Washing Machines Over the Ages
From urine, to streams, then wash houses where women would gather, visit, and labor to get their families clothes clean to NOW, the present day, at the push of a button.
Although in some respects, past times might have been simpler, an ordinary task that we take for granted today was quite laborious and sometimes complex. People had washboards, agitated their clothes with paddles, and used substances like lye, ash, urine (also known as chamber lye) to help get clothing clean. Then the process of rinsing and drying took place. Boiling was used to sanitize items. Today, we can simply purchase our cleaning products from a wide array of choices.
In ancient Rome the emperor Vespasian had urine collected from public urinals to be used for cleaning and whitening togas that were woolen.
This Roman emperor is known for the saying “money has no smell”. The meaning implied that no matter how distasteful the source of the money was, monetary gain was more important.
In 1691, a patent was filed by the English under “Washing and Wringing”. Then many variations on the washer were released in Europe including a rotating drum roller. Of course, this required manual labor to turn the lever.
In 1797 Nathaniel Briggs received the first patent for a washing machine. Unfortunately, there is not a picture of his washing machine available as all the records were destroyed in a fire. This washer probably involved pouring hot water into a barrel or tank, then turning a lever to rotate the clothes, and then putting the clothes into rollers to ring them out. The washer then had to be drained by a tap. It is also said that Jacob Christian Schaffer invented the washing machine in 1767, but he did not receive a patent.
In 1851, the first drum-style mechanical washing machine was patented by James King.
In 1908, Alva J. Fisher has been mentioned to be the inventor of the Thor, the first washer powered by electricity. The clothes were agitated by a motorized drum.
After the Thor, in 1911, Lou Upton and some of his other family members, joined together. They formed the Upton Machine Company and motor-driven washers were invented. Today this company is known as the Whirlpool Corporation.
In 1916, Sears, Roebuck & Co. sold an Upon machine called the “Allen” which was considered a delux model for $95.00.
In the 1930s washers became automatic with switches, thermostats, timers, etc. And now we just have to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer.
