Blender (device)

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Blender (device)

A blender, or liquidiser in British English

British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
, is a kitchen appliance used to mix ingredients or puree

Purée

Pur?e and mash are general terms for food, usually vegetables or legumes, that have been ground, pressed, and/or strainer to the consistency of a soft paste or thick liquid....
food. The term typically refers to a stationary, upright electrical device, which is to be distinguished from a hand-powered or electric mixer

Mixer

Mixer may refer to:An electronics device:* Electronic mixer, a device for mixing signals* Frequency mixer, a telecommunications device used to alter the carrier frequency of a signal...
that may be used for similar purposes.

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Encyclopedia

A blender, or liquidiser in British English

British English

Purée

Mixer

Laboratory

A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which science research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories....
applications.

The blending container can be made of glass

Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
, plastic

Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
, stainless steel

Stainless steel

In metallurgy, stainless steel is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10% chromium content by mass. Stainless steel does not stain, corrode, or rust as easily as ordinary steel , but it is not stain-proof....
, or porcelain, and often has graduated markings

Graduated cylinder

A graduated cylinder is a piece of laboratory equipment used to accurately measure out volumes of objects for use in labs. They are generally more accurate and precise for this purpose than flasks and beakers....
for approximate measuring purposes. At the top of the container is a lid to prevent ingredients from escaping during operation. At the bottom is a blade assembly, sometimes removable for cleaning purposes. In cases where the blades are removable, the container should have an o-ring

O-ring

An O-ring, also known as a packing, or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a Disk -shaped Cross section , designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more parts, creating a Seal at the interface....
between the body of the container and the base to seal the container and prevent the contents from leaking.

The container rests upon a base that contains a motor for turning the blade assembly and has controls on its surface. Most modern blenders offer a number of possible speeds. Low-powered blenders require some liquid to be added for the blender to operate correctly. This is because the liquid is used to move the solids around the jar and bring it in contact with the blade as the "whirlpool" fluid movement brings items from the top to the bottom. High-powered blenders are capable of milling grains and crushing ice without such assistance.

Another type of blender is the immersion blender

Immersion blender

An immersion blender is a kitchen appliance to blend ingredients or puree food in the container in which they are being prepared. They are sometimes called stick blenders, wand blenders, hand blenders or Bermixers ....
. This has no container of its own, but instead has a mixing head with blades that can be immersed in a pot of soup, for example.

Some of the functions of blenders have been taken over by food processor

Food processor

A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate various repetitive tasks in the process of preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food processors"....
s. In particular, thicker mixtures such as mayonnaise and hummus

Hummus

Hummus is a Levantine cuisine dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic....
are easier to make in food processors.

Applications

Blenders are used both in home and commercial kitchens for various purposes:

to mix and crush ice in cocktail
Cocktail

A cocktail is a style of mixed drink. Originally a mixture of Distilled beverage, sugar, water, and bitters, the word has gradually come to mean almost any mixed drink containing alcoholic beverage....
s such as the Zombie
Zombie cocktail

The Zombie is a cocktail made of fruit juices, liqueurs, and various rums, so named for its perceived effects upon the drinker. It first appeared in the late 1930s, invented by Donn Beach of Hollywood's Don the Beachcomber restaurant....
, Piña Colada
Piña Colada

The pi?a colada is a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with light rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice....
and frozen margaritas
Margarita

The Margarita is the most common tequila-based cocktail, made with tequila mixed with triple sec and lime or lemon juice, often served with salt on the glass rim....
to crush ice and other ingredients in non-alcoholic drinks such as Frappucinos and smoothie
Smoothie

A smoothie is a blended, chilled, sweet beverage made from fresh fruit. In addition to fruit, many smoothies include crushed ice, frozen fruit, honey or frozen yogurt, although some smoothies are 100% fruit....
s
to emulsify
Emulsion

An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible liquids. One liquid is dispersion in the other . Many emulsions are oil/water emulsions, with dietary fats being one common type of oil encountered in everyday life....
mixtures
to make smooth purée
Purée

Pur?e and mash are general terms for food, usually vegetables or legumes, that have been ground, pressed, and/or strainer to the consistency of a soft paste or thick liquid....
s of semi-solid ingredients, such as cooked vegetables and meat
to reduce small solids such as spices and seeds to powder or nut butter
Nut butter

A nut butter is a spreadable foodstuff made by crushing Nut s. The result has a high fat content and can be spread like true butter, but is otherwise unrelated....
s
to blend mixtures of powders, granules, and/or liquids thoroughly
to help dissolve solids into liquids

Blenders also have a variety of applications in microbiology

Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryote such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes, which are bacteria and archaea....
and food science

Food science

Food science is a discipline concerned with all technical aspects of food, beginning with harvesting or slaughter , and ending with its cooking and consumption....
. In addition to standard food-type blenders, there is a variety of other configurations of blender for laboratories.

Development

It is popularly believed that Dr. Oliver Johnson Schofield, an English engineer and entrepreneur, invented the first electric blender in 1921. However, Stephen J. Poplawski, owner of the Stevens Electric Company, patented the drink mixer in 1922 to make Horlicks

Horlicks

Horlicks is the name of a company and of a malted milk hot drink, which is claimed to promote sleep when consumed at bedtime. It is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline in the United Kingdom, India and Jamaica....
malted milk shakes at soda fountain

Soda fountain

Soda fountain is a term referring to the carbonated drink dispensers found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores....
s. He also introduced the liquefier blender in 1922. Stevens Electric was sold to Oster Manufacturing, a manufacturer of barber equipment, in 1946. Oster commercialized the liquefier blender under the trademark

TradeMark

TradeMark is a tall, primarily residential, skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was completed in 2007 and has 28 floors. There are 200 hundred residential units....
Osterizer. Oster was bought by Sunbeam Products

Sunbeam Products

Sunbeam Products is an United States brand that has produced electric home appliances since 1910. Their products have included the Mixmaster electric mixer, the Sunbeam CG waffle iron, Coffeemaster and the fully-automatic T20 toaster....
in 1960.

In 1935, Fred Osius invented another kind of blender. He approached Fred Waring

Fred Waring

Fredrick Malcolm Waring was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blendor, the first modern blender on the market....
, a popular musician who financed and promoted the "Miracle Mixer", which was commercialized in 1937 by Waring Products, now part of Conair

Conair Corporation

Conair Corporation is a United States corporation which sells appliances, personal care products, and health and beauty products for both professionals and consumers....
. Waring popularized the smoothie

Smoothie

A smoothie is a blended, chilled, sweet beverage made from fresh fruit. In addition to fruit, many smoothies include crushed ice, frozen fruit, honey or frozen yogurt, although some smoothies are 100% fruit....
in the 1940s. Waring long used the spelling "blendor" for its product.

With the rising popularity of smoothie

Smoothie

A smoothie is a blended, chilled, sweet beverage made from fresh fruit. In addition to fruit, many smoothies include crushed ice, frozen fruit, honey or frozen yogurt, although some smoothies are 100% fruit....
s, Frappucinos and other frozen drinks prepared in front of the customer, new models of commercial blenders often include a sound-reducing enclosures and computerized controls.

Specialized blenders for making smoothies are becoming popular, chiefly resembling an ordinary model with a spigot added for quick serving. Some models also feature a gimballed stirring rod mounted on the lid, constructed so that mixtures can be stirred whilst the machine is running with no chance of the stirrer fouling the blades.

Mechanical Operation

A blender consists of a housing, motor, blades, and food container. A fan-cooled electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor uses electrical energy to produce mechanical energy, nearly always by the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors....
is secured into the housing by way of vibration dampers, and a small output shaft penetrates the upper housing and meshes with the blade assembly. Usually, a small rubber washer provides a seal around the output shaft to prevent liquid from entering the motor. Most blenders today have multiple speeds.

Blender (device)

Applications

Development

Mechanical Operation

See also