The woman in the list of famous inventors initially developed her device to lend a helping hand. But especially hotels and medical institutions saw the usefulness of the fast and boiling hot washing machine. Kennislink spoke to Ms Cochrane about her difficult road to success and the inspiration for her invention. “From society lady going to the seller was a big and bold step.”
The dishwasher has become an integral part of the kitchen of many contemporary Western households. The device was intended to give the housewife a helping hand, were it not for the fact that the man of the house did not want to waste money on it.
Only after the Second World War did women gain more control over their use of time and household wallet, after which the advance of the dishwasher could really start.
Until that time, mainly the large kitchens of hotels, restaurants and hospitals were enthusiastic customers of the 'Garis-Cochran dishwasher'. The design would eventually come into the hands of Whirlpool and to this day dishwashers are still built to the same design. In the lobby of the Palmer House Hotel, Mrs. Cochrane enthusiastically explains why.
Good afternoon Mrs. Cochrane. Would you like to explain why you wanted to meet at this hotel?
“I made my first deal here! Great, you'll never forget something like that. I died a thousand deaths when I first had to sell my dishwasher. I sat alone in this hotel lobby waiting for the manager. I had never sat alone in a lobby, that was for fallen women! Hoping that no one thought of me, I walked to the manager's office. The longest meters of my life, but I did it:he wanted my dishwasher!”
Short biography 1839:born in Ashtabula County, Ohio (US)1858:marries William Cochran1883:her husband dies1886:first patent for the Garis-Cochran dishwasher1893:World's Fair in Chicago (US)1898:opening of own factory 1911:the 6 e and last patent 1913:dies of exhaustion
Was that the biggest hurdle in your entrepreneurship?
“Not by a long shot. The hardest part was convincing know-it-all engineers. I needed them to build my machine, but they didn't take me for granted. I was a woman with no technical education so my insights and experience didn't count for them. They all knew better, then went to work with their own vision to finally conclude that my way was indeed the best! Very tiring and also expensive. Fortunately, in 1898 I had enough capital to build my own factory and do it my way.”
How did you come up with the idea to design a dishwasher?
“The tableware from my husband's family dates from the 17 e century. A very precious heirloom! But the staff doesn't care about that. After one of our many dinners, I found that some plates had broken off. Since then I washed the heirlooms myself, but I soon got tired of that. The hot water, the aggressive soap and the scrubbing are very bad for your skin. And because no one else in this age of technological advancements bothered to make a dishwasher, I decided to do it myself.”
“With the plans already in my head and a few designs on the drawing board, my husband passed away. Unfortunately, he saddled me with an enormous debt and it suddenly became necessary to do something with my invention. I felt in my water that there would be a demand for a dishwasher and that I could earn my money with this.”
Is there another social motive behind the dishwasher?
“I have to say that my husband was a lot more socialist than I was. He was leader of the local Democratic party, and everyone from miles around had gathered at his funeral. The hall was packed with admirers, supporters and other like-minded people who paid him their last respect. It was different when that Republican Abraham Lincoln visited our little town of Shelby after the Civil War. We don't need Republicans here. Not even three men and a horse's head were in the street to greet him!”
Is it then right that you are also called a snob?
“No, ridiculous! I like a luxurious life with servants and walks of life. Well so clear. But that doesn't mean I don't wish hard-working servants a dishwasher, because I do! Washing dishes is a hell of a job, especially after a dinner with 40 people. And yes, I came up with the idea because my beautiful tableware was shattered, but does that make someone a snob?”
“Whoever thinks that is either jealous of my success – although it never made me rich – or is a guy. All too often men think I should stay in the kitchen instead of making their wives' lives easier! That was exactly the reason why I couldn't sell the dishwasher to households. The men went over budget and thought the expenditure was too expensive. Let mother wash the woman or the servant, it's free. Short-sighted, because time is also money.”
How do you explain the success of the dishwasher?
“When it turned out that households were not interested in an automatic dishwasher, I had to adjust my target group. A friend of mine introduced me to one of the largest hotels in the United States, the Palmer House in Chicago. Here they were willing to listen to my story and try the machine. They loved it! It turned out to be a 75% difference in personnel costs, in terms of dishwashers, and even more in maintaining the crockery.”
“But my big break came at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. These kinds of events always attract hordes of people who all want to eat, so I approached the organization. They wanted to use my dishwashers and eventually nine of them were running. Dishes of 1000 soldiers used to be a nightmare but now a piece of cake for just a machine. To the surprise of the staff it was spotless within 30 minutes. In addition, my invention, as one of the few female entries, also won the main prize for the best Machine Design at the exhibition. This was good advertising.”
What did the dishwashers think of your machine?
“Dishwashers regularly protest against the arrival of my machine, fearing for their jobs. But you can't stop technological progress. It saves time and money for entrepreneurs, so if I don't deliver the dishwasher, they buy it from someone else. In addition, people are still needed to operate the device, although this can also be done by a maid or even a child. It's that easy.”
“By the way, the dishwasher is also extremely suitable for use outside the catering industry because of the use of boiling water. Hospitals, for example, are overjoyed with my invention now that the bacteria are being washed off the dishes. Clean dishes are good for public health. So my machine is more than a job grabber!”
And the competition?
“Well, you keep it. In 1886 I applied for my first patent and over the years I continued to improve the machine and apply for new patents. A total of six pieces. That's how I stayed ahead of the competition.”
It is rumored that you are not the inventor of the dishwasher at all. What do you think about this?
“It's true that there have been patents pending for dishwashers before, such as Joel Houghton's from 1850. But these machines worked manually or with brushes. My invention is that the dishes are cleaned by water jets with soap. Then rinse with boiling water, which also speeds up the drying process, and then dry. And voila, clean dishes without chunks within 2 minutes. The dishes are secured in racks in a copper kettle and the water is pumped from the bottom up. Initially we had a cheap and small version with a hand pump and a larger and advanced version with a motor. But soon the little ones also got room for a motor, which made the machines a bit more expensive but also more practical.”
A nice sales pitch madam, at least you can do that just fine.
"Practice makes perfect. I can only tell you that I would never have chosen this path if I had known beforehand what fears I would have to overcome. Then I would have found it way too scary. From society dame going to seller is quite a big and bold step. But I wouldn't have missed the experiences I've gained in recent years! My great-grandfather would have been proud of me…”
Your great-grandfather? Is he your great example?
“Indeed, though the good man in his own days Crazy Fitch was named. Everyone thinks that the fake Robert Fulton invented the steamboat, but that's not the case. Grandpa John Fitch already did that 50 years earlier and he even sailed three homemade and well-functioning steamers between Philadelphia and Trenton. Unfortunately, he got few investors to invest capital in his invention and he went bankrupt.”
“The poor man tried to drink himself to death and when he finally failed, he killed himself with opium pills. And Hamilton showing off his steamers! But in our family Grandpa has always been a great inventor! It's apparently in my genes, despite the lack of technical training. And now it's enough, time is money. On to the next customer!”
1/10
Out and about with Turing or Tesla
What would it be like to spend the day talking to famous inventors like Nikola Tesla or Alan Turing? That's what we tried to imagine at Kennislink. We pretended we could, a series of fictitious interviews. In these conversations we tried not only to learn everything about inventions, but also to penetrate into their private lives. In this slideshow you will meet eight famous inventors.
1/10
The self-made woman
The woman in our list of famous inventors initially developed her device to lend a helping hand. But especially hotels and medical institutions saw the usefulness of the fast and boiling hot washing machine. Kennislink spoke to Ms Cochrane about her difficult road to success and the inspiration for her invention.
Read the interview with Josephine Cochrane here
1/10
The thoughtful
Alexander Graham Bell was born with the fascination for sound. His father and grandfather were speech teachers who taught the deaf to speak, and Bell was involved in this throughout his life. In his spare time, this workaholic worked on several inventions. Kennislink talked to him about his most important invention:the telephone. A phone interview, of course. “People remember me because of the telephone, but my real mission may have been to teach the deaf to speak.”
Read the interview with Alexander Graham Bell here
1/10
The outcast
Today, many see him as the “father of the computer.” In 1936, British mathematician Alan Turing devised a number of important concepts that formed the basis for the computer revolution. But the brilliant Turing also struggled with his homosexuality at a time when it was all but accepted. “Into the cell or chemical castration, what would you have done?”
Read the interview with Alan Turing here
1/10
The loner
The stubborn go-getter Theodore Maiman manufactured the first laser in 1960 thanks to a special combination of knowledge, skill and character. He was a real inventor, who was not taken quite seriously by the scientific establishment. And the press didn't like his 'death ray' at first either. Maiman blows off steam in this fictional interview. “I don't get discouraged easily.”
Read the interview with Theodore Maiman
1/10
The troublemaker
A genius, genius inventor, provocateur and a racist. Few inventors of the twentieth century are as controversial as the American physicist William Shockley. Partly thanks to his work, the transistor was created, which laid the foundation for today's computers. “I've loved provoking all my life.”
Read the interview with William Shockley
1/10
The entrepreneur
Sometime between 1440 and 1450, the German Johannes Gutenberg first put individual metal letters together in order to be able to print texts faster than ever. The technology soon caused a true revolution. But Gutenberg's life had a lot of setbacks. “Perhaps I am more of a creative entrepreneur looking for opportunities than a real inventor.”
Read the interview with Johannes Gutenberg
1/10
The modest
He is the discoverer of penicillin, a bactericidal substance that could suddenly cure all kinds of infectious diseases. But he himself never understood that such a fuss was made about it. Kennislink held a fictional interview with the modest Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming. "A contamination in my experiment eventually earned me the Nobel Prize."
Read the interview with Alexander Fleming here
1/10
The Eccentric
Nikola Tesla is a born inventor, he is adept at it from an early age. Later on, the originally Serb will provide important amounts for our current electricity grid. But he also works on radio communication and wireless energy transfer. Tesla is often portrayed as an almost mythical figure, a legend. Kennislink finds out what he really was like. “I just loved working on my inventions, all by myself.”
Read the interview with Nikola Tesla
1/10
Other fictional interviews
Handsome minds over a cup of coffeeBrilliant biologists over a drink
This article is part of the 'Fraud Inventors Spoken' series, in which eight famous inventors are 'fictionally interviewed'.