Washing Machine

Today, it is difficult for most people in Europe and America to imagine life without a washing machine. But for thousands of years, people washed their clothes by hand. In many places, people still do their washing in the local river.

The first washing machine was worked by hand. It was a watertight box with a handle. The clothes and water were put in the box, and the handle was turned to move the clothes. By the 1880s, such machines were made with a built-in gas jet to heat the water.

But the first electric washing machine appeared in 1901. It was the brainchild of American Alva J. Fisher, and was like the hand-turned machines, except that the handle was replaced by an electric motor. This was a truly labour-saving design, but of course, it was only when mains electricity became common in homes that such machines were popular.