Stand mixer

A mixer is a kitchen device that uses a gear-driven mechanism to rotate a set of "beaters" in a bowl containing the food or liquids to be prepared by mixing them.

Mixers help automate the repetitive tasks of stirring, whisking or beating.

When the beaters are replaced by a dough hook, a mixer may also be used to knead.

A mixer may be a handheld mechanism known as an eggbeater, a handheld motorized beater, or a drill mixer. Stand mixers vary in size from small counter top models for home use to large capacity commercial machines. Stand mixers create the mixing action by rotating the mixing device vertically (planetary mixers), or by rotating the mixing container (spiral mixers).

Mixers for the kitchen first came into use midway through the nineteenth century; the earliest were mechanical devices. The demand from commercial bakers for large-scale uniform mixing resulted in the development of the electric stand mixer. Smaller counter-top stand mixers for home kitchen use soon followed.

When selecting a mixer, the purchaser should consider how the mixer will be used. Electric mixers with more speed options give the user more control over the development of the mixture.

The mixer with rotating parts was patented in 1856 by Baltimore, Maryland tinner Ralph Collier. U.S. Patent 16,267 This was followed by E.P. Griffith's whisk patented in England in 1857. Another hand-turned rotary egg beater was patented by J.F. and E.P. Monroe in 1859 in the US. U.S. Patent 23,694 Their egg beater patent was one of the earliest bought up by the Dover Stamping Company, whose Dover egg beaters became a classic American brand. The Monroe design was also manufactured in England. In 1870, Turner Williams of Providence, R.I., invented another Dover egg beater model. U.S. Patent 103,811

The first mixer with electric motor is thought to be the one invented by American Rufus Eastman in 1885. U.S. Patent 330,829 The Hobart Manufacturing Company was an early manufacturer of large commercial mixers, and they say a new model introduced in 1914 played a key role in the mixer part of their business. The Hobart KitchenAid and Sunbeam Mixmaster (first produced 1910) were two very early US brands of electric mixer. Domestic electric mixers were rarely used before the 1920s, when they were adopted more widely for home use.

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Wikipedia