Chicago was Abuzz for six months in 1893. More than 27 million people flowed to the fast -growing metropolis for the event of the century: the world’s Columbian exhibition, also known as the World’s Fair. Perhaps the most groundbreaking display of the fair was found in Machinery Hall, with American inventions such as the Cotton Gin, Phonograph and Telegraph. But a more recent innovation caused an even greater excitement: the Garis-Cochran dishwasher, the only device in the huge hall invented by a woman. More than 200 dirty dishes could be loaded into the dish racks of the machine, which were then transferred to a box surrounded by pulleys and gears. Two minutes later the dishes would appear sparkling clean. The device was also not only a display piece: the many restaurants of the fair used it to clean tens of thousands of dishes every day.
Image: Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago/Getty Images Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
The invention even received a price for ‘Best mechanical construction, sustainability and adaptation to the work. “It was a breakthrough moment for Socialite-Opventor Josephine Garis Cochran, a moment when a revolution would bring about the trajectory of the Nu-Upme Kitchen appliance.
Cochran, whose maiden name Garis was, was born on a cold marching day in 1839 Ashtabula County, Ohio. You could say that inventing was in her blood: Her great -grandfather received one of the first patents for the steamboatWhile her father was a civil engineer who operated various mills in Ohio and Indiana. “She came from what a prominent family seemed to be,” says engineer Lauren Busch, who was a co-author Women in the National Inventors Hall of FameIncluding a chapter about Cochran.
After her mother died, Cochran moved to an older sister in Illinois, where she met William Cochran. William was something of a Gregarious adventurer, who “couldn’t find a while,” says Busch. Before the couple met, William had worked in the California Gold Rush, where he tried mining, teaching, trying railway work and even saved potatoes. He finally found success in Illinois, where he led a dry goods company.
In 1858, 19-year-old Josephine married William, who was her senior for nine years. As the wife of a successful businessman, Josephine settled in a life of leisure time. She started spelling her married name “Cochrane” because she thought it sounded more European and refined. “That was pretty radical because her husband didn’t do that,” says Busch. “It showed that she certainly had her own ideas and had some feeling of independence from her husband.”
The couple moved to a large house in Shelbyville, Illinois, where they had several employees, and often entertained their neighbors with the help of Josephine’s heirloom 17th-century China. ‘She was unhappy that the China was always broken when it was washed [by the servants] So she decided that she would wash it herself, “says Busch, but” then she was chipping it too “. She thought there had to be a way to automate the task and promised:”If no one else starts inventing a dishwasher, I’ll do it myself. ”
But not everything was as pleasant as it seemed for the cochrans. “It’s hard to imagine that [the marriage] Would have been a lucky one, “says Busch. William was a violent alcoholic with a mood, “and they let a child die, which is difficult for a marriage.”
When William suddenly died in 1883 and Josephine heard that the financial situation of the family was far from what she had thought: William had left her with only $ 1500 and growing debts. With limited options, Cochran has made all her effort to develop her dishwasher.
She had to find someone who could build a prototype from her drawings, and eventually she hired George Butters mechanic. “They have a very successful working relationship because he takes her seriously, and he knows that he is there to implement her ideas,” says Busch. Together the couple work in Cochran’s barn with butters that come in through the back. Cochran “was very worried that people would see him come to her house again and again and that it would harm her reputation,” says Busch.
Just a few days after Christmas in 1886, Cochran was published US Patent 355,139 for her “Dishwas machine. “Although the machine was not the first of its kind, the device of Cochran used water pressure, instead of shoes, to clean dishes – a revolutionary idea that modern dishwashers still use.
Cochran had always hoped that her machine would illuminate the washing burden that often fell for women. But the device was too cost -prohibiting for the domestic market. In a later interview, Cochran thought: “When it comes to buying something for the kitchen that costs $ 75 or $ 100, a woman immediately starts to find out all the other things she could do with the money. She hates dishwashing – which woman not? – But She did not learn to consider her time and comfort worthy. Moreover, she is not the decisive factor when it comes to spending relatively large sums of money for the house. “
Instead, Cochran turned to hotels and restaurants, making her first sale in 1887 to the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. Cochran remembered how intimidating it was to pitch her idea of male hoteliers: “You can’t imagine what it was like in those days … For a woman to only cross a hotellobby. I would never have been anywhere without my husband or father – the lobby seemed a mile wide. I thought I had to faint with every step, but I didn’t do that – and I got an order of $ 800 as my reward. “
Shortly after the establishment of the Garis-Cochran extractor company in addition to various male donors, Cochran finally had her big break during the Chicago World’s Fair from 1893. “She received a lot of exposure” on the stock market, says Busch, who translated into more orders than ever before. In addition to restaurants and hotels, hospitals also started to buy its dishwasher.
Around 1898, Cochran finally managed to bring the production of its dishwashers to his own home and to rename the Crescent Wash Machine Company. After opening her own factory, she promoted butters to Foreman. From there, the company continued to grow and the sale of dishwashers to buyers from Alaska to Mexico.
On August 3, 1913, Cochran died at the age of 74 in her house in Chicago. Thirteen years later, Hobart Manufacturing Company acquired Cochran’s Cochran’s Crescent Vereywashing Company, which started with producing KitchenAid -Vaatwassers based on the original patent of Cochran. Ultimately, in 1986, Whirlpool Corporation Kitchenaid took over. It is surprising to realize that there is this “uninterrupted timeline” between Cochran’s early dishwasher and modern machines, says Busch.
In an interview shortly before her death, Cochran thought: “If I knew everything I know today when I started putting the dishwasher on the market, I would never have had the courage to start. But then I would have missed a very great experience. ‘
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