Ancient Egyptians, Jews and Romans (and probably other civilizations) all employed some form of stone or brick oven fired with wood to bake bread. In 1490, the first account of an oven entirely made of brick and tile was found in Alsace, France. Over time, ovens underwent many changes from wood, iron, coal, gas, and even electricity. The cast-iron stove came next, in the early 1700s.
When the first European settlers arrived in modern day America, traditional stone stoves were slightly upgraded. Colonial homemakers began cooking on ventilated brick ovens to feed their families.
Count Rumford in 1795 made improvements to the Castrol stove or stew stove that was invented by Francois Cuvillies in 1735. This stove was considered revolutionary at the time, as it helped to contain the smoke from the fire in the oven. It was particularly popular. It had a single fire source yet the temperature could be regulated individually for several pots at the same time, all while heating the room, too.
In 1834, British inventor James Sharp began to commercially produce gas ovens after installing one in his own house. Gas works through the liquefied petroleum gas for the baking of the bread, cake and biscuit. The most important operational principle of the gas oven is the process of heat transfer. In 1851, the Bower's Registered Gas Stove was displayed at the Great Exhibition.
The gas ovens became immensely popular among households as gas was readily available by that time. Initial electric ovens invented in the late 19th century. But due to the lack of convenient electricity supply, these ovens did not become popular at that time.
Today, this technology has been taken even further with stainless steel, double wall ovens, electric ranges, and even microwave ovens. Microwaves were invented in the 1940s when American engineer Percy Spencer discovered microwave beam heating qualities during a radar research project. By late 1946, the Ray Theon Company had filed a patent suggesting that baking ovens can be used to cook food, baked bread and pre heat food.
History of modern oven
