Melvin Levinson discusses his innovations with the microwave
By: Candice Leigh Helfand
MONROE The phrase "oven-fresh" took on a whole new meaning last week at a meeting of the Ponds chapter of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee.
Guest speaker Melvin L. Levinson, 82, of Edison, spoke Sept. 28 to the assembly of over 60 women about his career as an inventor, as well as his new microwave cooking process
Mr. Levinson is the inventor of the power source that makes it possible for us to have home microwave ovens as we know them today.
He even had food available that showed the end result of his patent-pending cooking process.
"This pie here, I finished cooking it in 20 minutes, from it being frozen solid," Mr. Levinson said, pointing to an apple pie. "You couldn’t even pre-heat your conventional oven that fast."
He started his presentation by reading the same speech he read when he was inducted into the New Jersey Inventor’s Hall of Fame on Feb. 12, 1998.
Mr. Levinson’s speech started with the chronology of his inventing career, which he said started in 1962, after seeing the first microwave.
He said that he was impressed with its power, and while he wanted one of his own, it was far too big 400 pounds, Mr. Levinson said and expensive to be used in homes.
This is what inspired him to come up with the new power source.
"In a flash of creative thought, I theorized that if I changed the power supply of a commercial microwave oven into a half wave supply, I would dramatically reduce its weight and cost," Mr. Levinson said.
After investing $300 in his project a large sum back in 1964 he had a crude design on his hands, made essentially from a power tube screwed into the side of a garbage can.
He met his first trial run with trepidation; it was the moment all of his work hinged upon, and he said he was nervous about throwing the switch.
But once thrown, Mr. Levinson discovered that, not only did it work, but it worked better than the larger model.
With a shout of "Eureka!" he was off to apply for a patent on the power supply. And history was made then.
"My novel power supply not only reduced the size and weight of the microwave oven, but, surprisingly, it changed the duty cycle of the microwave power tube and doubled its efficiency," Mr. Levinson said.
The power model he made then is the one employed by microwave distributors worldwide today.
According to his Web site, www.mrmicrowave.us, Mr. Levinson has 37 patents under his belt.
He followed the speech with a 45-minute taped demonstration of his new cooking method.
Mr. Levinson said that the taped presentation shown to the women is the same demonstration he had perform for scientists all over the country, as he toured with it in 1991.
The tape demonstrated how to use common cookware, including metal pots, pans and tins, in microwave cooking. The results included browned, baked bread, fully cooked turkeys and chickens, as well as freshly made pies such as the one he brought in.
Not once did he use a conventional oven to achieve these results. Instead, Mr. Levinson used metal with plastic covers to achieve the same results.
For example, one demonstration showed Mr. Levinson baking a loaf of bread in a metal tin placed inside of a plastic ring and fitted with a plastic covering. The result was a warm, brown, fully cooked loaf of bread in a fraction of the time.
"When I first used this method to make the bread, the scientists loved it so much, they took loaves of it back to their hotel rooms to enjoy," Mr. Levinson said.
Afterward, when he opened up the meeting to questions, the women present immediately asked about his use of metal in the microwave.
This gave Mr. Levinson the opportunity to put to rest the myth that you cannot use metal in the microwave.
In fact, his Web site’s research asserts that metal is the preferred cooking medium for microwaves.
Early microwave manufacturers felt it easiest to say metal was unsafe, when it was not the metal causing the problem.
"The black, phenolic handles on metal pots and pans are not microwave safe,’" Mr. Levinson said. "Phenolic is a plastic material that has been used since the early part of this century as handles for metal pots and pans, and it’s the phenolic handles that explode when exposed to microwaves.
"The manufacturers felt it was in the best interest of the fledgling industry to avoid educating each, new microwave oven owner in the proper use of metal," he added.
Now, however, Mr. Levinson is out to prove otherwise.
"After seeing this demonstration, you’re going to be wondering why everyone isn’t doing this," he said.
Indeed that was the question on most minds after seeing Mr. Levinson’s innovation in action.
For more information, Mr. Levinson can be reached at [email protected]. For photographs, detailed studies, and more information about his inventing career, visit his Web site at www.mrmicrowave.us.

