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Percy Spencer was an American
Inventor. He created the Microwave oven, an appliance we use almost
everyday. The microwave oven has revolutionized the world, all
because of the accident with Percy Spencer.
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More about Electronics |
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Percy Spencer was born on
July 9, 1894 in Howland, Maine. Three years after he was born, Percy’s
dad died. Following his father was Percy's mother. He was then sent to live with his
aunt and uncle. They raised Percy and sent him to attend
grammar school. Percy ceased going to grammar school,
when his uncle died when he was twelve. In order to survive, Percy
worked from dawn to dusk on a mill that produced paper. The mill
was planned on becoming electrified, and Percy helped install the new
electrical system. He did not know too much about electricity, so
he studied at night and learned from his mistakes. In 1912, when he was 18 years old, he joined
the US Navy and learned wireless telegraphy. He remained in the US Navy for about nine years when he
started to work at the Raytheon Company.
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At the new company, Percy
Spencer signed on to work with electricity.
Once he had enough practice, he worked with magnetrons, which are small
tubes that heat up to high temperatures. One ordinary day, the chocolate
bar in his pocket melted while working with a magnetron. Motivated
to experiment, Percy went to the store and bought un-popped popcorn to
see if it would pop. He came back, placed the un-popped popcorn in
front of the Magnetron, and watched as the popcorn started to pop. Then, it exploded
all over the room! The next morning he came with a kettle and an egg so
he could see what would happen. He placed the egg with its shell on the
kettle. The egg cooked for a while, until it too exploded. Using the
findings of his experiments, Percy knew that the Magnetron could be used for instant cooking that
requires heat. |
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More about Microwave
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He discovered a new way of
heating up food in a new oven device, called the Microwave
Oven. In the year 1947, Raytheon started to sell these microwave ovens. The
first microwave oven was called the Radarange. First, restaurants and
trains had bought them for their cooking. It weighed seven hundred fifty pounds and it was
five feet tall. Profits were not very high, because people were not sure
if they would work and they were too big and costly. Raytheon soon sold
these microwave ovens in a smaller, home-sized units. This
definitely increased the profits of Raytheon. Percy, because of
his help to the company, became senior vice president of Raytheon.
In 1970,when Percy Spencer was seventy- six years old, he passed away. |
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Percy Spencer ended his life
with an honor of having a building named after him. When he died in
1970, he left the world with a legacy. Percy made
daily tasks a little easier and quicker. |
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More about Inventors |
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Sources |
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Written By Sky with contributions, editing, and graphics by Kailani
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/spencer.htm |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Spencer |
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http://www.softslide.com/volumes/v2/t3/history/readers_digest.htm
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