It is hard to imagine a world without washing machines. They are so common in our lives that we don’t even notice them anymore. But when was the first mechanised washing machine invented? And what did people do prior to this labour-saving device? Read on to find out.
People have been washing clothes since the dawn of time. The first evidence of a specific implement used to wash clothes was found in the tomb of an Egyptian nobleman, who lived around 2000 B.C. This primitive implement was used to beat the dirt out of textiles but didn’t make use of water at all. It wasn’t until several thousand years later that people began washing their clothes with running water.
During the middle ages, we know that people washed clothes using a wooden board and a bucket of water. This method was not particularly efficient but it did spread through Europe during the middle ages, so we know that this rudimentary washing machine existed at least as early as 500 A.D. After this primitive washboard became popular in England in the 1200s, it began to be exported throughout Western Europe.
The washboard became the most popular way of washing clothes right up until the 20th century. The first washing machine, we might recognise looking like the ones we used today, was invented in the year 1888. It was called a “washer machine” and it used an agitator, like the ones we would find inside our washing machines.
The first electric-powered washboard or mangle with a hand crank appeared in 1899 but they didn’t become popular until much later when people had electricity, en masse. In 1907, a man from Chicago named Alva J. Fisher invented the electric washing machine that we would recognise today and, unlike its predecessor was powered independently rather than a handheld crank.
It wasn’t until the 1950s, however, that washing machines became widely used throughout the western world. By the 1970s, washing machines were so popular that they would be found in most homes throughout Europe and America. The modern-day washing machine is a labour-saving device that has revolutionised our lives for all time.
The design of modern-day washing machines hasn’t really changed in principle in over 100 years. Water is used to agitate the clothes and modern washing machines use this force of water or a motorised drum. Modern washing machines also spin the excess water out of the laundry, so clothes come out drier and not wringing wet.
Today the world of the washing machine, as we might expect, is somewhat different from a hundred years ago. Many washing machines are now connected to the internet, for example, so you can control them remotely. Some washing machines are even being made with an inbuilt air purifier to remove bacteria from our clothes before they are washed.
If you are looking for a new washing machine, and don’t know where to start, don’t be baffled by all of the conflicting and competing advice out there. Speak to an expert, at Euronics, where you can speak to a local expert in-store all consult one of their hand buying guides.
