Who invented washing dishes

She was raised in Valparaiso, Indiana, where she went to private school until the school burned down. After moving in with her sister in Shelbyville, Illinois, she married William Cochran on October 13, , who returned the year before from a disappointing try at the California Gold Rush and went on to become a prosperous dry goods merchant and Democratic Party politician.

They had two children, a son Hallie Cochran who died at age 2, and a daughter Katharine Cochran. In , they moved into a mansion and began throwing dinner parties using heirloom china allegedly dating from the s. After one event, the servants carelessly chipped some of the dishes, causing Josephine Cochran to find a better alternative.

She also wanted to relieve tired housewives from the duty of washing dishes after a meal. She is said to have run through the streets screaming with blood in her eyes, "If nobody else is going to invent a dish washing machine, I'll do it myself!

Her alcoholic husband died in when she was 45 years old, leaving her with numerous debts and very little cash, which motivated her to go through with developing the dishwasher. Her friends loved her invention and had her make dishwashing machines for them, calling them "Cochrane Dishwashers," later founding the Garis-Cochran Manufacturing Company.

Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. During a time when domestic tasks were often divided along gender lines, she would have preferred selling the dishwashers directly to women.

She hates dishwashing—what woman does not? Instead, Josephine focused her sales pitch on larger institutions, like restaurants and hotels.

Image courtesy of Hobart Corporation. Though she was almost 50 years old at the time, an adult woman from her social class still did not leave home unless accompanied by a man.

You cannot imagine what it was like in those days…for a woman to cross a hotel lobby alone. I had never been anywhere without my husband or father—the lobby seemed a mile wide.

The Garis-Cochran Company was in business, but without enough capital to manufacture the machines on their own, it was slow going in those early years. Potential investors often seemed interested only if Josephine would resign and turn the company over to the management of men. Undeterred, she pressed on without investors.

It proved to be a wise decision, as many young, more heavily financed companies were wiped out in the Panic of For Josephine, however, turned out to be a major turning point in her fortunes. Orders spiked from restaurants and hotels throughout Illinois and neighboring states, and Josephine later found willing customers in hospitals and colleges due to their strict sanitation requirements. The large-sized model of the Garis-Cochran dishwasher could wash and dry dishes in two minutes, freeing staff from dishwashing duty and saving businesses vast amounts of money as a result.

This advertisement from targeted affluent homeowners who could afford the labor-saving device. Her most reliable customers continued to be hotels and restaurants. Cochrane [sic] come words of the greatest admiration, respect and honor, and we feel all these are due one who has so persistently and successfully battled with the world, especially when the business pathway is not always made particularly easy for a woman to cope with. But then, I would have missed a very wonderful experience.

A stamp issued by Romfilatelia, the issuing authority of Romanian postage stamps, commemorated Cochran years after her death. The stamp was part of a three-stamp series of innovative women. Josephine received a second, posthumous patent in for an improved version of her dishwashing machine. Cochran went on to produce dishwashers with her own company, a company that later became KitchenAid KitchenAid produces all sorts of products for the kitchen, including dishwashers, cleaning supplies, refrigerators and cooking supplies.

Click here to view a picture and read more about the woman who invented the machine we use daily. The Inventor of The Automatic Dishwasher.