Breville is a maker of small kitchen appliances, founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1932. They created the original sandwich toaster. The product was a huge success upon its launch in Australia in 1974, selling 400,000 units in its first year and making the Breville brand a household name in Australia. Soon after, the Breville toasted sandwich maker was launched in New Zealand and Great Britain where it met with similar success. The name became synonymous with such devices - to the point where in some countries "Breville" has become the generic word for a sandwich toaster, and often the toasted sandwich itself, in much the same way that "Hoover" is associated with the vacuum cleaner.