About The Project

                                             History of the Washing Machine                      

                   

               Who Invented the Washing Machine? For centuries, women washed their clothes by hand rubbing and knocking along rivers. Where there were no rivers, the clothes were washed in wooden, copper or iron tubs. Records have been found in the Sapo region of Rome that oil-containing ashes of sacrificial animals were used as soap. Until the end of the 18th century, there was no other method of washing clothes. So who invented the washing machine?

               In 1782, Henry Sidgier in London built a closed, hexagonal laundry tub made of wood. Laundry was squeezed between the wooden sticks placed in this boat. Both ends of the boat were suspended from the two hangers and then turned by arm power. This system, based entirely on human labor, was both very tiring and took longer than conventional methods. The wet laundry taken out of the machine was squeezed by passing it between two wooden rollers, so that the water was drained and ironed in a sense.

               In 1791, an Englishman named Ferguson Hardie developed a system that allows the rollers to move both forward and backward with one-way movement of the roller arm. Thanks to this system, at least some ease in the clamping mechanism was provided. But still, the whole process was human labor and was quite tiring.

               The brushing board for washing clothes in America in 1797 was invented by Nathaniel Briggs.

               In 1851, the American James King patented another washing machine with a drum. the laundry was put into this drum and the drum was turned by hand. In 1858, Hamilton Smith patented the Rotary washing machine.In 1874, William Blackstone in Indiana built a washing machine as a birthday present for his wife.All washing machines built until 1906 worked with human-power.They mostly remained amateur trials. Alva John Fisher invented the first electric washing machine. In 1908, Alva Fisher's washing machine was started to be manufactured by Hurley Machine Company in Chicago. The machine was named Thor. This machine was patented in 1910.

               In 1924, the first dry washing machine appeared on the market.

               In 1937, the company named Bendix Corporation produced the first fully automatic washing machine. Fully automatic machines started to be used by housewives from the 1940s.