American engineer
Microwave Oven, 1976
Percy Spencer developed and patented the first microwave oven after noticing that a magnetron was emitting heat-generating microwaves during an experiment with radar in 1945. The first models were huge—about 6 feet in height and weighing more than 750 pounds.
microwave oven, also called microwaveorelectronic oven, appliance that cooks food by means of high-frequency electromagnetic waves called microwaves.
In 1970, 40,000 microwave ovens were sold in the US, and by 1975 there were 1 million, according to research from Panasonic. In the UK they also took off in the 1970s thanks to the rise of ready-meals - today 56% of us are still using microwaves to heat up our ready-made meals.
Oven-sized microwaves for the home were introduced in 1955, but not until the 1980s did shrinking sizes and prices attract buyers.
Microwave Ovens Then to Now
In 1967, Raytheon's residential division Amana began distributing and popularizing microwave ovens for the home. Over the next few decades, Americans and other nationalities bought microwave ovens in droves, and by the end of the 1990s, about 90% of Americans had a microwave in their house.
Microwave cooking is in in '87. With almost 12 million new microwaves sold this year, more homes now have microwaves than food processors; and with the publication of 'Microwave Gourmet' by Barbara Kafka, the first great microwave cookbook, 1987 can be called the year of the microwave.
Litton Industries, developed new configuration of the microwave in the '60s. It was short, wide shape that we all know now and it used special magnetron feed which allowed for oven to survive a no-load condition when it had no food to absorb the waves.
In 1985 there were a lot of different models of microwave oven on the market.
Raytheon, which had acquired a company called Amana, introduced the first popular home model in 1967, the countertop Radarange. It cost $495 (about $3,200 today). Consumer interest in microwave ovens began to grow. About 40,000 units were sold in the United States in 1970.
AT editors (reluctantly) offered up these suggested nicknames: the 'crowave. the wave. the micro.
Domestic models began to sell in Japan in 1966 and in the US in 1967. The first imports to Australia were used mainly in take-away food outlets, but by 1980 around 150,000 households had a microwave, with penetration reaching 50 per cent by 1989 and around 77 per cent by December 1995.
The first powerful sources of microwaves were invented at the beginning of World War II: the klystron tube by Russell and Sigurd Varian at Stanford University in 1937, and the cavity magnetron tube by John Randall and Harry Boot at Birmingham University, UK in 1940.
Called the “Radarange,” it weighed nearly 750 pounds and cost more than $2,000. Needless to say, it wasn't a big seller. The first domestic microwave was introduced in 1955, but it too failed to launch because it was expensive and because microwave technology was still an unknown.
Panasonic microwave, circa 1984
As microwaves competed for homemakers' hearts, Panasonic introduced their "genius" series, with automatic sensors to make sure you didn't overcook the pork.
When first introduced in the 1950s, microwave ovens were promoted as the wave of the future, the latest in modern electrical cooking. By 2000, microwaves were found in 90 percent of U.S. households.
By 1986, 25 percent of U.S. households owned a microwave oven, up from less than one percent in 1971. Assuming microwave oven penetration into U.S. households was constant during this 15 year period, about 12 to 13 percent of U.S. households would have owned a microwave oven in 1978.
If you take good care of your microwave up into its old age, there's a low risk of harm, but if it's damaged in any way you may want to get it checked out. If you've looked after it well, there's no reason why a vintage microwave should be dangerous.
The history of the microwave oven goes back to the mid-1940s. Percy Spencer was an employee at the Raytheon company when he accidentally discovered that microwaves might play a role in cooking food. He later patented his invention.
Microwave oven
If you wanted to reheat leftovers quickly in 1985, you could get an 0.8-cubic-foot microwave from Sears for about $240. You'd nuke your budget at the same time, though, as that's the equivalent of $585 today. Sears now offers a similar model for $70.
Active and passive microwave devices and components are the essential building blocks of microwave circuits and systems that operate in the frequency range from 300 MHz to 300 GHz (corresponding to wavelengths of 1 m to 1 mm in free space).
Its radiation, or waves, penetrate the food and heat up any moisture inside it. These waves are themselves called microwaves because they're short (and micro- means "small"), similar to radio waves.