How sliced bread was invented
The inventor of the bread-slicing machine was Otto Frederick Rohwedder, of Iowa, USA, who delivered the invention in the year 1928, sixteen years after his first prototype in 1912.
The first prototype machines were not well received by bakers, who told Rohwedder that his invention was useless, as sliced bread would too quickly go stale. These early rejections caused the inventor to seek a solution that would deliver the convenience of pre-sliced bread that stayed as fresh as whole loaves. Several failed attempts at a solution were made, including one scheme that used hat pins to keep the slices together.
The concept that was ultimately successful was the 1928 version -- a machine that neatly sliced the loaves into uniform slices and wrapped the freshly-sliced loaf in waxed paper, which kept moisture, and therefore freshness in the loaf.
A bakery in Battle Creek, Michigan, was the world's first vendor of sliced bread, being Rohwedder's first customer for his invention. The baker's success led Rohwedder to display his bread-slicing-and-wrapping machine at trade fairs, and by 1930 the first large commercial machines were in use in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the UK, the innovative bread product was launched under the Wonderbread brand.
The invention of the automatic toaster, in the earlier year of 1919, now came into its full glory, with easy and universal access to pre-sliced breads.
Americans embraced sliced bread, toast consumption skyrocketed, and by 1933 over 80% of bread sold in the USA was pre-sliced and wrapped. The phrase The best thing since sliced bread was coined at this time.
In the year 1943, the US Secretary of Agriculture banned the sale of sliced bread, in an effort to hold down prices of the important staple food during wartime rationing. The ban was lifted, of course, at the conclusion of World War II.
RESEARCH SOURCES INCLUDE THE CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, THE (UK) FEDERATION OF BAKERS, PLANET WHEAT, THE NEW YORK TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE.