The washing machine has become a device that can greatly facilitate the life of a housewife. With its help, you no longer need to wash mountains of linen by hand. It is enough to press a few buttons, set the desired mode and wait a couple of hours. After that, you just need to pick up clean things.
In primitive times, women had to wash by hand, often without any special means. And to clean even an ordinary handkerchief without soap and in cold water is not an easy task. Over time, people realized that they needed an apparatus that could speed up and facilitate the process. This is how the history of the washing machine began.
How it all began
Soap making was known to the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians in the 3rd century BC. Animal fat, which was often left over from the sacrifice, was mixed with wood ash. The resulting mixture made it easier to wash.
But even with her, the process remained laborious. Some kind of mechanism was needed to do this job. So the first version of the washing machine can be considered huge vats, in which wheels with blades were installed, which were used in Babylon. True, in order to set them in motion, it was necessary to manually turn these wheels. Thus, one physical labor was replaced by another. And even then, not everyone could afford it. The peasants, on the other hand, carved troughs from the tree, which rocked like cradles. But the washing level was also comparatively low.
Washing machine
The first patented washing machine is considered to be the device of the American Nathaniel Briggs, who created it in 1797. But it, like all its predecessors, worked at the expense of physical strength. Therefore, it did not receive wide distribution.
In 1851, his compatriot James King filed a patent for a washing machine very similar to the modern one. It was a tub with a perforated cylinder, which was fixed on a rotating axis. It was also manual, but this is what can be considered the prototype of drum washing machines.
William Blackstone is commonly referred to as the inventor of this technique. He invented his car in 1874. Remarkable is the fact that he made it as a gift to his wife. But it was this device that was the first to go into mass production. After Blackstone, a company was created, which continues the work of its founder to this day.
The electric motor first became the basis of the washing machine in 1908. This technique was invented by Alva Fischer. Two years later, the Hurley Machine Company launched this model into mass production and gave it the name Thor.
In 1924, the Savage Arms Company released a machine that not only washed but also wrung out laundry. This technique was then refined by mechanical timers and drain pumps. But only in 1949 a machine was created in the USA that could work without the participation of the hostess. All she had to do was load things and washing powder.
