A staff of American history buffs, we at Jacob Bromwell encourage you to find a comfortable, quiet place to relax as you prepare to share a moment of time gone by like never before, and no other. Your friends, neighbors, and family will be jealous of the experience you are about to have! Life was rugged and such inventions as our folding toaster quickly became a necessity as word of its existence and fortune spread throughout the United States just as our country got underway with such movements as the Oregon Trail in the mid-West at a time when our campfire toaster was a perfect fit for those traveling westward for a new life. Consider yourself amongst the chosen ones who will know what is was like in the old fashioned days when toast was a part of almost every meal from those who worked down in the coal mines to traveling on horseback at a time when a dime a day was considered a descent salary and a women’s place was in the home. Now that you’re comfortable, allow me to guide you on this adventure as we travel back in time…

Way back in 1819, nearly 200 years ago, Jacob Bromwell, inventor, was the only pioneer of his day known to perfect the FoldingToaster, now also known as our collapsible toaster or four sided toaster amongst you historians. Our campfire toaster has been known to serve such uses as providing substance to beef, bacon, or fish to treating indigestion or nausea when what was cooked in our Frontier Frying Pan or on our Pyramid Toaster wasn’t quite cooked enough. Back in the old days when our country was young and the west was still being pioneered by such folks as Lewis & Clark with their so-called Lewis & Clark Expedition, Jacob Bromwell somehow knew his 4 slice toaster would not only be useful for the pioneer traveler hunting or herding buffalo, but those folks living along the river catching sea bass and rainbow trout.

We at Jacob Bromwell believe knowing the history of the toaster, in general, would provide a further appreciation of our collapsible toaster. Fast forward to another time. Electric toasters have been in existence for less than 100 years. Yet, people have been consuming bread for the past 6,000 years, and people have been toasting bread since the time of the Romans. Toasting bread makes it crunchier and preserves it, an especially important characteristic for early civilizations. The process of scorching bread to preserve it spread through many cultures. The word toast comes from the Latin Torrere, Tostum - to scorch or burn. The Romans took their love of toasted bread with them and spread the custom farther, even up into England, Ireland, and Finland. Later, English colonists brought the tradition to the Americas before Jacob Bromwell invented the four sided toaster.

There were a variety of methods for making toast in pre-electric times, as understood by Mr. Bromwell, from using the hot hearthstone, to putting bread on multi-purpose toasting forks and holding it over a fire, to employing fancy, hinged bread holders that could be attached to the side of a fireplace and swung into the flame. Before the invention of the electric toaster, bread was toasted over an open fire with the help of a variety of simple tools. Toasting bread does more than just preserve it. It changes its nature; bread becomes sweeter, crunchier, and the perfect surface on which to spread all sorts of things including jam, jelly, and peanut butter….mmm, mmm good, and good for you, too!