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In our kitchens, most of us have a washing machine, a cooker and a fridge. It’s hard to imagine life without them. Washing clothes used to be hard, physical work. By about 1900 most Birmingham residents would have spent a day each week washing laundry in metal baths and tubs.

So it’s not surprising that the washing machine was such an important labour-saving invention. The main principle of any washing machine is ‘agitation’ - moving the clothes in water containing detergent. In early machines the agitation was powered by hand. The water was then pumped out, replaced with clean water, and the clothes were again agitated, to remove any remaining traces of detergent.

In 1908 an American engineer, Alva John Fisher, made the first electric washing machine. Early machines used a wringer - two rollers on the top to squeeze the water out of the washed clothes. They were turned by hand and could squash your fingers, if you were not careful. Even this washing machine, made in 1935, still has a wringer.

This machine was made by the General Electric Company (G.E.C.) in 1935. The Company was started in 1886, producing equipment for using ‘in connection with the generation, distribution, supply and accumulation of electricity, whether for lighting, heating, motive power, telegraphic, telephonic, electroplating, metallurgic or other manufacturing processes, or other purposes whatsoever.’

The growing use of electricity ensured a great demand, and the company expanded both at home and overseas.

Category: Product

Institute: Thinktank

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