I recently found some new information on the Walker Dishwasher Company that I thought was very cool and wanted to share this with the club. As some of you might know the Walker Dishwasher was the very first successful home dishwasher in the US. In 1930 the Walker Dishwasher Company was bought out by General Electric, so the Walker dishwasher was the predecessor to the GE dishwashers.
But first lets go way back and show you all what I found on early dishwashing machines. The earliest dishwashing machine patent I can find was this one by a Mr. Joel Houghton of Ogden, NY. Patent #7365 was issued in 1850. The title of the patent is "Improvement in Machines for Washing Table Furniture". Of course the word "Improvement" obviously means dishwashing machines were around even earlier, but I have yet to find any dishwasher patents earlier than this one. His machine was cylindrical in shape and made use of a paddle wheel to throw the water through a side opening onto the dishes. As the operator turned the crank to throw the water against the dishes, the round dishrack would also slowly rotate. Interesting that we see the "Roto-Rack" design as early as 1850.
In 1863 I found the first patent for an Impeller style dishwasher, Patent #40280. The patentees describe their machine as follows, "we are aware that machines have been made for washing dishes and other table furniture, and that the wash-washer has been thrown against the dishes by a revolving wheel, which acted in a chamber separate from that in which the dishes were placed and washed. These things we do not claim in our patent as they have failed from their bulkiness and impracticability as a useful household implement to go into general use. Our object has been to devise a neat, compact, efficient and cheap machine for washing dishes". So it appears that this is the first patented dishwasher where the impeller and dishes reside in the same tank. Notice not only does this machine have an impeller and basket for holding dishes, it also has a small side chamber with sponges to scrub hard to clean dishes.
Onto the 1880's and a big yay for the fact that men were not the only ones who were working on eliminating this three times a day chore. In the 1880's an imaginative and purposeful lady, Mrs. Josephine Garis Cochrane, built a machine to do her own dishes. The story seems to go that she was sick and tired of her servants breaking her fine china, so she decided to come up with a better way to wash her dishes. Her design lent itself to larger chores and was soon in demand for dishwashing in restaurants. In fact, at the time of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, her products were so well received that she sold all of the machines used in the concessions at the World's Fair - a total of nine dishwashers. If you google Josephine Cochrane you will see that most websites claim that she invented the dishwasher, but its obvious from patents searches that dishwashers had been around for at least 30 years before that. Josephine began to market her dishwasher to restaurants under the trade name of Garis-Cochran Dish-Washing Machine Company which eventually was changed to the Crescent Washing Machine Company. In 1911 Crescent had developed its first "small" dishwasher made for home use (shown below). It appears from the patents that Josephine's dishwashers never used impellers to wash the dishes but used modern style jet-spray arms!
The Crescent Company lasted until 1926 when they were bought out by Hobart who of course started producing the KitchenAid. So it could be said that Josephine's dishwasher was the forerunner of the modern KitchenAid brand as well as every other dishwasher made today. For more interesting information on Josephine, do google her name.
1911 Home Model:
In 1909 the Walker brothers of Syracuse, NY who owned a hardware store applied for and received a patent for a new dishwashing machine. They had printed some postcards which they sent out to some prospective customers to see if anyone would be interested in buying their machines. The response was so good thanks to the illustration on the card showing a lady operating the machine that they decided to manufacture the machines in the rear of their store. The 1911 model shown below included a pulley and a belt so the machine could be operated "automatically" by means of a gasoline engine. Of course like the earlier dishwashers the machine still need to filled with water and emptied by hand.
1911 Walker:
In 1913 when the Walker Brothers hardware store was wired for electricity they produced thier first electric dishwasher. It sold for $120 as compared to the $20.00 hand crank model. Following World War I, the Walker dishwasher took on a new look. The tub was smoothed out and painted and the legs were shaped to harmonize with the age of short skirts. The building boom of the early 1920's stimulated the design of a Dishwasher-Sink combo which drew the attention of the builders of the day. Up until 1927 the Walker Dishwasher was a gear drive machine when they introduced their first direct drive model.
1918 Walker:
1924 Walker:
1927 Walker (1st Direct Drive Model):
In 1930 GE had acquired the Walker Brothers Company and moved the dishwasher production to the Hotpoint factory in Chicago. The first General Electric branded dishwasher was produced in 1932. It had a square tub, a single control handle, rubber coated steel dish racks and the first automatic water level measuring valve. The free standing unit had a front panel which served as a shelf when raised.
But first lets go way back and show you all what I found on early dishwashing machines. The earliest dishwashing machine patent I can find was this one by a Mr. Joel Houghton of Ogden, NY. Patent #7365 was issued in 1850. The title of the patent is "Improvement in Machines for Washing Table Furniture". Of course the word "Improvement" obviously means dishwashing machines were around even earlier, but I have yet to find any dishwasher patents earlier than this one. His machine was cylindrical in shape and made use of a paddle wheel to throw the water through a side opening onto the dishes. As the operator turned the crank to throw the water against the dishes, the round dishrack would also slowly rotate. Interesting that we see the "Roto-Rack" design as early as 1850.
In 1863 I found the first patent for an Impeller style dishwasher, Patent #40280. The patentees describe their machine as follows, "we are aware that machines have been made for washing dishes and other table furniture, and that the wash-washer has been thrown against the dishes by a revolving wheel, which acted in a chamber separate from that in which the dishes were placed and washed. These things we do not claim in our patent as they have failed from their bulkiness and impracticability as a useful household implement to go into general use. Our object has been to devise a neat, compact, efficient and cheap machine for washing dishes". So it appears that this is the first patented dishwasher where the impeller and dishes reside in the same tank. Notice not only does this machine have an impeller and basket for holding dishes, it also has a small side chamber with sponges to scrub hard to clean dishes.
Onto the 1880's and a big yay for the fact that men were not the only ones who were working on eliminating this three times a day chore. In the 1880's an imaginative and purposeful lady, Mrs. Josephine Garis Cochrane, built a machine to do her own dishes. The story seems to go that she was sick and tired of her servants breaking her fine china, so she decided to come up with a better way to wash her dishes. Her design lent itself to larger chores and was soon in demand for dishwashing in restaurants. In fact, at the time of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, her products were so well received that she sold all of the machines used in the concessions at the World's Fair - a total of nine dishwashers. If you google Josephine Cochrane you will see that most websites claim that she invented the dishwasher, but its obvious from patents searches that dishwashers had been around for at least 30 years before that. Josephine began to market her dishwasher to restaurants under the trade name of Garis-Cochran Dish-Washing Machine Company which eventually was changed to the Crescent Washing Machine Company. In 1911 Crescent had developed its first "small" dishwasher made for home use (shown below). It appears from the patents that Josephine's dishwashers never used impellers to wash the dishes but used modern style jet-spray arms!
The Crescent Company lasted until 1926 when they were bought out by Hobart who of course started producing the KitchenAid. So it could be said that Josephine's dishwasher was the forerunner of the modern KitchenAid brand as well as every other dishwasher made today. For more interesting information on Josephine, do google her name.
1911 Home Model:
In 1909 the Walker brothers of Syracuse, NY who owned a hardware store applied for and received a patent for a new dishwashing machine. They had printed some postcards which they sent out to some prospective customers to see if anyone would be interested in buying their machines. The response was so good thanks to the illustration on the card showing a lady operating the machine that they decided to manufacture the machines in the rear of their store. The 1911 model shown below included a pulley and a belt so the machine could be operated "automatically" by means of a gasoline engine. Of course like the earlier dishwashers the machine still need to filled with water and emptied by hand.
1911 Walker:
In 1913 when the Walker Brothers hardware store was wired for electricity they produced thier first electric dishwasher. It sold for $120 as compared to the $20.00 hand crank model. Following World War I, the Walker dishwasher took on a new look. The tub was smoothed out and painted and the legs were shaped to harmonize with the age of short skirts. The building boom of the early 1920's stimulated the design of a Dishwasher-Sink combo which drew the attention of the builders of the day. Up until 1927 the Walker Dishwasher was a gear drive machine when they introduced their first direct drive model.
1918 Walker:
1924 Walker:
1927 Walker (1st Direct Drive Model):
In 1930 GE had acquired the Walker Brothers Company and moved the dishwasher production to the Hotpoint factory in Chicago. The first General Electric branded dishwasher was produced in 1932. It had a square tub, a single control handle, rubber coated steel dish racks and the first automatic water level measuring valve. The free standing unit had a front panel which served as a shelf when raised.
