Everyone on the internet worked together to figure out what this kitchen gadget was.
In 1856, a guy named Ralph Collier from Baltimore, Maryland, got a patent for a mixer that had moving parts. Then, in 1857, E.P. Griffith invented a whisk and patented it in England. A couple of years later, in 1859, J.F. and E.P. Monroe patented a hand-cranked egg beater in the United States.
The Dover Stamping Company was one of the first to buy the patent for the egg beater, and their Dover egg beaters turned into a well-known American brand. By February 1929, the name “Dover beater” was already popular, as shown in a recipe from the Gazette newspaper in Cedar Rapids, IA. This recipe was for “Hur-Mon Bavarian Cream,” a delicious dessert made with gelatin, whipped cream, banana, and ginger ale.
The Monroe design was made in England too. In 1870, Turner Williams from Providence, Rhode Island, created a different model of the Dover egg beater. Then, in 1884, Willis Johnson from Cincinnati, Ohio, came up with some new upgrades for the egg beater.
The first electric motor mixer is believed to have been created by an American named Rufus Eastman in 1885. The Hobart Manufacturing Company was one of the first companies to make big commercial mixers, and they claim that a new model they launched in 1914 was really important for their mixer business.
The Hobart KitchenAid and the Sunbeam Mixmaster, which started being made in 1910, were among the first electric mixer brands in the United States. Before the 1920s, not many people used electric mixers at home, but during that decade, they became much more popular for everyday cooking.
In 1908, an engineer named Herbert Johnston, who worked for the Hobart Manufacturing Company, created an electric standing mixer. He got the idea after watching a baker stir bread dough with a metal spoon, and then he started experimenting with a machine that could do the same thing.
By the year 1915, the 20-gallon (80 L) mixer became a common tool in many big bakeries. Then in 1919, Hobart launched the Kitchen Aid Food Preparer, which was a stand mixer designed for home use.
