| 1797 |
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Scrub boards.
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| Early 1800s |
First clothes dryers; hand-powered.
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| 1851 |
First, hand-powered, washing machine with a drum, invented by James King.
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| 1861 |
First clothes wringer added to the washing machine.
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| 1874 |
William Blackstone built his first hand-driven wooden washing machine. The company he founded still produces and sells washing machines to this day, out of their New York headquarters.
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| 1858 |
First rotary washing machine, invented by Hamilton Smith.
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| Early 1900s |
Wooden wash tubs are replaced by metal tubs.
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| 1907 |
Maytag Corporation began manufacturing a wooden-tub washing machine with a flywheel, still manually operated with a rotary handle.
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| 1922 |
Maytag Corporation introduces the agitator system for moving the water around in the drum, rather than dragging the fabrics around in the water.
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| 1908 |
First electric-powered washing machine is invented by Alva J. Fisher.
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| 1911 |
Whirlpool Corporation, then called the Upton Machine Co. is founded in St. Joseph, Michigan and starts producing electric motor-driven wringer washers.
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| 1915 |
The first electrical clothes dryers appear.
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| 1930s |
John W. Chamberlain of Bendix Aviation Corporation invents a machine that can wash, rinse, and extract water from clothes in a single operation.
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| 1947 |
The first top-loading automatic washing machines are introduced by the forerunner of the Whirlpool Corporation.
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| 1951 |
The first automatic washing machines are made in Europe. The first computer-controlled automatic washing machines appear.
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| 1950 |
Many technological advances follow. Among hundreds of systems tested, only two washing systems survive until this day: the agitator system and the tumbling system. Wash cycles and products are developed for new fabrics and a greater range of wash conditions.
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