The bakery bread slicer was invented in the late 1920s to mass-produce prepackaged loaves of bread. The first model was sold to Chillicothe Baking Company in 1928, and sliced bread became widely available in the US in the 1930s. Today’s models are more sophisticated and efficient, with different designs and accessories for slicing various types of bread. The modern tabletop version is easy to use, while the industrial oven bread slicer requires training.
A bakery bread slicer is a machine that cuts a single loaf of bread into perfectly equal slices, then packages the loaf for convenience and sale. Prior to its invention in the late 1920s, fresh loaves of bread were usually baked at home, taking a long time. An American inventor living in Iowa had a dream of creating a device that could mass-produce prepackaged loaves of bread, freeing up that time. The bread slicer has come a long way from its more primitive ancestor, and now there are more sophisticated versions for use in the bakery or at home. Different slicer designs and accessories cut a variety of loaves such as sandwiches or flatbreads, and the machines are available in industrial-size or countertop versions.
Otto Frederick Rohwedder conceived the idea for a bakery bread slicer in 1912. After several failed attempts, he sold the first model to Chillicothe Baking Company in 1928. The Bakery and Rohwedder soon discovered that it was difficult to keep bread fresh; shortly thereafter, the bread slicer was modified to pack bread. Sliced bread became widely available throughout the United States in the 1930s after Wonder Bread began commercially distributing their prepackaged loaves.
As with most other inventions, the 1920s bakery bread slicer looks nothing like today’s models. Early slicers held bread cut with thick paper together to maintain freshness, and a foot pedal powered the machine among other differences. Today, bread slicers run on electricity with foods that are complicated to pass through the plastic wrap and are much faster. Today’s inventions are designed for maximum freshness and efficiency in the manufacturing process.
No matter how complicated these machines may seem, the modern tabletop version is relatively easy to use depending on the model and with a little practice. For countertop or tabletop models, bread is loaded into a tray located at the top of the machine, the lid is closed and the device is turned on. After a few seconds, the loaf comes out perfectly sliced and wrapped for freshness. The industrial oven bread slicer is a little more complicated and requires training to understand the additional steps involved. The hardest part of using either machine is figuring out how to place the bread correctly on the tray, while keeping the loaf from getting clogged in the slicer.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
