Blenders of the 19th Century were crude and demanding of manpower. The six-blade food chopper, wire pastry dough blender, potato masher, flour sifter, steel whisk, and eggbeater were all that simplified kitchen duties.
In the late 1800s the small electric motor, known as the fractional horsepower motor, was invented. Rufus Eastman patented the original blender in 1885, defining the power sources as mechanical, water, and electrical.
Engineers Chester Beach and Frederick Osius and marketing specialist Louis Hamilton invented the small motor that ran on both AC and DC power. Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company was founded with the intention to create and market motor-driven appliances.
The Revelation
The popular blender known as the eggbeater inspired the first Hamilton Beach DrinkMaster that graced the countertops of soda fountains in 1911. (Later the triple milkshake machine was developed.) Malt shops were blending thick shakes and malts as fast as teenagers could consume them. Crude blending utensils collected dust as the electric-powered version swept the market.
|  |
Steven Poplawski put electric-powered spinning blades at the bottom of a container and is credited with the invention of the commercial blender that was being used in soda fountains by 1922. In 1932, Poplawski patented his machine that liquefied fruits and vegetables.
The Evolution
Frederick Osius improved on Poplawski's prototype and took his design to Fred Waring. Waring suffered from ulcers and saw this machine as a dietary aid. The machine still experienced design problems, so Waring and Osius made more improvements and in 1937 the Miracle Mixer was marketed through the Waring Corporation. By the mid '50s, over a million Waring blenders were sold.
The Waring blender was soon marketed to hospital dietary departments to use for patients on special diets. Blenders became a vital research tool in laboratories: Dr. Jonas Salk used a blender when he developed the polio vaccine.
