JCPenney Model 863-5610-60 Microwave Oven
date: label: date made
content: 1976-04
name: label: maker
content: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
notes: label: Description
content: While conducting experiments with radar in 1945, Raytheon scientist Dr. Percy Spencer noticed that a magnetron was emitting microwaves that were generating heat. He developed and patented a process for heating food by placing it under parallel magnetrons. Within a couple of years his colleagues William M. Hall and Fritz A. Gross patented a microwave heating unit housed within an oven. The first models of the microwave oven were roughly six feet tall and weighed over 750 pounds, clearly not suitable for kitchen counters at home. It wasn’t until the mid-1950s that microwave ovens were manufactured for home use.
label: Description
content: This model 963-5610-60 microwave oven was manufactured in Japan in 1976 by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. for J.C. Penney, a large, American retailer. The operating manual touts some of the oven’s special features, including a 15-minute timer for precise cooking, a built-in recipe guide for “at-a-glance” convenience for common foods, a magnetron tube for even microwave cooking, and an end-of-cooking bell and automatic shut off. The oven’s most unusual features are its door, which is hinged from the top, and a multi-sided observation window, which allowed for watching the cooking in progress. Reflecting the growing popularity of microwave ovens for preparing snack foods like popcorn, the owner’s manual suggests that it can be placed even in the family room due to its low profile design.
label: Description
content: Jeff and Jan Thompson purchased this unit in 1976 on installments for $219.95, plus $28.95 for an Assured Performance Plan (an extended warranty) and $12.45 tax. They donated the oven and documentation, including a service manual, warranty card, operating instructions, warehouse sales slip and pick-up slip, to the museum in 2006.
label: Description
content: Sources:
label: Description
content: Raytheon website, http://www.raytheon.com/ourcompany/history/
label: Description
content: Patent documents and owner’s manual from S drive, Microwave folder
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Food
label: See more items in
content: FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Jeff and Jan Thompson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2006.0133.01
label: accession number
content: 2006.0133
label: catalog number
content: 2006.0133.01
label: model number
content: 863-5610-60-21
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electrical appliance
label: Object Name
content: microwave oven
label: Object Name
content: appliance
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 20 1/4 in x 21 in; 21.59 cm x 51.435 cm x 53.34 cm