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Did you know that a frustrated woman, tired of her servants breaking fine china, invented the dishwasher?
In the late 1880's, wealthy Illinois housewife Josephine Cochrane was annoyed at the daily damage to her precious china plates and cups . Irritated that her servants were not as careful as she was, she began toying with the idea of a machine that could wash dishes faster and more safely. She created a design with wire compartments, large enough to fit plates, cups, and saucers, which were placed inside a wheel that lay flat inside a copper boiler. A motor turned the wheel while soapy hot water squirted from the bottom and rained down on the dishes. Interestingly, while Cochrane hoped it would lighten the load of housewives, her machine was actually welcomed more by hotels and large restaurants . They saw the benefit of the time-saving device, in 1893, her dishwasher was unveiled at the Chicago World's Fair, and she was awarded the highest prize for "Best Mechanical Construction, Durability, and Adaptation to its Line of Work". Ladies and gentlemen, let's raise a toast to this amazing woman – Josephine Cochrane, the mother of the dishwasher!

Tags: #InventiveMinds #WomensHistory #UnrecognizedHeroines #WomenInventions