History of pressure cooker

The first pressure cooker was invented by the French physicist and mathematician Denis Papin in 1689. The invention of the pressure cooker brought about revolution in kitchens all over the world.

Papin was born in France and studied medicine. He moved to London in 1675. He worked with Huygens and Robert Boyle on the development of an air pump and while working in London with Boyle Papin developed the pressure cooker or ‘steam digester’.

The pressure cooker has come a long way since Papin’s initial invention which was nicknamed the ‘bone digester’ because of its ability to soften bones and extract nutrients.

As a precursor of the modern pressure cooker, this interment was important since it was the first steam-driven instrument to utilize a safety valve to relieve excess pressure in the tank.

Based on Denis Papin’s invention, Thomas Savery an English military engineer and inventor patented the first crude steam engine in 1698.

A short time later, the 1926 Home Exhibition in Paris, the first pressure cooker model for home use was introduced and thirteen years after that in 1939, the National Pressure Cooker Company launched the first US model at the New York Fair.

Cast aluminum was used in the 1930s and pressure cookers, as they were then termed, were fitted with pressure gauge in top.
History of pressure cooker