Editing Dishwasher (section)

==History==
{{Multiple image|footer=A hand-powered dishwasher and an early electric dishwasher both from about 1917.|image1=Hand power dishwasher, 1917.jpg|width1=120|image2=Electric dishwashing machine, 1917.jpg|width2=136}}

The first mechanical dishwashing device was registered for a patent in 1850 in the United States by [[Joel Houghton (inventor)|Joel Houghton]]. This device was made of wood and was cranked by hand while water sprayed onto the dishes.<ref>{{US patent|7365}}</ref> The device was both slow and unreliable. Another patent was granted to [[L.A. Alexander]] in 1865 that was similar to the first but featured a hand-cranked rack system.<ref>{{US patent|51000A}}</ref> Neither device was practical or widely accepted. Some historians cite as an obstacle to adoption the historical attitude that valued women for the effort put into housework rather than the results—making household chores easier was perceived by some to reduce their value.<ref>{{cite web |title=What Does It Take To Get Us To Try Something New? |publisher=[[NPR]] |work=The Indicator from Planet Money |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/1000571927/what-does-it-take-to-get-us-to-try-something-new |date=26 May 2021}}</ref>

The most successful of the hand-powered dishwashers was invented in 1886 by [[Josephine Cochrane]] together with mechanic George Butters in Cochrane's tool shed in [[Shelbyville, Illinois]]<ref>{{US patent|355139}}</ref> when Cochrane (a wealthy socialite) wanted to protect her [[china (material)|china]] while it was being washed.<ref>{{Citation |last= Blattman |first= Elissa |title= Three Every-day Items Invented by Women |publisher= National Women's History Museum |year= 2013 |url= https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/three-every-day-items-invented-women}}</ref> Their invention was unveiled at the [[1893 World's Fair]] in [[Chicago]] under the name of Lavadora but was changed to Lavaplatos as another machine invented in 1858 already held that name. Cochrane's inspiration was her frustration at the damage to her good china that occurred when her servants handled it during cleaning.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/josephine-cochrane | title=Josephine Cochrane &#124; Lemelson-MIT Program}}</ref>

[[File:The Faultless Quaker Dishwasher (1896 advertisement).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Advertisement in an 1896 issue of ''[[McClure's]]'' for The Faultless Quaker Dishwasher.]]

Europe's first domestic dishwasher with an electric motor was invented and manufactured by [[Miele]] in 1929.<ref name="Kochan1996">{{cite book|author=Nick Kochan|title=The World's Greatest Brands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDqvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111|date=25 November 1996|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-349-14114-2|pages=111–}}</ref><ref name="Gant2003">{{cite book|author=Tina Gant|title=International Directory of Company Histories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlskAQAAMAAJ|date=30 September 2003|publisher=St. James Press|isbn=978-1-55862-486-3}}</ref>

In the United Kingdom, [[William Howard Livens]] invented a small, non-electric dishwasher suitable for domestic use in 1924. It was the first dishwasher that incorporated most of the design elements that are featured in the models of today;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/made-in-the-uk-the-life-changing-everyday-innovations-1294240|title=Made in the UK: The life-changing everyday innovations which put British genius on the map|website=[[Daily Mirror]]|date=September 2012}}</ref> it included a door for loading, a wire rack to hold the dirty crockery and a rotating sprayer. Drying elements were added to his design in 1940. It was the first machine suitable for domestic use, and it came at a time when permanent plumbing and running water in the home were becoming increasingly common.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.popsci.com/node/49721|title=Archive Gallery: Kitchens of the Incredible 1950s Future|work=Popular Science|access-date=27 October 2014|archive-date=28 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028093542/http://www.popsci.com/node/49721|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=FR579765&F=0|title=Improvements in apparatus for washing household crockery and the like|access-date=2008-03-04|author=William Howard Livens|date=1924-10-23|work=FR579765|publisher=UK Intellectual Property Office|archive-date=2008-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508061333/http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=FR579765&F=0|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Despite this, Liven's design did not become a commercial success, and dishwashers were only successfully sold as domestic utilities in the [[post–World War II economic expansion|postwar boom]] of the 1950s, albeit only to the wealthy. Initially, dishwashers were sold as standalone or portable devices, but with the development of the wall-to-wall [[countertop]] and standardized height cabinets, dishwashers began to be marketed with standardized sizes and shapes, integrated underneath the kitchen countertop as a modular unit with other kitchen appliances.

By the 1970s, dishwashers had become commonplace in domestic residences in North America and Western Europe. By 2012, over 75 percent of homes in the United States and Germany had dishwashers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.basildon-today.co.uk/fnews.cfm?id=168&headline=The%20History%20of%20the%20Dishwasher|title=The History of the Dishwasher|publisher=Yellow Advertiser|access-date=2013-11-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217185319/http://www.basildon-today.co.uk/fnews.cfm?id=168&headline=The%20History%20of%20the%20Dishwasher|archive-date=2014-02-17|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1990s, manufacturers began offering various new [[energy conservation]] features in dishwashers.<ref name="Janeway December 2016">{{cite web|last1=Janeway|first1=Kimberly|title=5 Things to Know When Replacing a Dishwasher|url=http://www.consumerreports.org/dishwashers/replacing-a-dishwasher-what-to-know/|website=Consumer Reports|access-date=20 March 2017|date=9 December 2016}}</ref> One feature was use of "soil sensors", which was a computerized tool in the dishwasher which measured food particles coming from dishes.<ref name="Janeway December 2016"/> When the dishwasher had cleaned the dishes to the point of not releasing more food particles, the soil sensor would report the dishes as being clean.<ref name="Janeway December 2016"/> The sensor operated with another innovation of using variable washing time.<ref name="Janeway December 2016"/> If dishes were especially dirty, then the dishwasher would run for a longer time than if the sensor detected them to be clean. In this way, the dishwasher would save energy and water by only being in operation for as long as needed.<ref name="Janeway December 2016"/>