The inventor of the bread slicing machine. Otto grew up in Davenport, Iowa, and began working on the bread-slicing machine concept in the 1910s. Unfortunately a fire in 1917 destroyed the factory that was to produce the invention, and the original blueprints. In 1927 however he recreated his invention, and on July 7, 1928 it was successfully used for the first time commercially by the Chillicothe (Missouri) Baking Company on its Kleen Maid Sliced Bread. Sales skyrocketed, and Rohwedder's commercial bread slicer subsequently made its way to bakeries across the United States. Rohwedder sold his invention to the Micro-Westco Co. of Bettendorf, Iowa, and he became vice-president and sales manager of the Rohwedder Bakery Machine Division of Micro-Westco. An original 1928 model bread slicer is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Rohwedder retired to Albion, Michigan in 1951 with his wife Carrie (Johnson), where their daughter Margaret Steinhauer, and his sister Elizabeth (Rohwedder)Pickerill lived.
The inventor of the bread slicing machine. Otto grew up in Davenport, Iowa, and began working on the bread-slicing machine concept in the 1910s. Unfortunately a fire in 1917 destroyed the factory that was to produce the invention, and the original blueprints. In 1927 however he recreated his invention, and on July 7, 1928 it was successfully used for the first time commercially by the Chillicothe (Missouri) Baking Company on its Kleen Maid Sliced Bread. Sales skyrocketed, and Rohwedder's commercial bread slicer subsequently made its way to bakeries across the United States. Rohwedder sold his invention to the Micro-Westco Co. of Bettendorf, Iowa, and he became vice-president and sales manager of the Rohwedder Bakery Machine Division of Micro-Westco. An original 1928 model bread slicer is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Rohwedder retired to Albion, Michigan in 1951 with his wife Carrie (Johnson), where their daughter Margaret Steinhauer, and his sister Elizabeth (Rohwedder)Pickerill lived.
Bio by: Frank Passic, Albion Historian
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