History
In 1679, French physicist Denis Papin, better known for his studies on steam, invented the digesteur in an attempt to reduce the cooking time of food. His airtight cooker used steam pressure to raise the water's boiling point, thus resulting in a much quicker cooking. In 1681, Papin presented his invention to the Royal Society of London, but his invention was treated as a scientific study. They granted him permission to become a member of the society afterwards.
In 1864, Georg Gutbrod of Stuttgart began manufacturing pressure cookers made of tinned cast iron.
In 1919, Spain granted a patent for the pressure cooker to Jose Alix Martínez from Zaragoza. Martínez named it the olla exprés (literally "express cooking pot") under patent number 71143 in the Boletín Oficial de la Propiedad Industrial.
In 1938, Alfred Vischler presented his invention, the Flex-Seal Speed Cooker, in New York City. Vischler's pressure cooker was the first one designed for home use, and its success led to competition among American and European manufacturers. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, National Presto Industries, known as the "National Pressure Cooker Company" at the time, introduced its own pressure cooker.
Read more about this topic: Pressure Cooking
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