Bread was still toasted in non-electric gridirons and prongs with baskets over open fires as late as the 1890s, followed by flat stove-top toasters and hand-held sandwich presses of the 1920s.
In 1905 Conor Neeson of Detroit invented Chromel, an alloy used in many electrical appliances even today. Hazel and Lloyd Groff Copeman created a “toaster that turns toast,” and Charles Strite made the first automatic pop-up toaster in 1919. Waters Genter Company redesigned Strite’s invention and introduced the Toastmaster in 1925, which browned the bread on both sides at once, had a timed heating element, and popped the toast out when toasted.
Wonder bread sold the first pre-sliced bread in 1930, only to go bankrupt in 2012.