Percy Spencer invented a contraption that one sees everyday in their kitchen. It is an appliance that we sometimes take for granted. Can you guess… it is the microwave oven!Percy Spencer was an American engineer and inventor. He was born in Howland, Maine on July 9, 1894 and died on September 8, 1970 at an early age of 76. Percy lived with his aunt and uncle and when his uncle died, Percy left school at an early age to get a job to help support him and his aunt. From the age of twelve to sixteen, he worked morning till night at a spool mill in Maine. In 1910, Percy heard about a local paper mill who were going to install electricity in the plant. Electricity was so new to him that he began learning everything he could about it. When he applied to the paper mill, he had never had any formal training in electrical engineering and was one out of three who were hired to install electricity in the plant. Not bad for a person who never finished grammer school.In 1912 at the age of eighteen, Percy decided to join the US Navy. He became knowledgeable and proficient in radio technology. During that time, he also taught himself calculus, chemistry, physics, and trigonometry. Percy stated, “I just got hold of a lot of textbooks and taught myself while I was standing watch at night.“ Twenty-seven years later, he became a world leader expert in radar tube design and was working for a company called Raytheon, which was a contractor for the Department of Defense. He focused on magnetrons, which generate microwave radio signals, which are the core mechanism of radar. Raytheon was producing and manufacturing about 17 a day using machined parts. Percy streamlined the manufacturing process by punching out and soldering magnetron parts together instead, which increased the production to 2,600 per day. Due to this accomplishment, he was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Award by the U.S. Navy.Now where does the microwave oven fit in? By accident really, Percy was going about his day, working and building on magnetrons. While he was standing in front of the radar set that was active, a candy bar that was in his pocket melted. He decided to experiment with food starting with popcorn kernels, and an egg. What he got was the first microwaved popcorn and an exploding egg. Percy wanted to continue experimenting and he did this by attaching a high density electromagnetic field generator to an enclosed metal box. By having a controlled environment, the magnetron emitted microwaves that were captured in the metal box, and voila the microwave oven was born.
Today microwave ovens are small compact and can fit easily on any counter; however that was not always the case. On October 8, 1945 a patent was filled by Raytheon for the microwave oven. It was named Radarange and in 1947 it officially went on the market. The Radarange was about 6 feet tall, weighing in at about 750 lbs and costing between $2,000 – $3,000. It wasn’t until 1967 that the microwave oven was of reasonable size and price, being able to fit on a counter and costing $495 respectfully.Throughout his career at Raytheon, Percy Spencer received 300 patents and had a building named in his honor. One would think he would be rolling in royalties as there isnt a household who doesn’t have a microwave, but alas he received no royalties; however he did get paid a one time gratuity fee of $2.00 from Raytheon. Percy Spencer an unsung inventor, who changed the world.Further Reading:
Inventor of the Month – Who is Percy Spencer?