Who invented the microwave facts?
Percy Spencer: Inventor of the Microwave
- Percy Spencer: Early life. Spencer was born on July 9 1894 in Howland, Maine, to parents Jasper G. ...
- The Navy. An important, all be it short aspect of Percy Spencers life was His decision to join the Navy. ...
- Professional life of Percy Spencer. Following his service in the Navy Spencer started his professional life. ...
- Radarange and the first microwave. ...
- Legacy. ...
When did the first microwave come out?
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. It wasn't until 1967, two decades after its invention, that the microwave oven finally caught on in American homes in the form of Amana's compact "Radarange."
When did microwaves first appear in homes?
The first ever commercial model was created in 1954 but it didn’t perform well with regards to sales. In 1965, the Amana Corporation was bought by Raytheon, and they made the first home-applicable model of the microwave oven in 1967. It retailed at $495 and was quite popular even though it did not do well regarding sales.
When was the first microwave sold?
The first public was in January 1947 in a Speedy Weeny vending machine in Grand Central Terminal which sold freshly cooked hot dogs. The first commercially available microwave oven also appeared in 1947. It was made by Raytheon, it was called Radarange had 1.8 metres in height and weighed 340 kilograms.
What was the microwave originally invented for?
Percy SpencerRobert N. HallMicrowave oven/Inventors
Who invented the first microwave and when?
American engineer Percy Spencer is generally credited with inventing the modern microwave oven after World War II from radar technology developed during the war. Named the "Radarange", it was first sold in 1946.
When was the microwave first introduced?
1955: The first domestic microwave oven is introduced. Walk into almost any American kitchen today and there's one appliance that is likely to be sitting on the counter somewhere — a microwave oven.
What are 3 facts about microwaves?
7 Things You Didn't Know About MicrowavesThe Microwave Was Invented In 1940s By Accident. ... Popcorn Was The First Food Tested In a Microwave. ... The First Microwave Cost $5,000. ... Nobody Wanted To Buy One When It Came Out. ... Microwaving Plastic-Covered Food Can Give You Cancer; Standing Next To It Won't.More items...
Who invented the first microwave?
Percy SpencerRobert N. HallMicrowave oven/Inventors
What are microwaves used for?
Applications of microwaves The uses of the microwave are similar to that of radio waves. They are used in communications, radio astronomy, remote sensing, radar, and of course, owing to their heating application, they are used in cooking as well.
How old are microwaves?
The first commercial microwave oven was tested in a Boston restaurant in 1947. Later that year, Raytheon introduced the Radarange 1161. It stood 5.5 feet (1.7 meters) tall, weighed 750 lbs.
Why are microwaves called microwaves?
The name Microwave is derived from the energy used to cook the food, microwaves, which pass through the cells and molecules of the food, the frequency of the waves causes the water molecules to vibrate, this movement generates heat. These microwaves are produced by a device called a magnetron within the microwave oven.
How much did a microwave cost in 1985?
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.
How are microwaves used in everyday life?
Microwaves cause water and fat molecules to vibrate, which makes the substances hot. So we can use microwaves to cook many types of food. Mobile phones use microwaves, as they can be generated by a small antenna, which means that the phone doesn't need to be very big. Wifi also uses microwaves.
How the microwave was discovered?
The microwave was invented accidentally in 1945 by a self-taught engineer named Percy Spencer, who was leading a radar project for the defence giant, Raytheon. While testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron, he discovered that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted from the heat.
How are microwaves produced?
Microwaves are produced by vacuum tube devices that operate on the ballistic motion of electrons controlled by magnetic or electric fields. Microwaves are used in microwave ovens for cooking and heating purposes.
How much did a microwave cost in 1975?
Also available were microwave ovens, ranging in price from $189.95 to $439.95. Of course, there's been a good deal of dollar inflation since 1975. Judged by changes in the consumer-price index, what $100 bought in 1975 takes about $354 to buy today.
When did Percy Spencer invent the microwave?
October 8, 1945Spencer and Raytheon put much effort into developing the microwave oven to be used for cooking purposes and filed for a patent on October 8, 1945. He was later awarded the patent on January 24, 1950. The first commercial microwave oven was called “Radarange,” marketed in 1947.
How much did Percy Spencer make from the microwave?
$2And Maine's own Percy Spencer was paid $2 for inventing the microwave oven. According to the New England Historical Society, Spencer was born in Howland in 1894. His father died 18 months later, and his mother sent him to live with an aunt and uncle.
What did Percy Spencer died of?
Newton, MAPercy Spencer / Place of deathNewton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately 7 miles west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 88,923. Wikipedia
Who invented the microwave?
A 1947 patent application by Raytheon’s Percy Spencer described the use of microwaves for heating foods, including popcorn.
When did microwaves become more common?
As microwaves became more common throughout the 1970s, concerns arose about the effects of microwave radiation on humans, as the New York Times described in 1974:
How much did a Tappan microwave cost?
The Tappan RL-1 was wall mounted and cost US $1,295 (almost $11,000 today), putting it out of the reach of most people.
What was the purpose of the magnetron tubes?
As World War II came to an end, so did the market for the magnetron tubes that had been used to generate microwaves for short-range military radar. Magnetron makers like Raytheon eagerly sought new applications for the technology.
Why did the scientist put an egg in the pot?
Next morning he brought in a kettle, cut a hole in the side and put an uncooked egg (in its shell) into the pot. Then he moved a magnetron against the hole and turned on the juice. A skeptical engineer peeked over the top of the pot just in time to catch a face-full of cooked egg. The reason? The yolk cooked faster than the outside, causing the egg to burst.
When did Tappan introduce the RL-1 microwave?
In 1955, Tappan introduced the RL-1, a wall-mounted microwave oven that sold for almost $11,000 in today’s dollars. Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images
Who discovered microwave cooking?
Legends exist about a serendipitous discovery of microwave cooking by Percy Spencer… [Spence’s subordinates] all remember the discovery as a gradual process involving chance and deliberate observations by many individuals, e.g., feelings of warmth near radiating tubes, experimenting with pop corn, etc. Still, Percy Spencer was in a position to trigger the company into exploiting the discovery and his participation was a key contribution.
When did microwaves become household appliances?
It should be noted that the microwave oven didn't become a household appliance until 1967, when Raytheon began to market a countertop version of the Radarange though its subsidiary, Amana. You can learn more about the Radarange history at Raytheon's web site history page.
Who invented the microwave oven?
Perhaps the engineer who is best known for birthing the idea of using microwaves to prepare food was Percy Spencer, of the Raytheon Company, located in Waltham Massachusetts.
What is the name of the invention that Bock invented?
Mr. Bock held five US patents, including one related to microwave heating: 2,516,503 filed December 14, 1946 and issued in July 25, 1950 and titled "Controlling Device for Cooking Apparatus". It discloses a means for shutting off microwave power when a food load is not present in a microwave cooking system, an important feature that the average user wouldn't even know about.
What was Raytheon's original patent?
Spencer's original US patent 2,495,429, Method of Treating Foodstuffs, was filed October 8, 1945 and granted on January 24, 1950.
Who was the head of the microwave heating laboratory at Waltham?
From what I read in articles, in 1947 Marvin was appointed head of the microwave heating laboratory at Waltham. In 1949 he was named assistant head of the radio frequency and antenna department of Raytheon's Missile Systems Laboratory at Waltham and this is where his focus turned to the Sparrow and Hawk missiles.
Who worked on the Raytheon microwave?
Other Raytheon employees who worked on the microwave oven. The Creative Ordeal credits Lawrence Marshall and Fritz Gross with some of the early work on the "Radarange". Radarange was chosen for the product in an employee competition, combining the words radar and range.
Who was the father of the microwave?
My dear father, Marvin J. Bock (1914-1971) was an electrical engineer in Percy Spencer's R&D laboratory at Raytheon, and did indeed participate in the development of the microwave oven during the 1940s.
When was the microwave invented?
Like so many other household gadgets, the original idea for the microwave oven wasn’t borne out a desire to reduce the burden of domestic chores. The history of the microwave began in 1940 when John Randall and Harry Boot invented the cavity magnetron tube at Birmingham University in England.
Who invented the microwave?
In October 1945 Percy Spencer filed a patent (US 2495429 A) for a “Method of treating foodstuffs” which details the process of heating food using microwaves. In the patent description, Percy Spencer provides examples of where cooking an egg and a potato using his microwave device use a tiny fraction of the energy used with conventional cooking. You can download a scan of the original patent below.
How much did a microwave cost in 1967?
By 1967, Domestic kitchen counter-top versions of the microwave oven were eventually made available. Sold by the firm Amana, they were priced at US$495 ($3,408 in today’s dollars).
When did microwaves come out?
Microwave ovens have been a feature of most of our kitchens since the early to mid 1990’s. Did you know however that the first microwave ovens were already commercially available way back in 1947? These early appliances known then as RadaRanges cost around $3000 US, weighed approximately 340kg and stood 1.6m tall!
When did microwaves become more affordable?
By the late 1970’s, technology improvements and cheaper electronic parts meant that microwave ovens became more practical and affordable. In 1986, 1 in 4 US households owned a microwave oven. By 1997, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that a staggering 9 out of 10 American households owned a microwave oven.
Why was the magnetron tube important?
The magnetron tube quickly became hugely important during World War II as it was used by the Allied forces of Europe and America to emit microwave radar signals to detect distant, Nazi enemy aircraft and ships. In 1945, the American engineer, Percy Spencer was carrying out maintenance work on a live radar set.
When was the first microwave invented?
Raytheon patented the dielectric heating device, naming it the Radarange, and in 1947 the first commercially available microwave oven hit the market. What started as an 800-pound device priced between two and three thousand dollars and mainly used for commercial purposes became modified over the years into a more affordable $495 countertop model released by Raytheon-acquired Amana Corporation in 1967. Americans rapidly discovered the convenience of quick cooking, and now more than 90% of households have a microwave.
Who invented the microwave?
After several successful experiments popping popcorn kernels and exploding a whole egg, Spencer built the first microwave oven, which was a rudimentary metal box with a magnetron inside, to heat lunches.
When were microwaves invented?
Microwaves were first generated in the 1890s in some of the earliest radio experiments by physicists who thought of them as a form of "invisible light". James Clerk Maxwell in his 1873 theory of electromagnetism, now called Maxwell's equations, had predicted that a coupled electric field and magnetic field could travel through space as an electromagnetic wave, and proposed that light consisted of electromagnetic waves of short wavelength. In 1888, German physicist Heinrich Hertz was the first to demonstrate the existence of radio waves using a primitive spark gap radio transmitter. Hertz and the other early radio researchers were interested in exploring the similarities between radio waves and light waves, to test Maxwell's theory. They concentrated on producing short wavelength radio waves in the UHF and microwave ranges, with which they could duplicate classic optics experiments in their laboratories, using quasioptical components such as prisms and lenses made of paraffin, sulfur and pitch and wire diffraction gratings, to refract and diffract radio waves like light rays. Hertz produced waves up to 450 MHz; his directional 450 MHz transmitter consisted of a 26 cm brass rod dipole antenna with a spark gap between the ends, suspended at the focal line of a parabolic antenna made of a curved zinc sheet, powered by high voltage pulses from an induction coil. His historic experiments demonstrated that radio waves like light exhibited refraction, diffraction, polarization, interference and standing waves, proving that radio waves and light waves were both forms of Maxwell's electromagnetic waves .
How do microwaves work?
This means that they work on the basis of clumps of electrons flying ballistically through them, rather than using a continuous stream of electrons. Low-power microwave sources use solid-state devices such as the field-effect transistor (at least at lower frequencies), tunnel diodes, Gunn diodes, and IMPATT diodes.
What is the wavelength of a microwave?
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively.
How far can a microwave travel?
Microwaves travel by line-of-sight; unlike lower frequency radio waves they do not diffract around hills, follow the earth's surface as ground waves, or reflect from the ionosphere, so terrestrial microwave communication links are limited by the visual horizon to about 40 miles (64 km).
How far can a microwave beam be from the troposphere?
This technique has been used at frequencies between 0.45 and 5 GHz in tropospheric scatter (troposcatter) communication systems to communicate beyond the horizon, at distances up to 300 km.
What is the name of the metal pipe used to carry radio waves?
At microwave frequencies, the transmission lines which are used to carry lower frequency radio waves to and from antennas, such as coaxial cable and parallel wire lines, have excessive power losses, so when low attenuation is required microwaves are carried by metal pipes called waveguides.
What does the prefix "micro" mean?
The prefix micro- in microwave is not meant to suggest a wavelength in the micrometer range. Rather, it indicates that microwaves are "small" (having shorter wavelengths), compared to the radio waves used prior to microwave technology.
Why did they make microwaves?
You probably didn't know that microwave ovens were invented years ago; by accident. Most American households have microwave ovens because it's convenient and perfectly does the job . The UK made the cavity magnetron which emitted enough magnetic waves and was sufficient ground for the development of the modern microwave.
Who Invented the Microwave Oven?
The Raytheon researcher; Percy Spencer discovered the connection between the magnetron and heating by accident. Percy LeBaron's Spencer worked on an active radar set a few years later, accidentally melting a chocolate bar in his pocket. He thought microwaves could cook food. Spencer then tried popcorn and made a microwave egg. By 1945, Raytheon had filed a microwave cooking patent.
How much did the first microwave cost?
Then, Raytheon introduced the first Radarange commercial microwave oven and advertised it for sale. It cost five thousand dollars, equivalent to the current $58K. This microwave oven weighed three-forty kilograms and was water-cooled.
What is the microwave oven used for?
The microwave oven used for heating food bombards food with microwaves that make dipole molecules of water and other substances revolve and collide rapidly, manifesting as heat.
What is NXP microwave?
NXP semiconductors microwave ovens use radiofrequency energy to cook, controlling the power amounts to each food part, improving nutrition and taste, consistency and efficiency. At the same time, other ovens are solar chargeable and contain incorporated lines.
Why did Spencer start engineering?
However, he started engineering because of curiosity. At 12 through fourteen, Spencer worked at the spool mill and got hired for electricity installation in a paper mill. Later, inspired by the titanic heroic radio operations, Spencer enrolled in the Navy. In the Navy, he learned technology through textbooks while he stood to watch.
Why is it important to keep a safe distance when turning on a microwave?
It is best to maintain a safe distance when you turn your microwave on to avoid potential harm caused by minor microwave radiations.
When did microwaves start?
Japan's Sharp Corporation began manufacturing microwave ovens in 1961. Between 1964 and 1966, Sharp introduced the first microwave oven with a turntable, an alternative means to promote more even heating of food. In 1965, Raytheon, looking to expand their Radarange technology into the home market, acquired Amana to provide more manufacturing capability. In 1967, they introduced the first popular home model, the countertop Radarange, at a price of US$495 ($4,000 in 2020 dollars). Unlike the Sharp models, a motor driven mode stirrer in the top of the oven cavity rotated allowing the food to remain stationary.
When was the first microwave invented?
Named the "Radarange", it was first sold in 1946. Raytheon later licensed its patents for a home-use microwave oven that was introduced by Tappan in 1955, but it was still too large and expensive for general home use. Sharp Corporation introduced the first microwave oven with a turntable between 1964 and 1966.
What does microwave oven mean?
Another misconception is that microwave ovens cook food "from the inside out", meaning from the center of the entire mass of food outwards. This idea arises from heating behavior seen if an absorbent layer of water lies beneath a less absorbent drier layer at the surface of a food; in this case, the deposition of heat energy inside a food can exceed that on its surface. This can also occur if the inner layer has a lower heat capacity than the outer layer causing it to reach a higher temperature, or even if the inner layer is more thermally conductive than the outer layer making it feel hotter despite having a lower temperature. In most cases, however, with uniformly structured or reasonably homogenous food item, microwaves are absorbed in the outer layers of the item at a similar level to that of the inner layers.
How did Raytheon create the microwave?
To verify his finding, Spencer created a high density electromagnetic field by feeding microwave power from a magnetron into a metal box from which it had no way to escape. When food was placed in the box with the microwave energy, the temperature of the food rose rapidly. On 8 October 1945, Raytheon filed a United States patent application for Spencer's microwave cooking process, and an oven that heated food using microwave energy from a magnetron was soon placed in a Boston restaurant for testing.
Why do microwaves heat food?
Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently because excitation is fairly uniform in the outer 25–38 mm (1–1.5 inches) of a homogeneous, high water content food item. The development of the cavity magnetron in the UK made possible the production of electromagnetic waves of a small enough wavelength ( microwaves ).
Why does a microwave have a small wavelength?
Heating from microwaves that have a wavelength that is small relative to the cavity (as in a modern microwave oven) is due to "far-field" effects that are due to classical electromagnetic radiation that describes freely propagating light and microwaves suitably far from their source.
How does a microwave work?
A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating.
