The first ancient method of washing clothing was to beat the items with a rock or rub the clothing with abrasive sand, then rinse the dirt away by washing the clothing in streams or rivers.
The washboard or scrub board was invented in 1797
It was usually made out of wood for the frame, with ridges running from side to side. These ridges were used to rub your clothing on in order to clean your clothing. In the 19th Century the ridges were made of wood, by the 20th Century many of the washboards or scrub boards had ridges made out of metal. Then once again in the 21st century the washboard was redesigned and the ridges were then made from galvanized steel.
Before scrubbing the clothing on the washboards the clothing was soaked in a wash tub full of hot soapy water. After soaking, the clothing was rubbed on the washboard till they were clean then they were rinsed well in another tub of hot water, rung out by hand and hung to dry.
The first drum washing machine was patented in 1851, it was powered by hand using a hand crank.
James king is the designer of the first drum washing machine.
In 1858 Hamilton Smith invented the first rotary washing machine. Years later in 1908 the first electric washing machine was invented by Alva J. Fisher
Below is a photo of an old electric wringer washer that many folks used years ago. These machines could be very dangerous due to the wringers. There was a tub attached to the machine that the clothes were washed in, then woman would have to feed each garment into the wringers in order to wring the water out of the clothing. The water that was rung out of the clothing went back into the tub.
Many folks would get their fingers or hands to close to the wringer rollers and there hands would be sucked into the rollers. These rollers were very tight together with just enough space to put a garment through when in use. They did have a lever to release these rollers to make the gap between them larger when the machine wasn't in use. Many times fingers and hands were broken or bruised very badly by getting them caught in the rollers while putting the garments through them.
Today we are very fortunate to have the washers that we now have. Our machines have many more settings and cycles and are much more convenient than they were years ago..
