Automatic dishwashers have been around for more than 100 years. It started in 1886 with Josephine Cochrane, a woman in Shelbyville, Illinois. She was a rich woman who could afford servants to wash her dishes, so she really didn't mind the work. What she did mind was that her servants broke the dishes. She hosted quite a few dinner parties, and after every party the servants broke more of her expensive dishes.

    Finally, Cochrane took action. First, she measured her dishes and bent wire into racks to hold them. Next, she put the racks on a wheel in a large copper boiler. Then, the boiler sprayed hot, soapy water on the dishes as a motor turned the wheel. After a hot water rinse(冲洗),the dishes were clean!

    Josephine Cochrane's friends were impressed with the machine and asked her to build more.After that, word got out fast.Soon hotel and restaurant owners who didn't like broken dishes also were interested. Cochrane then knew that she had a wonderful machine, so she received a patent from the government, which said that only the inventor can make money from an invention. Then in 1893 Chicago held a World Fair where inventions from all over the world were shown. Cochrane's labor-saving machine was a big hit. Her dishwasher won the highest award.

    Cochrane's company came out with a smaller machine in 1914. It was supposed to be for the ordinary home, but it wasn't an immediate success. Many homes couldn't produce the extremely hot water it needed. Also, in most homes, dishwashing wasn't considered very difficult compared to most other housework. In fact some people liked to relax at the sink after a hard day! Sales of the home model finally picked up in the 1950s when people had more money and wanted to have more time to enjoy themselves. Now many homes have electric dishwasher that aren't very different from the one Josephine Cochrane invented more than 100 years ago.