A Brief History of the Washer

Ever wonder how we went from pounding and rubbing our clothes on rocks to the slick, in-home washers we have today? I was wondering that myself and decided to do a little research (afterall, we are in the business of renting washers and dryers so it only makes sense to know how we came to have the equipment we rent!).

A looooong time ago, people use to take their clothing and linens to a nearby river to wash them. Rubbing the laundry on rocks helped to flex the cloth and make it easier for soap (made of animal fat) to penetrate the fibers to get it clean. This eventually led to the advent of the wash board but this still required rubbing the clothes but at least a basin of water could be used instead of a river! People traveling by water would sometimes place their clothing in a bag, toss it over the side of the ship and let the ship drag the bag through the salty water for several hours.

In the early days before running water, gas or electricity, doing laundry was very laborious and time consuming. Imagine (if you can) - one wash, one boiling and one rinse use to use approximately 50 gallons of water (that's the equivalent of about 400 pounds). The water wasn't in your home so you had to pump it from an outdoor well and then carry that water inside to be heated on your woodburning stove and THEN transfer the water to the wash basin to START the wash process. To conserve time, many women would reuse the warm soapy water after the least soiled clothing was washed, then use it for progressively dirtier clothing. And when all of that was done......you'd get to do it all over again! WHEW!!

The earliest washing machines had tubs made of wood. Later, metal tubs allowed a fire to burn below the washtub to keep the water warm during the washing process. Electricity was not common in many households until the 1930's so most washers were hand operated. Later, automatic washers were connected to sink taps to have a temporary water supply attached. By 1940, 60% of electrically wired homes had an electric washing machine. Water removal by spinning didn't come into play until electric motors were developed since spinning requires that the tub be moving constantly to properly wring out the clothing and by the 1950's, most American manufactured washing machines had a spin-dry feature. A University of Montreal study found the advent of the washing machine to be an important milestone in the liberation of women. Women were now able to enter the workforce because they were free from the drudgery of doing the wash!

In the last century, washing machines have gone from being a luxury to being an item of daily necessity in most households.

Hope you enjoyed the little history lesson! Until next time, keep it clean (which is a lot easier now that you don't have to beat your clothes on rocks!).