New Southern Dad: A brief history of the microwave

The microwave has been on the fritz lately. By on the fritz, I mean, it gave up the ghost. 

I know that seems like more of an inconvenience of the modern world rather than a problem, but, you see, I have one of those over-the-oven, range-style space cookers. That means I can’t just toss the old one and run out to the nearest big box store for a countertop replacement. Remedying this predicament requires a minor home improvement project. 

Thus, a broken microwave has been hanging in my kitchen for some weeks now. We’ve managed to live without the appliance, but I never realized how much we used it until we didn’t have one. 

Every morning one of my children has asked, “When are we getting a new microwave?”

“Eventually,” has been the answer. 

Certainly, the development of the microwave oven is one of the greatest examples of modern human achievement. Invented by accident by self-taught engineer Percy Spencer in 1945, the microwave is one of the most popular home appliances, being found in nine out of 10 homes, consumer research suggests. 

Spencer was working on a radar defense system dubbed a magnetron, when he noticed the vacuum tube he was working with generated heat. A lot of heat. So much that it melted a chocolate bar he had in his pocket. Having done my fair share of laundry over the years, I know it’s never a good idea to keep chocolate in your pocket. 

After changing his britches, Spencer put some corn kernels next to the tube and microwavable popcorn was born. Orville Redenbacher later won the rights to that idea in a poker game. Spencer meanwhile contained his radar device into a metal box and the microwave oven was created. By 1947 the devices, called Radarange, were being sold to restaurants. Eventually the ovens got small enough and more affordable to become the convenience machine that it is today. 

That is, if you have one that works. 

Finally, the other day, tape measure in hand, I compiled a list of dimensions, handed the list of figures to my wife and instructed her to order a microwave of her liking. A couple of days later, after a large box had been dropped in my garage by a delivery driver, I removed the broken model, which by the way, came with the house when we bought it and has dutifully served my family for nearly a decade. It was easier than I thought, though toting a heavy, greasy microwave out of the house by myself was not fun. 

I couldn’t get the new one installed though. I had to call in the big guns – my dad. 

Now all the world is right again. The kitchen is whole, and the ease of a microwaved dinner is available. But do you know what? We haven’t even touched it.  

You can reach Kyle Dominy at k.l.dominy@gmail.com or write to 115 South Jefferson St. Dublin, Ga. 31021