Lowes has wide selection of the best home appliances at the best prices. Many of these appliances we take for granted and yet most have fascinating histories. The appliances are all essential items today and with a Lowes Money Off Coupon from We Are Coupons you can save money on all of them, One such appliance is the dishwasher, an appliance most of us cannot live without. But where did the dishwasher come from and what it it’s history?
Basic History
Who would have imagined that the history of the dishwasher could have such humble beginninngs? A entire generation of people exist today who know little or nothing about hand washing the dishes; even fewer people know the story about a wonderfuil hand-cranked wooden box that inspired Josephine Cochrane to invent the first practical dishwasher. Yes, it started out as a manual machine to replace a manual task – go figure!
The Rough Ideas
In the mid 1800s, two men, on separate occasions, invented and patented somewhat primitive ideas to simplify washing the dishes. The first man, Joel Houghton, created a wooden machine with a hand crank that merely splashed water onto dirty dishes and sort of cleaned them The second attempt was by a man named L.A. Alexander whose machine simply spun dishes through water. It too was cranked by hand. Neither machine did much in the way of cleaning the dirty dishes, both were unreliable and the cleaning process was worse than cleaning by hand
An Inspired Woman
In 1886, the heiress and granddaughter of the man who invented the steamboat, Josephine Cochrane designed yet another hand-cranked cleaning machine. Tired of all of her fine china plates being chipped and cracked by her servants, she decided to invent a machine to wash the dishes safely and thoroughly. Though small in size, her new dishwashing machine was very useful. As electricity was not a household commodity at the time, her machine was only bought by large restaurants and hotels until she founded what is known today KitchenAid to manufacture her new dishwashers.
A Household Necessity
As plumbing and home appliance technologies advanced in the 1920s, new methods were developed to keep dishwashers hooked up to a steady and reliable water supply. These bulky and expensive machines were still primarily used commercially. Throughout the 1930s until the 1950s these machines were used commercially. It was not until additional features, such as an electric drying capability and reduction in size, made dishwashers an affordable commodity that they soon became a common household accessory.
Limitless Features
Dishwashers have come a long way since the crude, hand-cranked versions. With everything from sterilization to heated drying, Josephine would be proud to see a cycle specifically for her fine china.
