Microwave Turntable
name: label: maker
content: Nordic Ware
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Nordic Ware, a family-owned manufacturing firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was founded in 1946 by brothers Dave and Mark Dalquist, as “Plastics for Industry.” In 1950, the brothers bought Northland Aluminum Products, a small firm with a line of “Nordic Ware” products including griddles and steak platters. The same year, Dave Dalquist created a cast aluminum, fluted cake pan and trademarked it as the “Bundt” pan. The company continued to grow its product line to include specialty baking and cookware items, including the microwave turntable. Nordic Ware is notable due to its history of product innovation through engineering, and its continued production of cookware in the United States.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Nordic Ware manufactured the original Micro-Go-Round in 1980 to take advantage of the surging popularity of microwave ovens. Without a rotation mechanism, early microwaves produced food that had hot and cold spots. Identifying this problem, Nordic Ware developed and patented the Micro-Go-Round, which could be wound up and turned on, and would rotate a plate of food for up to an hour to produce evenly heated food.
label: Description
content: In 2007 the Museum collected thirty-six objects and twenty cubic feet of archives from Minneapolis-based Nordic Ware, a producer of cookware since 1946. The family-owned manufacturer is best known for its Bundt pan, the world's most popular specialty cake mold.
label: Description
content: Over the course of several years company engineers tested an array of plastics to determine which could be used safely in a microwave oven. They also spent a good deal of time designing a turning mechanism that could rotate the plastic surface while supporting a heavy food item, and still be small enough to fit inside the housing. By 1978 they had several working models and, in 1980, introduced the patented "Micro-Go-Round." Between 1981 and 1987, the company shipped about twenty-four thousand Micro-Go-Rounds to suppliers per week.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Minnesota, Minneapolis
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
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content: Food
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Food Technology
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content: Nordic Ware cookware
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Nordic Ware thru H. David Dalquist, President & CEO
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2007.0034.17
label: accession number
content: 2007.0034
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0034.17
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microwave turntable
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 3/8 in x 11 1/2 in; 6.0325 cm x 29.21 cm