The History of the Dishwasher

The labor saving device everyone wants to have after meal time.

The first dishwasher was invented in America in 1850, Joel Houghton patented a wooden machine with a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes, it was hardly a workable machine, but it was the first patent.

in 1865 L.A. Alexander obtained a patent for a  device that used a hand crank and gearing to spin a rack of dishes through the dishwater again this didn't do to much to clean dirty dishes.

In 1886, Josephine Cochrane proclaims in disgust "If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I'll do it myself." And she did, Cochrane invented the first practical dishwasher. Cochrane had expected the public to welcome the new invention, which she unveiled at the 1893, World' Fair, but only the hotels and large restaurants were buying her ideas.

Cochrane's machine was a hand-operated mechanical dishwasher. As this was before electricity was widespread She founded a company to manufacture these dish washers, which eventually became KitchenAid. other company's produced dishwashers that were powered by steam and designed for restaurants and caterers. They usually worked by passing the dirty dishes under jets of hot water by means of a conveyor belt or a revolving basket. They were generally inefficient. It was not until the 1950s, that dishwashers caught on with the general public as they became cheaper and a more usable size.