AskAboutGadgets Archive

Are there any toasters that monitor the level of browning?

A perennial issue for me (albeit a minor one) is that the second batch of toast I make is always browner (or blacker) than the first. It strikes me that it could be relatively straightforward for a toaster to monitor the brownness of the toast and pop it when the required level is reached. Are there any commercially available toasters that do this and don't cost the Earth?

Answer 647

While it's not a direct answer, you could check what kind of "timer" the system uses.

For a long time, toasters used a bimetal strip for timing. Similar to a thermostat, the two metals expand at a different rate, causing the strip to bend. When it closed a circuit, it caused the toast to pop. The problem is that, after the first batch, the heat in the system cannot be dumped immediately, so subsequent batches will vary in doneness.

Today, better toasters will use an actual timer so they are much more consistent.

Also, for what it's worth, this would be extremely difficult to solve using most forms of detection. Different materials will toast at different rates, with different effects. Purely from a color perspective, wheat bread is already more brown than white so you might get only half-toasted wheat bread if adjusted properly for white. Then there's toaster pastries, etc. that you definitely don't really want to "toast" to any burnt level at all - the filling should be hot before any significant effect is seen on the outside.

Answer 569

Found this article from 2000 about a toaster that monitors the soot particles coming off the toast! I would have thought that once you get burnt bits in the 'air stream' it's too late.

Doesn't seem to have made it into production though... (should really be a comment rather than a (non-)answer - but I don't have the Rep yet...)

Answer 652

Can't help on the exact original ask, but this servo-powered toaster from Breville is pretty amazing (along with all of their appliances). The only hiccup I had is that I once had to 'reboot' it when all the lights were flashing and it wouldn't function.

alt text

Answer 640

And in a similar vein to CrayFishUK's answer, there's a toaster with a built-in smoke detector (PDF)

Answer 735

I have had a "cunning plan" to build such a thing for a decade or more, using some simple (probably analog) electronics.

First, make a disc with a rotary gradient from black to white (or pale brown to very dark brown). This disk is the user's "control knob".

Now, take two optical sensors: one monitors the toast darkness, and another monitors the darkness of current position of the control knob.

Compare the two outputs: When the toast is as dark as the control knob position, it's done!

Answer 792

Toastess makes a toaster with a digital timer that makes consistent toast. Look for the model with a large knob for adjusting the time and an LCD screen. That the horrible bi-metallic strip timer idea lives on is astounding. Even a cheap mechanical timer would work as well as a digital one.

Answer 839

Use a Dualit toaster. Everything is manual and under your control. The first round, set the manual timer to 3.25 minutes (for white bread, brown needs 3.5). Subsequent rounds just reduce the time by 1 minute.

Conversely, if you start with frozen bread, add 1 minute.

Sometimes it's nice to be in control yourself :-)

All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.