All about washing machines

Who invented the dishwasher?

dishwasher inventorSome modern housewives believe that it was the woman who invented the dishwasher in order to facilitate hard work, because housekeeping is also work, and work is not easy. In fact, history has preserved some data about the man who, for the first time in the world, designed and manufactured a dishwasher. Today we’ll talk about his invention, as well as the historical evolution of dishwashing technology.

First dishwasher

Dishwashing appliances are often mentioned in various historical sources. Presumably, such devices were known to the Romans, however, not a single image or at least a verbal description of such devices was preserved, which means that the name of the ingenious inventor of the first dishwasher has not been preserved.

The first documented mention of a dishwasher dates back to 1850. In the scientific world, this year is considered the year of the invention of the dishwashing unit. The young American Guoton patented the design of this unit, although his invention, to be honest, was completely disastrous and had no economic prospects.

This is just the case when the idea is good, and its implementation is very bad. Only one prototype of the Guoton machine was made, the test of which immediately showed the failure of the design of this invention

drawing of the world's first dishwasherBy the way, almost at the same time, King invented a washing machineso that these two household units go close to the moment of invention. However, a washing machine is not an example more popular than a dishwasher. Around the world there are few housewives unfamiliar with washing machines, but many still still prefer to wash the dishes with their hands, especially in Russia and the CIS countries.

The inventor of the dishwasher made a device with a manual drive, which had a tank, a piston pump for supplying water, a complex frame holding the tank and a handle that actuated the pump. The main advantage of this invention was the revolutionary idea, which gave the opportunity to the housewives hopes for the imminent appearance of a real effective "home assistant". Well, the disadvantages of the invention of Guoton were much more than pluses.

  1. The dishes in his car almost never laundered.
  2. It was difficult to put the dishes in the tank, which often caused it to break.
  3. The supply of water to the dirty dishes was not thought out, from which the water did not get into the part of the kitchen utensils laid in the tank.
  4. There was no system for pumping waste water and supplying clean water, so the dishes were rinsed with the same water that was used when washing.

The creation of female hands

Cochrane dishwasherWe figured out who invented the dishwasher and at the same time we learned that the first design of the dishwasher was not viable, since it completely did not fulfill its main function. Why did it happen? Perhaps because Guoton was far from household or did not fully understand the mechanism of washing dishes. In any case, we will no longer learn the truth, since information about the circumstances of the invention disappeared into the air with the inventor.

And then what? But then a woman took up the matter, who sincerely and with great desire began to develop the first serial hand-held dishwasher. This woman's name was Josephine Cochrane. Unlike Guoton, the adventurous Josephine not only managed to make a working dishwasher with a manual drive, but also built a primitive water heater into it. The first dishwasher made by a woman consisted of the following parts.

  1. A wooden or metal box that acts as a washing hopper.
  2. Baskets for dishes, which was presented in the form of a curved metal grill, which housed mainly plates, saucers and cups.
  3. Manual drive mechanism.
  4. Two piston pumps.
  5. A hinged lid that sealed the drawer.
  6. Water heater.

The advantages of such a machine was quite a lot, from which it began to be successfully sold. Firstly, she was quite tolerably washing dishes, especially saucers and plates. Secondly, this dishwasher itself heated the water, making it possible to wash the dishes with hot water. Thirdly, it had a compact and convenient body, as well as a basket that securely fixed the dishes, which virtually eliminated its beating during washing and bookmarking.

Advantages, virtues, but there were also disadvantages, and significant ones. Cochrane machine could not wash overall and non-standard dishes, in addition, it was impossible to wash the cutlery in it. The car was hand-operated, which means that the hostess had to stand by and turn the knob, which is a very tedious task, perhaps even more tedious than washing dishes by hand. And most importantly, this dishwasher was very expensive and only very wealthy houses could afford it, which ultimately decided the fate of this, in its own, revolutionary invention.

Josephine Cochrane released several modifications of her brainchild. In the latter version, the machine had to not only wash, but also dry the dishes, although the design turned out to be too bulky, expensive and did not gain popularity, unlike the very first model.

The first electric dishwasher

first electric dishwasherThe ingenious invention of the witty Josephine should have given impetus to the development of dishwashing equipment, but no, dishwashers were still unknown to most housewives. Only a few companies allowed themselves to produce dishwashers, and even then in very limited quantities for a narrow circle of consumers.

The very first electric dishwasher was the brainchild of the actively developing German company Miele, which manufactured this machine in 1929. From a technical point of view, the model was interesting, but in practice, the machine was bulky, poorly washed dishes and very noisy. In addition, the cost of the dishwasher from Miele was astronomical, so they bought it very rarely and the model was soon discontinued.

A year later, in 1930, electric dishwashers began to be sold in the United States under the name Kitchen Aid. In the first couple, the buyer showed interest, but he quickly disappeared in view of the imperfections of the dishwasher and the low purchasing power of the population.

The Great Depression was doing its dirty deed. After 9 years, the Second World War broke out, and people were not up to dishwashers. During the war and in the first five years after, no one even remembered the dishwashing technique. In 1950, the production of electric dishwashers in a limited series was launched by a large manufacturer of household appliances, Whirlpool.

The advent of an automatic dishwasher

The real breakthrough was not made by engineers working at Whirlpool. In 1960, the actively developing company Miele launches a fully automatic dishwasher, although it was invented a little earlier.

This machine was much more affordable than all previous dishwasher units and soap dishes pretty well. The reaction of buyers was not long in coming. The first cars that came off the assembly line "went like hot cakes." From that moment the era of automatic dishwashers began, which we have been successfully using to this day.

first automatic dishwasher

It is difficult to say who invented the dishwasher, but Miele filed a patent for the invention.

German engineers working at Miele decided not to stop there and in 1978 launched an automatic microprocessor-controlled automatic dishwasher. The first units with electronic filling were not reliable, but in a very short time all the shortcomings were eliminated.The cars were so successful that some older Germans for 30 years did not want to part with them.

in the mid-20th century, dishwashers began to gain popularity

Currently, Miele and several dozen large manufacturers of household appliances offer hundreds of models of dishwashers. Dishwashers no longer scare anyone, but quite the opposite, because more and more people want to equip their homes with dishwasher appliances and this is very good news!

   

Reader Comments

  • Share your opinion - leave a comment

Add a comment

Read also

Error codes for washing machines