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A Forgotten Woman Inventor -We Use Her Invention Daily
The Dishwasher
More than 27 million people attended the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It was the big thing for the times. The Fair’s Machinery Hall, showcasing American inventions like the cotton gin, phonograph, and telegraph. Causing a big buzz, was a more recent innovation; the Garis-Cochran Dishwashing Machine, the only device in the massive hall invented by a woman. Over 200 dirty dishes could be loaded into the machine’s dish racks. Once inside dishes were moved about by pulleys and gears. It was a two minutes process, after which the dishes would emerge sparkling clean. Underscoring its practicality and popularity, the dishwasher was in use in the Fair’s many restaurants, cleaning tens of thousands of dishes each day.
The invention received an award for “best mechanical construction, durability, and adaptation to its line of work.” It was the creation of socialite-turned-inventor Josephine Garis Cochran.
Cochran, whose maiden name was Garis, was born March, 1839 in Ashtabula County, Ohio. One could say inventing was in her blood: Her great-grandfather received one of the first patents for the steamboat. Her her father was a civil engineer who operated several mills in Ohio and Indiana. “She was from what appeared to be a prominent family,” says engineer Lauren Busch, who co-authored…
