Profile America: Making Waves

Tuesday, October 25 —  A melted candy bar led to the invention of one of today’s most-used kitchen appliances. Percy Spencer of the Raytheon company was working on a military radar device in the mid-1940s when he noticed that his snack had gotten soft. Intrigued, he experimented with irradiating some kernels of popcorn, which promptly burst. Further work led to the first microwave ovens, which cost only a little less than a new car. On this date in 1955, the first consumer models were introduced, but they required installation and cost $1,200. Countertop models came along in 1967. Now, most homes across the country have microwave ovens, and about a half million have only the microwaves for cooking. Manufacturing microwave ovens and other cooking appliances is a $5 billion a year business. 


Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

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