The microwave: Difference between revisions

[[File:1978 Bosch-Mikrowelle MG 52 BSH Konzernarchiv E01-0226.jpg|thumb|Bosch's microwave MG 52 from 1978. (Source: BSH Corporate Archives)]]

U.S. engineer Percy L. Spencer (1894–1970) discovered by chance while constructing radar systems that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted.<ref>http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/mikrowelle-percy-spencers-zufalls-entdeckung-im-us-militaer-labor-a-1013720.html (last downloaded on 9.11.2016).</ref> His presumption was that the microwave radiation from the magnetron was an important component of the radar. He decided to use corn next to test his theory and watched as it turned to popcorn following exposure to the radar. He patented the invention in the U.S. in 1950.<ref>https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=2495429&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP# (last downloaded on 9.11.2016).</ref>

Microwaves oscillate at an extremely high frequency, which causes the water molecules in the food to vibrate, thus generating heat.<ref>Iris Hammelmann/Karolin Küntzel: Entdecker & Erfinder, Munich 2010, page 96. inform 2001/August, page 10.</ref> In contrast to the conventional oven where heat is transferred to the food from the outside, the microwave heat develops in the food itself.

The early microwave appliances were scarcely affordable for private users and were used primarily in catering owing to their size and weight.<ref>Corporate Archives, A05-0008, inform 1985/4, page 16.</ref> Siemens began producing microwave ovens for the German market in 1957.<ref>Küchenherde. Strahlende Zukunft, in: DER SPIEGEL 1985/3, page 64.</ref> The first German microwave weighed two hundred pounds, however, required a water cooler and cost 7,000 deutschmarks.<ref>Küchenherde. Strahlende Zukunft, in: DER SPIEGEL 1985/3, page 64.</ref> The appliance was therefore not considered a practical option and plans were quickly shelved again. Manufacturer Neff also began integrating microwave technology in its ovens in 1957 and presented Europe's first combined microwave oven or electron oven – the microwave – to the public at the Cologne trade fair for home appliances.<ref>Corporate Archives, Hans Tischert: 80 Jahre Neff, (special edition: Stätten deutscher Arbeit), Berlin 1957, from page 15, 40 Jahre BSH – Eine Chronik, page 39.</ref> Yet the appliances still failed to make the breakthrough initially. It was only in the 1970s that the popularity of the microwave began to grow rapidly in the U.S. and Japan.<ref>Küchenherde. Strahlende Zukunft, in: DER SPIEGEL 1985/3, page 64.</ref> It was to take a little longer in Germany. The Germans remained skeptical about the microwave oven for a long time. Many feared that the appliances were not radiopaque and were therefore a health hazard.<ref>Corporate Archives, A05-0001, inform 1978/6, page 4.</ref> Manufacturers like BSH<ref>BSH was founded in 1967 as Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH - BSHG for short. In 1998, the name was changed to BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, with the short form BSH. Since the sale of the Siemens shares in BSH to Robert Bosch GmbH the company’s name is now BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, but still BSH for short.</ref> tried for years to dispel this misconception.<ref>Küchenherde. Strahlende Zukunft, in: DER SPIEGEL 1985/3, page 64.</ref> BSH trained consumers in its microwave studios, published specific recipes for the microwave oven, provided information for journalists at large, or opinion leaders as they were called internally, etc.<ref>Corporate Archives, uncatalogued, specialist conference "Mikrowelle 88", back page.</ref>

It was only in the 1980s that the microwave began to blaze a trail of success in Germany.<ref>Corporate Archives, A05-0008, inform 1985/4, page 16.</ref> At the beginning of the decade, only one percent of households in the Federal Republic had a microwave.<ref>Corporate Archives, A07-0030 "Stark durch Erfindergeist und Qualität" (1990), page 20.</ref> Success came when an initial drawback of the system was resolved: A crisp crust or a golden yellow browning was not possible with a pure microwave oven on its own. When BSH offered combined appliances, business began to gain momentum. The universal cooker, the Meisterkoch, was launched on the market in 1981, a universal built-in cooker that was extremely successful thanks to the combination of microwave, grill, top/bottom heat, convection and self-cleaning with pyrolysis.<ref>Corporate Archives, A07-0030 "Stark durch Erfindergeist und Qualität" (1990), pages 13-19.</ref> 100,000 microwaves were sold in 1983 by all manufacturers nationwide in Germany, with this figure rising to 200,000 in 1984.<ref>Corporate Archives, A05-0008, inform 1985/4, page 16.</ref>