The microwave oven started its life as a seven hundred and fifty pound beast that more closely resembled and oven. Few people used this new cooking marvel even as it shrank is size until it was finally small enough to sit on a countertop. Once it was free of its large body, heavy power consumption and need for plumbing it took off and overtime evolved into the varying shapes, sizes and colors we are familiar with today.
Design & Prototyping
The manufacturer Raytheon developed the first microwave oven from military technology in 1947. It was the manufacturer of most of the radar parts during WWII. The base of the design was a metal box that contained that electromagnetic radiation that vibrated the water molecules in food. The microwaves at the time looked similar to an oven, were as large as a refrigerator, and cost upwards of $5000. These original units were five times as powerful as the average microwave sold today. So powerful, in fact that they required special plumbing to be installed because it was water-cooled (Radar 2006).
With licensing agreements with Raytheon, a Japanese company, Amana Refrigerators, released the first model for home use in 1955. Their units cost $1300 and were less powerful than the original Raytheon unit was as the engineers realized that consumers did not need a magnetron with military radar capabilities to cook/heat food (Liegey 2001).
It wasn’t until 1965 when Raytheon acquired a smaller company called Amana Refrigeration that a smaller unit designed and in 1967 a microwave small enough to fit on a countertop was invented. This new model did not require the water-cooling and cost less than $500 (Gallawa 2001).
From that point the general design of the microwave has not changed. Advancements in technology make them more energy efficient and better timers makes programming them easier. Their general form and function is relatively unchanged.
Manufacturing & Production
The original manufacturer, Raytheon, was looking at other applications of radar technology as the end of the was drawing near. One of their ventures was the microwave oven. They were built in factories alongside most of the radar equipment used in WWII (Osepchuk 1984).
Today microwave ovens are still made in factories, but out of more plastics than the metal of their ancestors.
Marketing
Raytheon’s first microwave was too large, expensive and complicated for the average consumer in 1947 so it was mostly marketed to restaurants. The later, more cost effective model from Japan’s company, Tappan, broadened the market with their smaller, cheaper, and air-cooled model. It was, however still too large and expensive for the average American. The microwave oven did not begin to rise to its status today until Raytheon acquired Amana Refrigerators and the first countertop model was built in 1965 (Gallawa 2001).
It was then marketed to housewives and homemakers to ease the burden of cooking and give them more leisure time. Advertisements boasted cooking a roast in 35 minutes and a baked potato in four minutes (Introducing 2015).
Sales
Selling the first iteration of the microwave was difficult because of the fear surrounding radiation, but by 1975 consumers realized the power of the small counter-top oven and it outsold convention gas ovens (Gallawa 2001). Today a home is more likely to have a microwave than a dishwasher.
User Support
The microwave oven is made to be so intuitive that children can use it. However if a user does find an issue with one or has a question the FDA regulations mandate that certain information be on the machine so they can be contacted (FDA 2014).
Maintenance
General maintenance like a simple cleaning of the inner box where the food is cooked is all that is required to maintain a microwave. It is important to note though that they should not be used at all if there is any damage as there may be a radiation leak (FDA 2014).
The very oldest model of microwave-required plumbing to be installed and maintained as well as the unit itself (Liegey 2001). Although the needs of behemoth were extensive, the original prototype was still in use until it was finally upgraded in 1976 (Radar 2006).
Recycling & Disposal
Raytheon’s prototype machine ran without issue until it was upgraded where it was retired to Raytheon’s plant for display (Radar 2006). Other units at the time that were not repairable were scraped like other broken appliances at the time.
Today’s microwaves are better off given away or donating them to somewhere like Goodwill if they still function. If, unfortunately, it does not work it is best to contact local trash companies because some have information on recycling them but there is not wide spread rule to recycle microwaves and they are often times just thrown in the dump (Kivi 2009).
