Ronald Howes

{{short description|American inventor}} {{Infobox person | name = Ronald B. Howes Sr. | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|05|22}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|02|16|1926|05|22}} | death_place = Anderson Township, OH | other_names = | known_for = Inventor of the Easy-Bake Oven | occupation = Inventor }} '''Ronald B. Howes''' (May 22, 1926 – February 16, 2010) was an American toy inventor, best known for his invention of the Easy-Bake Oven, which was introduced to consumers in 1963.<ref name=ce>{{cite news|first=Barry M.|last=Horstman|title=Ronald Howes, inventor of Easy-Bake Oven, dies at 83|url=http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100219/NEWS01/2200320/Easy-Bake+Oven+inventor+dies|work=Cincinnati Enquirer|date=2010-02-19|accessdate=2010-03-04|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223002016/http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100219/NEWS01/2200320/Easy-Bake+Oven+inventor+dies|archivedate=2010-02-23}}</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life=== Howes' mother died when he was born. He was raised by his German grandmother and her American husband in Over-the-Rhine, a historic neighborhood in Cincinnati.<ref name=ce/> Howes' family ran a series of small grocery stores in the city during the Great Depression.<ref name=ce/>

Howes taught himself to read before kindergarten.<ref name=ce/> He left Walnut Hills High School during World War II in order to enlist in the United States Navy.<ref name=ce/> He served in the South Pacific during the war before returning to Cincinnati.

He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he had already earned some credits while in high school.<ref name=ce/>

===Inventions=== Howes came up with the idea for the Easy-Bake Oven when he noticed that street vendors kept their food hot by using heat-lamps.<ref name="salon_2011">{{cite web | url=http://www.salon.com/food/2010/02/28/why_we_love_the_easy_bake_oven | title=Hot young thing: Why we love the Easy-Bake Oven | accessdate=2011-02-24 | author=Breselor, Sara | date=2010-02-28 | work=Chefs and Cooks | publisher=Salon.com | quote=About 50 years ago, walking through New York City, inventor Ronald Howes was struck by the way street vendors kept their food warm using heating lamps. In the cartoon version of this scene, we can see the light bulb from a vendor's cart float to the air above Howes' head, where it pops in a flash of genius. Light bulb ... heat ... cooking ... There among the pretzel carts, Howes conceived of the Easy-Bake Oven, a child-size appliance that uses 100-watt incandescents to bake tiny cakes.}}</ref> In addition to his creation of the Easy-Bake Oven, Howes also was involved in the creation of or refinement to a number of other Kenner Toy products, including Spirograph, Give-a-Show Projector, and Close-and-Play Record Player. Howes died on February 16, 2010, at the age of 83.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howes, Ronald}} Category:1926 births Category:2010 deaths Category:American people of German descent Category:Toy inventors Category:20th-century American inventors Category:University of Cincinnati alumni Category:People from Cincinnati Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Engineers from Ohio