History of the Dishwasher: A Timeline of a Favorite Appliance
With the advent of electricity and the decline in domestic servants helping in the kitchen, electrical appliances gradually came into use. Today, many people still hand wash all of their cookware, but there are a significant number of us who take for granted the luxury of having a machine that washes and dries our dishes for us. So when did the dishwasher come about? Let’s take a look at the progression of one of our prized kitchen helpers.
Believe it or not, the first product that resembled what would become the modern dishwasher was patented by one Joel Houghton in 1850. That’s right, before the Civil War, people were thinking about how to lighten the load on household chores. housework. While it was just a wooden machine with a hand wheel that splashed water on the dishes, it was a start in the right direction.
“If no one else is going to invent a dishwasher, I’ll do it myself.”
So proclaimed Josephine Cochran in 1886. Engineering was in her blood, since her father, John Fitch, was the inventor of the steamboat. Cochran unveiled her invention at the 1893 World’s Fair, but only hotels and restaurants showed interest in buying into her idea. Cochran’s design had racks to hold plates, saucers, and cups.
By today’s standards, his invention is, of course, primitive. But Cochran’s manual mechanical dishwasher did an adequate job. The company he founded to make his dishwasher became KitchenAid.
Once indoor plumbing became more prevalent and could be used in conjunction with dishwashers in the 1920s, appliance makers Miele pushed the dishwasher into the future.
“In 1929, we launched Europe’s first electric top-loading dishwasher ready for series production,” says Neil Pooley, product manager for the Miele group.
But the stock market crash caused the Great Depression, which made selling a luxury item virtually impossible. In 1937, William Howard Livens invented the dishwasher that is closest to what we know today. This machine featured a front loading door, rotary sprayer, and wire racks. In 1940, the electrical elements used to dry the dishes were incorporated into the design.
It would be several decades before the dishwasher became a practical item for most households, due to its high price. After Miele introduced the first automatic dishwasher in 1960, the cost of a dishwasher was still out of reach for most people. For example, an RCA dishwasher in 1966 cost as much as $218. Factoring in inflation, that would be more than $1,500 in today’s money.
But like most inventions that created enough demand, the price of dishwashers gradually dropped, and by the time the 1980s rolled around, it became one of the most popular kitchen appliances in America.
