Can you imagine what life was like for human beings in the stone age? Or maybe, without going that far, a couple of centuries ago? Without a doubt, technology and science have transformed everything in their path. And we can clearly appreciate it in our daily lives and in the implements that we regularly add to it. who does not use Kitchen appliances in the modern world, for example? Or appliances to entertain us?
From refrigerators to preserve food and to blendersgoing through the dishwashers, televisions, washers and dryers, each device helps us accomplish a particular task. If our ancestors salted meat to make it last longer, we just put it in the freezer. If before the women went to the rivers to wash their clothes, now we only put them in the washing machine.
And all this is possible thanks to inventiveness, creativity and human knowledge. Today in Supercurioso we want to review the most important household appliances in history. Those that we use every day and naturalize, but that really changed our lives. Join us!
The 5 most important household appliances in history
1. The fridge
Perhaps among all the electrical appliances that we use on a daily basis, the refrigerator is the most important. And it is that, as we mentioned, our ancestors faced great problems when it came to preserving food. The invention of this device transformed everything in its path. It happened in the year 1834, thanks to the ingenuity of the scientist Jacob Perkins. It was he who manufactured and patented the first fully functional refrigerator.
A decade later, the American doctor John Gorrie made a remarkable modification, adding the technology that allowed its evolution. This was while he sought to lower the temperature of patients suffering from yellow fever.
2. The washing machine
Can you imagine having to keep hand washing your clothes, sheets, towels and blankets? It would really be a huge investment of time and effort. Having taken this task from us, to entrust it to the work of a machine, we owe it to the American engineer Alva John Fisher. It was he who invented the first washing machine, in 1901. However, he would not patent it until ten years later.
That first washing machine was a drum, just like the ones used in the 20th century. But Fisher incorporated a system with a motor that changed the direction of rotation, thus achieving better washing results. Inside the drum the soap was placed.
3. The dishwasher
Although today many survive without the traditional dishwasher, in its time it was a totally revolutionary invention. Curiously, We owe this creation to a woman, Josephine Cochrane. She was not just any girl, since inventor’s blood ran through her veins. She was the granddaughter of John Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat.
The first dishwasher saw the light of day in 1886. However, some decades before there had already been an invention that preceded it. It was a proto-dishwasher that basically consisted of a wooden bucket and a crank. Something very similar to the washing machine. This was created by Joel Houghton, in 1850.
4. The oven
The invention of the oven is one of the longest in history. The first rudimentary ovens that were reflected in history are attributed to the civilizations of Egypt and Babylon. In fact, it is believed that they used something similar to a modern oven, a kind of bell-shaped adobe lid, until about five thousand years ago. But if we talk about modern ovens, the gas ones, those that you have surely had in your home, we owe the invention to the Englishman James Sharp.
It was in 1826 when he patented this invention, although it took the turn of the 20th century for it to become popular. From the decade of the 20s, the installation of gas ovens in homes was facilitated, a fact with which they became a more common household appliance. However, in relation to the electric oven the controversy is greater. Some researchers attribute its creation to Canadians Thomas Ahearn and his partner Warren Soper. This is thanks to the fact that there is evidence of the existence of an electric oven in operation in 1892 at the Windsor Hotel in Ottawa. Others, however, state that the person who patented the invention was the American William Hadaway, in 1896.
5. The TV
And we close our list of the most important household appliances in history, with the famous television. The first television in history is attributed to the English John Logie Baird, who would come to achieve this device in 1923. The first television image would manage to transmit it in 1926.