From broom to dishwasher: the unusual story of eight everyday inventions

The tools we use today for household chores are more modern than they seem. Some were born with a different purpose, others arrived almost by chance and ended up revolutionizing our daily routines.

It is difficult to decide which inventions have marked a turning point in the history of humanity. Often, the criterion for determining which creations are first or second class is to classify them according to whether they changed the paradigm of a given system and created a new one from which activities that were previously unthinkable could be carried out. Fire, the wheel, gunpowder, the printing press, the telephone… They are all inventions that, without a doubt, have allowed us to take a giant step in the evolution of our society.

However, others were not created to change the course of history, but they have allowed us to simplify our lives. Although it may seem that the broom or the mop have been in our homes for a lifetime, they were developed during the 19th and 20th centuries and have curious stories behind them. Some inventions came to change and facilitate daily habits and now we cannot imagine our life without having them nearby.

The modern broom

The concept of a modern broom, with a flat surface as we know it, arose in a strictly religious context. The Shakers (also known as the United Society of Believers in the Second Appearance of Christ) were the ones who perfected it during the 19th century. In ancient times, it was a widely used instrument in matters related to superstition and magic to sweep away divine and human evil from a place. There is a superstition that one should never sweep a new house with an old broom. It could bring bad luck.

The washing machine

In 1908, Alva J. Fisher, an American engineer, patented the first electric washing machine with a drum that could wash, wring out and spin clothes automatically. The first machine for washing clothes is attributed to Jacob Christian Schäffer, an 18th-century German scientist. In 1767, he designed a machine consisting of a wooden drum with internal paddles that rotated manually to agitate clothes with soap and water. The Balay company was the first to market automatic washing machines in Spain. Founded in Zaragoza in 1947 and specialising in manufacturing radio transformers and reactors, it began to introduce washing machines in our country in 1966.

The dishwasher

In 1850, Joel Houghton patented a machine for cleaning dishes, and in the 1860s Gilbert Richards and Levi A. Alexander patented other devices for washing plates and cups, each one better than the previous model. However, the first modern dishwasher was created by Josephine Cochrane in 1886. What made it different from the rest was that it had a pressurized outlet of hot soapy water through a motor-driven pump that could wash about two hundred dishes in a few minutes. In the 1950s, dishwashers became smaller in size. The automatic version did not arrive until the 1970s, when it began to be introduced into homes.

The vacuum cleaner

In 1901, the first vacuum cleaner was patented. Created by the English-born engineer Hubert Cecil Booth, he called it the Puffing Billy. It was a very large machine with an electric motor that sucked up dust. Shortly afterwards, he created another, the Trolleyvack, which used a smaller motor. Other engineers took over from Booth and developed smaller models. In 1906, a device weighing "only" 150 kilos was presented. In the 1930s, the first domestic model was presented.

The fridge

The American Thomas Moore was the creator of the first refrigerator, a cabinet that cooled by mixing ice and salt. The first electric refrigerator was built in 1927 and introduced accessories such as drawers and shelves for the first time. In the 15th century, the first architectural structures to preserve food began to be built. They were covered snow wells facing north. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, ice blocks began to be marketed. In our country, cabinet-refrigerators coexisted with electric refrigerators until the 1960s, since very few people could afford to have them due to the price and the electricity consumption they entailed.

The microwave

This device was invented by Percy Spencer in 1945. This scientist was researching different ways to improve the functioning of radar. While working surrounded by magnetrons, devices that transform electrical energy into electromagnetic microwaves, he saw that the chocolate bar he was carrying in his pocket melted. After carrying out various tests, he discovered that exposure to low-intensity electromagnetic microwaves heated food. Months later he manufactured the first microwave model and in 1947 it was marketed. The first microwaves were very large, required a very cumbersome installation and cost about $5,000 at the time.

The mixer

Ralph Collier patented the first whisking mechanism with rotating parts in 1856, which was perfected over the years. In 1885, Rufus Eastman presented a model that could whisk when connected to a small electric motor. Hands were the best tool for crushing, mixing and beating with the help of large spoons or a mortar, until the arrival of simple manual whisks in 19th century French cuisine. This utensil was introduced to Spain around the 1970s. The Catalan industrial designer Gabriel Lluelles Rabadà is recognised as the inventor of the Minipimer, the blender with blades at the tip of an arm that connects to the motor. He worked for the company Pimer (Pequeñas Industrias Mecánico Eléctricas Reunidas) which later merged with the German company Braun.

The stick and the mop bucket

Manuel Jalón, an aeronautical engineer born in La Rioja, was the creator of the mop. In the mid-twentieth century, during his stay at the American air base, he saw how a wooden stick with cotton strips at the end was used for cleaning. The workers dipped the cloth in a metal bucket filled with water and wrung it out using a system of two rollers. When he returned to Spain, he patented the first mops and also the plastic bucket that we use today. The authorship of this invention was disputed with Manuel Bellvis González, but finally a sentence from the Provincial Court of Zaragoza ratified, in April 2009, that the patent belonged to Jalón.