While the inventor of the first waffle irons is unknown, they definitely appeared a long time ago. The earliest waffle irons were heated over an open fire or in an oven. Being heavy and cumbersome, they were inconvenient. Moreover, their users often suffered from burns. The wooden handles were often damaged by fire, and waffles often turned out overdone because it was impossible to check whether they were ready.

In 1869, Cornelius Swartwout, an American inventor, patented the first waffle iron that was fashioned to sit on a wood stove and had a convenient handle for opening, closing, and flipping the iron safely. The main feature of the invention was this handle, connected to the waffle iron, that allowed the user to flip the iron easily, raise the top panel and fill the iron with batter, and take a ready waffle without danger of slippage or burns.

The plates of old waffle irons were decorated with exquisite designs, some of them even similar to engravings, which allowed the user to imprint beautiful images on the waffles. Back in the old days, only kings could afford waffles. Anyone who revealed the secret recipe was severely punished. Much later, ordinary people also received the opportunity to buy waffles. People would line up to try this delicacy. Some of them even got into fights. Over time, people started adding tasty toppings, and the plates of waffle irons were modified to have gridded indentations. Thanks to this design, the “cells” of waffles could be filled with syrup or fruit.

The displayed utensil is made of cast iron. It consists of two flat metal handles joined together, with rectangular plates of the same size attached to their ends using bolts. The plate surfaces are divided in half. Each of the halves has thirty indentations in the shape of small truncated trapezoidal pyramids and serves like a frying pan. The waffle iron was donated to the museum in 1996.