Has the toaster changed since it was first invented?

As you start to explore toaster history, you need to think about what defines a toaster. When were these features introduced and how did they change the way people made toast? Were these radical changes or has it largely stayed the same?

Toaster history is a particular interest for many and raises lots of fantastic questions about the source and style of the first toasters. As we work through each important step in toaster history, think about the complex journey our favorite piece of kitchenware took to bring you two buttered slices of white bread every morning.

Table of contents

• Toaster timeline
• Toaster prehistory
• The invention of the toaster
• Commercially available toasters
• The D-12 arrives
• Bread gets turned automatically
• Pop up and go
• Successful thermal sensors installed
• Conclusion
• FAQ

Here’s a quick look at the major innovations that shaped the modern toaster. We’ll explore each of these in more detail below.

• 1905 – Albert Marsh develops nichrome, the heat-resistant alloy that makes electric heating elements possible.

• 1909 – Frank Shailor at General Electric creates the D-12, the first commercially successful electric toaster.

• 1915 – The Copeman Electric Stove Company introduces a toaster with an early automatic bread-turning feature.

• 1921 – Charles Strite patents the first pop-up toaster with a built-in timer.

• 1926 – The Toastmaster Model 1-A-1 becomes the first widely successful household toaster, featuring a thermal sensor and adjustable settings.

• 1940s – The elevator toaster is introduced, using a self-lowering and self-raising mechanism (though it never gained widespread popularity).

• 1950s–present – Toasters evolve with features like wider slots, bagel modes, custom browning settings, and modern safety features. Designs become more compact, stylish, and kitchen-friendly.

Before we can talk about toaster history, we need to talk about toaster prehistory. Before the electric toaster came onto the scene, people would either hold pieces of bread above a fire with a fork or use a strange cage contraption to make their toast. The cage could be held over a fire or placed into an oven.

After the invention of the electric toaster, both of these methods fell out of favor, especially amongst the middle class in the UK. By the time electricity was widely available throughout the day, almost no one would have been using the more traditional methods.

While some have credited a fictional Scottish inventor named Alan MacMasters with creating the first toaster, this story has been thoroughly debunked. The truth is that the journey toward the modern toaster was built on real engineering and material science breakthroughs in the early 20th century.

The key breakthrough came in 1905, when Albert Marsh, an American engineer, invented nichrome—an alloy made from nickel and chromium. This material could withstand high heat without breaking down, making it ideal for use in electric heating elements. Nichrome remains a critical component in many heating devices even today.

The first successful toaster to use nichrome was the D-12, developed by Frank Shailor at General Electric in 1909. By modern standards, the D-12 was basic and even a bit risky — it had no automatic shutoff, no pop-up mechanism, and required the user to manually flip the bread to toast both sides. The heating elements were exposed, and there was no insulation to protect the user.

Still, it represented a major leap forward. For the first time, households could make toast quickly and consistently with the flip of a switch. The popularity of toast grew rapidly, and so did the market for better, safer, and more convenient toasters.

The first commercially successful electric toaster was the D-12, introduced by Frank Shailor at General Electric in 1909. It toasted one side of the bread at a time and had to be manually flipped, but it marked a major step in home appliance innovation.

As electricity became more common, other manufacturers in both the U.S. and the U.K. followed suit. By the 1920s, with the invention of the automatic pop-up toaster by Charles Strite, toasting became faster, safer, and more convenient — and the toaster quickly became a household essential.

The first commercially successful electric toaster, the D-12, was introduced by General Electric in 1909. It used the newly developed nichrome wire, an alloy of nickel and chromium, which could withstand high heat without breaking — a major breakthrough in heating technology.

Mounted on a ceramic base, the D-12 was significantly safer than earlier experimental models. Nichrome not only tolerated prolonged exposure to electric current but also cooled down quickly. Even in oxygen-rich environments, it resisted oxidation and didn’t burn out easily, making it ideal for repeated daily use.

This innovation helped make electric toasters reliable, safe, and practical for home kitchens.

Now that the elements were more reliable, people started to focus on making the devices more useful in the home. The first innovation was the automatic bread turner. More like a commercial conveyor toaster than our modern domestic ones, it would lift the toast out of the holder and spin it around.

This jump forward meant that people could rely on the toaster without fearing that they would burn their hands. Up until this point, toasters were fairly dangerous to use. Over the next 10 years, the risk of injury from a toast would become practically nil (if used correctly).

Charles Strite brought about the next great change to toaster history – the pop up mechanism. He is thought to have invented the pop up function in 1919, but he didn’t patent it in 1921. However, it still found great success and was commercially successful. Another innovation that meant people didn’t have to handle toast close to the elements.

It was around this time that the modern look of toasters started to appear. Strite’s own patented toaster looks very similar to a boxy appliance that you might use today. Although there was one last great leap forward, the average toast lover would be able to recognize a “modern style” in the toasters of the time.

The last great leap forward (that was successful) was in 1925 when the thermal sensor was finally installed in a toaster and worked at a commercial level. Now people could put their bread into the toaster and completely forget about it until it popped back up.

The most successful version of this device was the Model 1-A-1 Toastmaster. It combined all of the previous innovations and was commercially successful.

Due to the additional casing, this was now largely safe for the sensible user. What we now consider the modern toaster had been effectively invented in 1925, with only small or unsuccessful innovations coming after it. If we could plug a Model 1-A-1 Toastmaster into modern circuitry (we can’t, so don’t try!), we would be able to operate it much like a modern toaster.

Understanding the history of the toaster means tracing its evolution over time. When we step back and organize the key milestones, we start to appreciate just how little the core design has changed in nearly a century.

While modern toasters are more reliable, energy-efficient, and user-friendly, their basic function remains almost identical to the Model 1-A-1 Toastmaster introduced by the Waters-Genter Company in the 1920s. It’s fascinating to think that what we now consider a humble kitchen staple was once cutting-edge innovation.

Now that you know the real story behind this everyday appliance, you can appreciate your morning toast even more — and give a quiet nod to the real pioneers like Albert Marsh, Frank Shailor, and Charles Strite, whose ideas helped shape the way we breakfast today.

❓Who invented the toaster?

The first commercially successful electric toaster was invented by Frank Shailor of General Electric in 1909. It was called the D-12 and was the first toaster widely used in homes.
Although some sources mistakenly credit Alan MacMasters, this has been proven to be an internet hoax.

❓Who invented the pop-up toaster?

The pop-up toaster was invented by Charles Strite in 1919. He filed for a patent in 1921, and his design solved a major problem: burnt toast. His invention led to the first automatic pop-up toaster for home use, the Toastmaster, released in 1926.

❓Did the toaster change much after the 1920s?

While modern toasters have become more energy-efficient and offer more features—like wider slots, digital controls, and bagel settings—the basic shape and core functionality have remained remarkably similar to the early models from the 1920s.