Abstract: A toaster having a heating enclosure including a first support wall and a second support wall extending outwardly from a base. A pair of opposed racks extend between the first and second support walls along the sides of the heating enclosure. Each rack has a bottom edge hingedly supported by the support walls and a top edge wherein the top edges are biased toward each other. The racks have one end rotatably supported by a plastic bearing and are biased along their axis of rotation against the bearing to provide smooth and quiet rotation. A toast carriage extends from a plastic arm hub which is slidingly supported adjacent the second support wall between an upper and lower limit position.

Abstract: An automatic countertop toaster and its control that divides the toasting cycle into three thermodynamic phases related to a change in the physical characteristics of the toaster and the item being toasted. The time of each of the three phases is adjusted according to the user inputs and current conditions to obtain the proper toasting time. The invention disclosed uses a microcomputer to interface with the user and control the toaster. The measured or estimated time since the last toasting cycle and the temperature inside the toaster are used by the microcomputer in table lookups to set the times for the three thermodynamic phases of the toasting cycle. Two of the phases are further modified by the toasting mode (normal, frozen, bagel, frozen bagel, reheat) and the toast darkness setting selected by the user. The sum of the three phases after modification is the total toasting time.