History of the Washing Machine

As a society that depends on high tech gadgets and gizmos, we tend to overlook the origination of our devices that have been built to simplify our lives. One of the most useful devices that virtually all of North America depends on is the Washing Machine. This is an appliance that has been around in a variety of forms for nearly two and a half centuries, though many would believe it to be a fairly recent invention, perhaps 40 to 50 years passed, as many of our parents and grandparents tell us stories of how they used washboards to clean their clothing. What could possibly have existed before it? The answer; an assortment of other “machines” as well as methods varying from the cage with wooden rods and a handle that was built in 1782 to the first electric washing machine that was built in the year 1906.

Using the friction caused from rubbing clothing against rocks, and rinsing the clothes in a stream in order to clean them, no doubt became a tedious task in a short time. However, the technology did not exist to improve on this method. That is, not until the year of 1782, when the first washing machine was designed by a man named H. Sidgier from Great Britain. This machine consisted of a cage with wooden rods and a handle that was

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The first of its kind was introduced in 1906. It was also in 1930 that the Bendix Corporation conceived the concept of a device which would wash, rinse and remove water from the clothes all at the same time. There are mainly two types that have lasted through the years and remain in demand from customers, and they are the agitating system and the tumbling system. A washing machine no longer seems to be a simple appliance that we take for granted anymore, does it?

Though the type of machine already exists, scientists are currently attempting to perfect a washing machine that washes clothes and then dries them immediately afterwards without the person having to switch from one machine to another. For starters, there was safety issues involved with the electrical parts. Washing machines went from being a simple wooden tub with a washboard type mechanism that was hand operated to having a revolving drum that in time was able to reverse, rinse, and extract water all on electric power. The automatic washers sold even more effectively when in the 1960’s they were made with two tubs and also had an automatic timer which we still use today. In 1947, General Electric became the first company to install an agitator into the auto machine, though they sometimes claim to be the first to invent the first auto machine. It was not uncommon to get the clothing that they were wearing stuck in the wringer while they were using it.

Washing clothes was once a long and tedious job, and some people believe that it still is, but when you look back on what has progressed since using sand and friction on rocks, you must admit that our current method isn’t quite as bad as we may think sometimes. In 1947 also, the 1900’s Corporation produced the top loading machine. The early 1900’s brought upon the introduction of small electric motors, as well as metal tubs which replaced wooden ones. Yet why is it that they cannot rid themselves of the housewife stereotype where laundering is concerned?

North Americans are lucky to have such a privilege as that of the use of a washing machine.

Approximate Word count = 1844
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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