The Rohwedder Bread-Slicing Machine, built in 1928 by Otto Frederick Rohwedder, is the commercial slicer that helped launch the era of pre-sliced bread in American bakeries. Manufactured by the Micro Machine Company for Rohwedder's Mac-Roh Sales and Manufacturing Company, this second-generation slicer went into service at Korn's Bakery in Davenport, Iowa after an earlier prototype failed under heavy use. Its success quickly transformed bakery operations and consumer habits, with nationwide demand rising by 1929 and sliced Wonder Bread appearing the following year. Donated to the National Museum of American History in 1974 by Rohwedder's daughter, the machine stands as a landmark in food-technology innovation, but it is not always on display. - AsNotedIn
| Y/M/D | Association | Description | Place | Locale | Food | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912/00/00 | Otto Rohwedder | Inventor | Otto Rohwedder, a jeweler in St Joseph, Missouri, begins working on a machine that will evenly slice a loaf of bread. | St Joseph, MO | Missouri | Invention of Sliced Bread | |
| 1928/00/00 | Otto Rohwedder | Inventor | Otto Rohwedder sells his first devise to friend and baker, Frank M Bench. Rohwedder and Bench had been working on perfecting the design for the past several years. | Bench's Chillicothe Baking Company | Chillicothe, MO | ||
| 1928/08/00 | Otto Rohwedder | Inventor | Korn's Bakery, Davenport, Iowa, buys Otto Rohwedder's second bread-slicer. Manufactured by the Mac Roh Sales and Manufacturing Co, it is now owned by the National Museum of American History. | Davenport | Iowa | Invention of Sliced Bread | |
| 1928/11/26 | Otto Rohwedder | Inventor | Mac Roh Sales and Manufacturing Co applies for a United States patent on Otto Rohwedder's bread slicing machine. | ||||
| 1928/12/00 | St Louis, Missouri, baker, Gustav Papendick, buys a Rohwedder bread slicer and devises a way to improve the packaging. Papendick will earn a patents for his improvements in 1941. | Invention of Sliced Bread | |||||
| 1929/01/00 | Rohwedder's first automatic bread-slicer breaks apart after about six months of heavy use at Bench's Bakery in Chillicothe. | Bench's Chillicothe Baking Company | Chillicothe, MO | ||||
| 1932/07/12 | Otto Rohwedder | Inventor | United States Patent No 1,867,377 is issued to Otto Frederick Rohwedder for a machine for slicing an entire loaf of bread at a single operation. | Invention of Sliced Bread | |||
| 1933/00/00 | Otto Rohwedder | Inventor | Otto Rohwedder sells his rights to his bread slicer to the Micro-Westco Co of Bettendorf, Iowa. Rohwedder becomes vice president and sales manager in its newly created Rohwedder Bakery Machine Division. | ||||
| 1974/00/00 | Rohwedder's daughter, Mrs Margaret R Steinhauer, of Albion, Michigan, donates the 1928 bread-slicer manufactured by the Micro Machine Co to the National Museum of American History. |
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