
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