There are at least two explanations for why the first washing machines appeared. According to the first explanation, they were created by caring husbands to facilitate the work of their wives.

According to the second, the impetus was the need to wash a large number of unmarried men concentrated in one place (gold miners' towns, seaports, and so on). Most likely, both versions are true.

Many centuries ago, sailors began to use the movement of their ship to wash clothes: they tied it to a rope and threw it overboard. The foam jet quickly washed away all the dirt from the fabric. Meanwhile, on the shore, the sailors' friends were rubbing linen on stones, using sand as an abrasive for greater efficiency. So the first of the components of washing was found - a mechanical effect on the fabric.

But still, washing clothes was originally a women's business and one of the first women's professions. The services of laundresses were always in great demand, and their work was very hard: from early spring to late autumn, they washed in running water, kneeling on wooden walkways. Previously, the linen was boiled at home in a boiler, and then a heavy basket was carried to the river or pond. The walkways for rinsing clothes turned into a kind of women's club, from where, to the unanimous joy of the assembled women, any man was expelled with a wet rag.

Women who did not have the opportunity to use the services of a laundress, arranged a big laundry in the house about once a month. As a rule, only underwear and bed linen, towels, children's clothes were washed. Everything else - men's camisoles and trousers made of wool and velvet, ladies' silk dresses, embroidered corsages and frock coats were not washed at all, but only kept over steam and then cleaned with a brush (well, why not dry-clean?). As far back as ancient Babylon, probably the first attempt was made to mechanize this laborious procedure. Rock carvings of large wooden wheels with blades have come down to us, rotating which “shoveled” wet linen in large vats.

And in modern times, the best minds were busy with the problem of mechanizing washing. In 1797, one of these devices was created - a washboard. In the papers of the great German poet and thinker Goethe, descriptions of a hypothetical device - a washing machine - dating back to the second half of the 18th century, were found. However, in reality, such ideas were first embodied not by scientists, but by ordinary people - peasants and gold diggers.

American farmers and peasants of Western Europe, whose farms, earlier than factories in cities, were equipped with steam engines to drive agricultural mechanisms, in order to facilitate the work of their wives, made strong barrels, inside of which a crosspiece rotated (now we would call it activator). The rotation was carried out from the drive belt or gear. The mechanisms turned out to be very beautiful, their design did not stand still, acquiring ingenious devices.

In the middle of the 19th century, such inventions began to be patented. In 1851, the American James King patented a washing machine with a rotating drum, which was very similar to the modern one. Only the drive of his car was manual.

And in 1856, another American, Moore, patented a "device for washing clothes", which was a wooden box on wheels, over which a wooden frame of complex design moved. Laundry was put into the box, half filled with wooden balls and poured with washing solution. The lever-actuated frame moved up and down, the balls rolled over the linen, simulating the movement of many hands. Most likely, after each wash, the balls had to be washed by hand.

By 1875, over 2,000 laundry machine patents were filed in America alone. Not all ideas were viable and were further developed. It is clear that, for example, a machine that processed only one piece of clothing in one wash had no prospects. But the machine, which was built by a certain gold digger in California, could wash a dozen shirts in one “batch”. For her work, ten mules had to be harnessed. It was the first "landromat" in history, that is, a paid washing unit. It is probable that the clients of this public laundromat paid for each wash with golden sand.

Until the end of the 19th century, washing machines were mainly powered by the muscular power of man or animals. Such was the car of William Blackstone, which this resident of Indiana in 1874 presented to his wife on her birthday. Blackstone's invention went down in history as the first household washing machine. And, perhaps, the first mass-produced for sale: Mr. Blackstone, like a true businessman, set up the production and sale of his cars for $ 2.5 apiece. Interestingly, the company founded by Blackstone still produces washing machines to this day.

Machines spread and improved. The most important and inalienable attribute was the manual rolls for squeezing linen, invented in 1861. They took their place on the body of the washing machine for almost a century and a half, and they are still equipped with the simplest semi-automatic machines.

But the true countdown of the era of washing machines begins with their mass production. In 1900, the German company MIELE&CIE, which produced milk separators, began making butter churns - wooden tubs with hand-rotating blades. At the same time, Karl Miele came up with an ingeniously simple idea - to slightly modify this design and adapt it for washing clothes.

In the same year, the serial production of such washing machines began, which began to enjoy unexpectedly high demand. The idea was picked up by others, and various European companies began to produce wooden washing machines.

Not without curiosities. When a batch of German washing machines was brought to Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, savvy Russians quickly adapted them to ... butter churns. The party was instantly sold out, but the linen continued to be washed by hand. A revolution in the development of washing machines was the use of a motor - at first it could be either a gasoline internal combustion engine or an electric motor.

In the American town of Eton, in the state of Colorado, there is an unusual museum. Its owner and caretaker, Lee Maxwell, has been collecting washing machines from the early 20th century for many years. Now Maxwell's collection includes over 600 devices, the vast majority of which were restored by him and are now in working condition.

One of the first electrically powered washing machines was the Thor, which was produced around 1908 and patented in 1910 by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago. Machine inventor Alva Fischer went down in history as the creator of a new class of electrical appliances. The machine had a wooden drum, which made eight rotations in one direction or the other. In order to bring the drum rotation mechanism into engagement with the motor shaft, there was a lever at the bottom of the machine. All transmission mechanisms of the machine were open - the safety of the consumer in those days was not too much taken care of. Lee Maxwell recounts that once, when he was talking about this to a group of museum visitors, an elderly woman leaned over and, embarrassed, showed a huge scar on the back of her head. As a little girl, she helped her mother during the laundry and the girl's hair was pulled into the wringer rolls.

These washing machines were called activator-type machines, and machines in which water was set in motion with a small screw and many blades, forcing the water to move in a circle, became known as turbines. The division of the machine into activator and turbine has in some way been preserved to this day - in America, preference is still given to the first, and in Europe they use drum washing machines more.

By 1920, over 1,300 companies were producing washing machines in the United States. Some of them have long been forgotten, others continue to grow and develop. One such company, whose glorious path began at the dawn of the twentieth century, is the Whirlpool Corporation. Already the first machines produced by this company in 1911 had devices aimed at improving consumer safety.

American sociologists point out that the introduction of the household washing machine in 1920 "brought laundry back into the home." Up to this point, machine washing already existed, but in the form of public laundries, where housewives handed over linen. The advent of the washing machine, affordable and compact enough to fit in an apartment, transformed the American woman from a consumer of services (in this case, laundry services) to a consumer of technological goods, which contributed to the rapid growth of the corresponding industry.

The structure of women's employment has also changed: in the decade from 1910 to 1920, the number of domestic workers in the United States decreased by 400,000 people. The advent of electrical appliances (and by 1925 already 53.2% of homes in the United States were electrified), primarily washing machines, made it possible to get rid of hand washing and laundry services. By 1926, 900,000 washing machines were sold in America at an average price of $150 each, and by 1935 the fleet had reached 1.4 million units at an average price of $60 per machine.

Washing machines have come a long way before they appeared before us in their current form, their design, dimensions, technologies used and control system were improved.

At first, washing machines were non-automated activator type. Mechanical timers, which are time relays, were used as control devices. With their help, this or that washing or spinning time was set, the program was only partially automated - it was required to be near the machine in order to open and close the water supply tap, turn on / off the electric motor and perform other operations.

Already in the middle of the 20th century, washing was automated. In current, fully automatic washing machines, all of the above procedures are performed independently by the machine, except that it cannot yet independently load laundry, washing solution and powder, and unload after spinning. But, despite all this, human participation in washing is minimized.

But this is not the limit. Today, for example, an interesting novelty has appeared on the market - an ultrasonic washing machine. Actually, this is not a machine, but a small activator that is placed in the middle of a container with a washing solution and textiles. A piezoceramic emitter excites ultrasonic vibrations, which form a huge number of microscopic bubbles in the solution, which break the adhesion of contaminated microparticles to the fibers of products and facilitate their removal by surfactants of washing powder or soap. Thus, the cleaning of the fibers of the fabric occurs from the inside, which makes it possible to achieve a high washing efficiency. The quality of washing in such a washing machine is somewhere in the middle between hand washing with subsequent boiling and washing in an automatic machine with a bleaching function. The amount of laundry is not limited - only the required washing time depends on it. Among other things, ultrasound is quite effective in killing germs. Unfortunately, it does not know how to squeeze ultrasound. Of course, the main advantage of this laundry appliance, which the tongue does not dare to call a "washing machine", is its small size and power consumption, which is only a few watts. Therefore, such a machine is indispensable for travelers and business travelers.

Galileo. History of inventions. Washing machine:

One day I heard a lecture by an American professor who talked about various things: the problem of the energy crisis and the environment was touched upon, high birth rates in poor countries were discussed, and so on. And all these topics in the lecture came down to one thing - to the washing machine, or rather, to its invention.

In his speech, the professor noted that we must pay tribute to the invention of the washing machine, thanks to which man has stepped far ahead in his development. To prove this, he cited examples from his personal life and the lives of his friends.

Speaking about himself, he noted that buying a washing machine enabled his mother to pay more attention to both him and other family members. Mom, who had noticeably more free time, was now able to read books to him more often. Perhaps these frequent readings contributed to the fact that his further fate was closely connected with science.

Whether the washing machine really played a significant role in the development of civilization, or perhaps there are other inventions due to which great changes have taken place in the life of mankind, one can argue for quite some time. But one thing is clear that modern man will no longer be able to live today without this household device.

So, let's take a closer look at the history of the creation of the washing machine. It is impossible not to notice that the invention of the spinning machine entailed a rapid reduction in the cost of fabric, making it affordable, as a result of which large volumes of washing arose. And this turned the life of housewives into a continuous torment. And it is not surprising that many inventors have repeatedly visited the idea of ​​mechanizing this process. Patents have been preserved for the very first washing machines, however, these mechanisms were created long before the time when patent offices appeared.

The American James King was one of the first to create such a device in 1851. His washing machine, which replaced the washboard, had a manual drive and a rotating drum.

The second inventor of the washing machine was the American Moore, who in 1856 patented a device that is a wooden box with a wooden frame moving above it. Linen and detergent were placed in it along with wooden balls imitating hand washing. This device is different from others.

In 1874, William Blackstone creates and markets the first washing machine designed for domestic use, which he specially invented for his wife. The emergence of such devices occurred one after another. The boom that began in the mid-70s of the 19th century led to the fact that over 2000 mechanisms for washing clothes were patented in America alone.

Hand rollers, invented specifically for wringing clothes, were installed on washing machines in 1861 (they have been present on non-automatic machines for over a hundred years). The first to mass-produce washing machines was MIELE&CIE in Germany, which until then had specialized in milk separators and butter churns. It turned out that the design of the churn is similar to a washing machine. The company, having made every effort, was able to make a laundry device out of its device, by re-equipment.

The Thor device, released by the Hurley Machine Company in 1908, was the first laundry machine to be equipped with an electric drive. She was also notable for the fact that she could spin the drum in different directions, making eight rotations each. In many ways, the development of this household appliance was hampered by the fact that there was no widespread electrification. And only with the advent of electricity in every home, the washing machine managed to take its place of honor.

The first washing machine is like the first love - whoever washed clothes with their hands at least once will never forget the joy of buying an automatic machine. Units of all shapes, configurations and price categories serve the cause of cleanliness, save time and effort.

Who created the washing machine?

The first washing unit was patented by Canadian Noah Cushing in 1824, but did not find public recognition. The fact is that inside the washing tank, blades were attached to the axis, which did not turn over, but simply tore clothes. The American inventor James King took into account the shortcomings and patented a washing machine with a perforated drum in 1851. The unit had a manual drive and looked more like a hurdy-gurdy than a washing device. The disadvantage of the invention was in the small amount of loading, and it was irrational to spend a lot of time and effort to wash only one shirt.

At the same time, a California gold miner opened the first laundromat, which was a great success. The invention could hold up to 15 shirts at a time, it was set in motion by at least a dozen mules, and payment was accepted in gold sand.

In 1856, a machine appeared, driven by a lever. She imitated hand movements using wooden balls and a frame. Such balls are still used to wash down jackets and blankets, however, wood has given way to modern plastic.

American entrepreneurs quickly assessed market prospects, and by 1857 the patent office had registered more than 2,000 inventions. And in 1861, the spinning rolls saw the light, and it was them that the Soviet mistress would use until the 80s of the XX century.

The model invented by William Blackstone for his wife in 1874 went into mass production. The price of the novelty was $ 2.5, and his company is still working.

At this time, the German manufacturer of churns and separators, Carl Miele, found a new use for his inventions: exactly one year after the founding of the company in 1900, he released a washing machine with rotating blades and wringing rollers.

When did the first car with an engine appear?

Alva Fischer invented the first electric motor called the Thor in 1908. Despite the technological breakthrough, the drum was still made of wood, it rotated 8 times clockwise and counterclockwise. Although Edison built the first power plant back in 1882, by the time the electric drive was invented, not all regions were electrified, so internal combustion engines were used. Today it is even hard to imagine that a banal wash was accompanied by soot and soot.

The main drawback of the new generation machines was the open design - the electric drive instantly pulled the child's hair into the mechanism, up to scalping. This state of affairs clearly did not suit Upton Machine Co, now known as the Whirlpool Corporation. For safety, the company equipped its models with rolls that moved only in one direction, closed all mechanisms with painted sheets of metal.

By 1925, 53% of American homes were electrified, and more than 1,300 companies made domestic laundry appliances. This led to the fact that in 10 years 400,000 women lost their jobs as laundresses or domestic workers, despite the fact that by 1926 900,000 machines had been purchased.

The history of the creation and development of the washing machine

In 1949, technological progress made it possible to create the first software printed on punched cards and install a centrifuge to wring clothes. The automatic machine appeared in Europe in 1951, and after 1978 the unit began to be equipped with a microprocessor. Production has become ubiquitous, improved, models have appeared where you can not only set the program, but also update it yourself using a computer and the Internet. Modern security systems protect against water leakage, burns when children and animals come into contact with the hatch glass. The washing cycle in some models ends with drying, combining the functions of two different units.

Washing in the USSR

For a long time, the housewives washed things by the river and the ice hole. This hellish work cannot be described in words, but in connection with wars and revolutions, it was possible to change the corrugated board to a semi-automatic unit only in 1950, although the party elite had been washing in American machines for 30 years. They decided to establish production in Riga, so the EAYA-2 and EAYA-3 brands appeared with a load of 2.5 kg and a cost of 600 rubles.

They were replaced by "Riga-54" and "Riga-55", completely borrowed from the Swedes. In the city of Cheboksary, the production of the well-known Volga with rolls invented in 1861 was launched. An attempt to keep up with progress was reflected in the model under the sonorous name "Eureka". After that, Vyatka-Automatic appeared as a result of cooperation with the Italian brand Merloni Progetti. Two models of the Vyatka-automatic machine were produced with 12 and 16 programs, and the appearance of this miracle of technology in the house guaranteed the visit of neighbors and friends. In conditions of food shortages and the availability of money from the population, it was not difficult to buy a novelty, but it could only be installed in houses built after 1978 - due to the mismatch of electrical wiring to the technical requirements of Vyatka.

The emergence of the need for machine washing was born along with the advent of clothing. It was accompanied by the human desire to facilitate this process. The more everyday concerns a person shifts to technology, the more time will be left for self-development and communication with loved ones, hobbies and travel.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Woman doing laundry in the river. Early 19th century

Soap, a mixture of fats and alkalis, was known in Sumer and Babylon about 5,000 years ago. Legend has it that the Latin word sapo (soap) comes from the ancient Roman name of Mount Sapo, where sacrifices were made to the gods. Animal fat, released during the burning of the victim, accumulated and mixed with the wood ash of the fire. The resulting mass of rain was washed off onto the clay bank of the Tiber River, where the inhabitants washed their linen, which, thanks to this mixture, was washed much easier.

But even in hot water, which copes with dirt better than cold, with soap and other detergents, washing remained hard physical labor, and it would be strange if a person did not try to alleviate it with the help of mechanization. The first primitive prototype of the washing machine was the simple technology of sailors who tied soapy clothes to a rope and lowered them overboard. Sea waves, multiplied by the speed of the ship, coped well with washing. On land, washerwomen used the same principle, washing in fast-flowing streams and rivers.

All sorts of mechanical devices that stir up the laundry and thereby help the water and soap do their job, history knows plenty. Even in Babylon, in huge vats for washing, wheels with blades were installed, which, when rotated, mixed the laundry. True, strong men had to rotate these wheels, so such units simply replaced one type of muscular effort with another. In the villages, the peasants carved deep troughs from wood, which could be rocked in the manner of a cradle. Women coped well with this, but the quality of washing was low. Another old washing machine is the so-called washing barrel, in which soapy water, along with linen, was rotated by a crosspiece mounted on a vertical axis.

D. Teniers Jr. Fabric bleaching.

The washboard is an essential attribute of hand washing.

The first patent for a mechanical washing machine was received on March 28, 1797 by the American Nathaniel Briggs from New Hampshire. This machine was reminiscent of the ancient Babylonian, and its operation required a fair amount of effort from several people. It is not surprising that this invention did not receive wide distribution. In 1851, the American James King patented a washing machine very similar to the modern one. It was a tub with a perforated cylinder mounted on a rotating axle. Linen was placed inside the tub and soapy water was poured in, however, it was still necessary to rotate the drum manually. But it was this device that became the prototype of drum washing machines.

The King unit seemed to have opened a kind of throughput gateway: inventions of various mechanical washing devices poured out one after another in a powerful wave. Only in America in 1875 about 2 thousand patents for such devices were received. However, most of these ideas were not viable and remained on paper, but there were also really successful ones. So, in the early 1850s, the first public paid laundries opened in the gold mines of California. They were equipped with washing machines that were powered by mules and could wash a large amount of laundry at a time. And in 1861, washing machines were supplemented with a mechanical spinning device. It consisted of two rotating rollers, between which wet linen was passed.

Hand-operated wooden washing machine designed by W. Sellers. 1890

And yet, the American William Blackstone is usually called the inventor of the washing machine. Although he was not a discoverer in the literal sense of the word, the model he designed in 1874 as a gift for his wife's birthday became the first household washing machine to go into mass production. The company founded by Blackstone produces these household appliances to this day. In Europe, the mass production of mechanical "washerwomen" was established by the manufacturer of milk separators, Carl Miele. In 1900, his company Miele & Cie adapted a wooden butter churn with blades inside the case for washing needs.

I must say that machines that washed “themselves” appeared much earlier than officially patented ones, and not in the workshops of inventors, but in large farms in America and Europe, whose owners used steam engines for rural work. Instead of turning the handles of washing machines or harnessing animals, farmers used a belt or gear drive. It was not possible to use steam engines in small private houses and apartments, therefore, in cities, steam-powered washing machines were installed mainly in public laundries. In addition to steam engines, more exotic gas and even hydraulic drives were also used, reminiscent of a small water mill.

The first electric washing machine was patented in 1908 by the American inventor Alva Fisher. Two years later, the Hurley Machine Company began mass production of this unit, called the Thor. The machine was equipped with a wooden drum, which alternately rotated in one direction and the other. At the bottom of the machine there was a lever with which the mechanism that rotated the drum was coupled to the motor shaft. A serious drawback of Fisher's invention was the insecurity of the machine, since all of its transmission mechanisms were open.

By the early 1920s, more than 1,000 companies were producing washing machines in the United States. These were no longer industrial units, but compact household appliances that fit perfectly into the interior of even a small apartment. However, in Europe and the United States in apartment buildings, washing machines for general use are still sometimes installed in basements.

Laundry. New Hampshire, USA. 1931

Improvements have been constantly made to the design of washing machines. In the early 1920s, wooden tanks lined with copper sheet gave way to enamelled steel. Two main types of washing machines have been identified. The first is an activator with a vertical tank and a flat circle with protruding radial blades located at the bottom of the activator, driven by an electric motor located outside. The second type is drum machines, more complex and less reliable, but still more widespread due to ease of automation, gentle washing, economical consumption of water and detergents.

In 1924, a machine appeared with a drum designed for both washing and spinning clothes. It was released to the market by the American Savage Arms Company. In the next decade, machines with drain pumps and mechanical timers were developed. And yet, despite all these improvements, the hostess still had to constantly be near the machine throughout the entire washing process: open and close the water supply tap, set the timer switch, start and turn off the engine. The first truly automated washing machine with a drum appeared in the United States only in 1949, and in Europe two years later. The profession of a laundress has gone down in history, since a person was now required only to load dirty laundry into the machine, fill it with detergent, select a program and press the start button.

A woman hanging clothes. Arizona, USA. 1940

In the late 1970s, programming of automatic washing machines began to be carried out using microprocessors. The drying function, which is not very popular due to the high energy consumption, has appeared, as well as the ability to select the washing mode depending on the type of fabric. The designers have developed machines of various sizes, which made it possible to integrate the units into kitchen furniture.

A real revolution in the production of washing machines was the Fuzzy Logic control system (literally “fuzzy logic”), developed in the mid-1990s. With it, you can carry out an incredible number of washing options. In addition, a machine equipped with such a system itself controls the temperature of the water and its hardness, the amount of laundry loaded and the concentration of detergents. Microprocessors are even able to remember the type of wash most often used by the owner of the machine, and perform this function by default.

In the near future, the washing machine will become an integral part of the so-called smart home, fully controlled by computer systems. Currently, technologies are being developed that will enable the machine, for example, to independently select the optimal washing mode using touch sensors for the type and color of fabric, as well as access the Internet and contact a service center in case of a malfunction.

If there is not enough space in the house

The smallest automatic washing machine is produced by the Swiss company Eurosoba. The weight of the machine is only 36 kg, it fits easily under the sink, and its service life is 15 years.

For owners of not just small, but micro-sized apartments with tiny bathrooms, a wash-up system washing machine was developed, the essence of which is that the machine is located above the toilet, saving space, and the water used during washing is used to flush sewage. What to do if the toilet is used more often than washed, the creators of the model are silent.

For washing in washing machines, a special powder is produced.

choose any

In ancient times, washing was a very laborious process that took a lot of time and effort from housewives. But what is there to talk about the distant past: even in the twentieth century, a washing machine (the most common, not an automatic machine!) Was far from being in every home. Whether business - our days! They threw the laundry into the hatch, pressed the button and two hours later they took it out clean and fragrant. “Now, if they added the hanging function,” grumble the laziest. However, they can purchase, and completely rid themselves of the hassle. Who created the first washing machines? To whom should we be grateful for the current well-being?

The prototypes of the first washing machines

Probably, the ancient sailors were the first to learn how to automate the washing process. They simply wrapped their soiled clothes in a fishing net and lowered it overboard on a rope. The ship sailed, the clothes were washed. And no hassle!

At the same time, their girlfriends, who remained on land, rubbed sheets and shirts on stones and sand on the banks of nearby reservoirs. And people have been using this simple method for many centuries.

This is how our great-grandmothers washed

The prototype of the first washing machine was the washboard, invented at the end of the eighteenth century. This device has become the constant assistant of every Soviet (and not only) woman: it can still be found with grandmothers in the attics of rural houses and in the basements of high-rise buildings.

The prototype of the first washing machine - washboard

The first hand-operated washing machines

A breakthrough in the washing machine industry occurred in 1851, when James King, an inventor from the United States of America, registered a patent for a washing mechanism. Its design was very similar to the device of modern washers, only the drum was set in motion manually.

James King washing machine

Over the next quarter of a century, patent offices were bombarded with a flurry of various laundry devices. Some of them turned out to be completely useless. For example, who would want a machine that can only wash a single shirt? But the invention of a certain Californian gold digger made it possible to wash a dozen pants at once. True, ten mules set the device in motion. Nevertheless, the unit took root. Moreover, its inventor made good money by charging for the services of the first washing machine with golden sand. The prospectors needed clean shirts, but there was absolutely no time to do laundry, so the enterprising Californian also became the founder of the world's first paid laundry.

The muscular strength of people and domestic animals was used to set in motion washing drums until the end of the century before last. It was this - manual - that the first household washing machine was designed. In 1874, William Blackstone, a resident of the American state of Indiana, presented her to her beloved wife on the name day. This man managed to properly dispose of his invention: since Mrs. Blackstone liked the innovation, the man reasoned that other housewives would also be happy with him.

Blackstone washing machine

Serial production of the first personal-use washing machines was established in a short time, and the devices were sold out like hot cakes, at two and a half dollars apiece. By the way, the company that Blackstone founded at the end of the nineteenth century produces washing equipment to this day.

What about pressing?

Washed clothes need to be spun, and this process also requires effort. In 1861, a device was invented that made it easy to get rid of excess water. It looked like two rollers rotating towards each other. The washed thing was squeezed between them, the hostess twisted the handle, and the rollers squeezed out the water. Doesn't this remind you of anything? If not, it looks like you are very young, because semi-automatic machines were equipped with similar mechanisms ten to fifteen years ago.

The first washing machines with a motor

The beginning of the twentieth century was characterized by the rapid development of technology. Steam engines were replaced by internal combustion engines, and in some places electric motors began to appear. These innovations did not bypass the production of washing mechanisms. Washing machines on gasoline somehow did not take root. Apparently, the smoke from the motor did not contribute to the cleanliness and freshness of the linen. But on the other hand, the first washing machines driven by electricity began to appear. So, in 1908, the Hurley Machine Company launched the Thor electric washer into mass production. Its inventor Alva Fischer is considered the founding father of household appliances of an innovative class at that time: electric.

Washing machine Thor

Laundry returned to the house

Today, Fisher's machine would seem antediluvian to us. It had a wooden drum that rotated alternately in different directions, and a special lever was provided to switch the direction of movement. The moving mechanisms of the machines were not covered by a body or casing: the safety of consumers in those days, apparently, was considered the work of the consumers themselves. Nevertheless, progress has been made.

By the end of the twenties of the last century, washing machines in the United States alone produced more than a thousand companies! It was then that the company, now known as the Whirlpool Corporation, began its activities.

Sociologists argue that the proliferation of personal-use washing machines has "brought laundry back into the home." The fact is that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the machine washing method was already quite widespread, but it functioned in the format of public laundries. But as soon as the ladies got their hands on a relatively compact and affordable car that did a good job, they turned from consumers of services into consumers of goods, and this contributed to the development of an entire industry.

The appearance of household machines also affected the structure of female employment in America and Europe: the services of laundresses were no longer needed, and women who made a living doing laundry had to learn new professions.

From functionality to aesthetics

Since washing machines were intended primarily for the fair sex, for whom the aesthetic side of the issue is no less important than the technical one, appliance manufacturers were forced to design their products. Ugly ducklings, which were the first washing machines, began to turn into stylish and elegant devices that no longer needed to be hidden in basements and pantries.

Milestones in the evolution of the washing machine

From the first washing machines with their imperfections to today's multifunctional units, this technique has come a long way. Here are the main stages of its evolution:

Technological advances in the field of laundry technology are no less ambitious than in the field of mobile communications. True, we buy smartphones much more often than washing machines. But if you are thinking about purchasing a new machine, you should be aware of what the modern market offers. And we are ready to help you with this. Read our blog and be in trend!