The toaster is possibly one of the greatest of all inventions, just behind the electric car, the soft-serve ice cream machine and, perhaps, the wheel. But who says it has to be just for bread? Two Germans have now expanded the machine's horizons, as it were, inventing the “Wursttoaster,” a toaster for sausages. A very German thing to invent, if you think about it.

Reuters reports that Marco Bruns, 25, and his business partner Felix Rennies, 28, were inspired to create the Wursttoaster after a trip to Britain, where they were less than impressed with how the English cooked bratwurst. Rennies, an engineer, figured that it was easier to invent a machine than, perhaps, attempt to teach an entire nation how to cook sausages. Fiat Wursttoaster, which resembles a conventional toaster but with round holes rather rectangular slots. Wurst, by the way, is German for “sausage.”

“It wouldn't work with a normal toaster,” said Rennies. “We had to design it from scratch.” The pair is now designing a brand of sausages to be used with the Wursttoaster.

The Wursttoaster, which has won a prize from Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, will be on the market next summer at a cost of 499 euros, or about $680.

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