Product Code Database
Irving Naxon (February 26, 1902 – September 22, 1989) was an American inventor, who is most famous for inventing and patenting the slow cooker. Naxon was also the first Jewish engineer who worked for Western Electric.
His archive resides at the Smithsonian Institution. Examples of his kitchen appliance inventions are held as are his papers, including his "idea book" from the 1920s, patents, early correspondence with Teletype Corporation, World War II communication regarding his invention of super sonar submarine detectors, and his impact on the sign environs of Times Square in New York City.
In 1945, he changed his name from Nachumsohn to Naxon due to anti-German sentiment after WWII.
Naxon was inspired to create the slow cooker by a story from his mother which told how back in her native town, his grandmother made a traditional Jewish stew called cholent which took several hours to cook in the oven of the local bakery. As a young girl, her mother sent her to the bakery on Friday afternoon before the Sabbath with a ceramic pot full of cholent, and she was sent to pick up the dish on Saturday after Sabbath was over. The stew cooked low and slow in the residual heat from the cooling oven, which had not been stoked during the Sabbath according to the traditional prohibition of working during the Sabbath. In 1936, he applied for a patent for the slow cooker. On January 23, 1940, he received that patent. The first iteration of Naxon's slow cooker was The Boston Beanery and later the Naxon Beanery and Flavor Crock. In 1970, Naxon retired and sold his business and his patent for the slowcooker to the Rival Company for a lump sum rather than stock. Rival Company rebranded Naxon's invention into what is now known as the Crock Pot.
In addition to the slow cooker, Naxon also invented several other appliances and has over 200 patents to his name. He invented an electric frying pan and the hula lamp, a precursor to the lava lamp. His company made washing machines and electric dryers for Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward and Spiegels under their private labels. He had some early patents for moving data over telephone lines which he sold to the Teletype Corporation. Another notable invention of Naxon is his TeleSign, an electronic sign that shows moving text and was the precursor to today's news ticker.
|
|
