The washer and dryer: one of the most marvelous inventions

The washer and dryer: one of the most marvelous inventions of the 20th century!

The Industrial Age ushered in a new time, abundant with inventions that made our lives easier. Obvious examples include the telephone, mechanized farm equipment, trains, light bulbs and eventually, such star-studded machines like the washer and dryer.

Oh, how people marveled at modern machinery which performed tasks we previously had to apply a goodly amount of elbow grease and sweat to accomplish, along with the talking devices we have come to know as the telephone. The invention of the telephone allowed those of sufficient means to abandon telegraphs and postcards in favor of voice to voice communications. Farmers could till their fields in a fraction of the time it previously required to harness a horse to the plow and endure hours of toil under the midday sun. Light bulbs were a safe alternative to candlelight, managed at the flick of a switch.

Americans flocked, by the millions, like moths to a light, to these new, time saving inventions. Essentially, there was nothing to dislike when it came to saving time, expense and energy. The American public was thoroughly entranced by the products of the Industrial Age.

Once we became used to being able to talk to friends and family across the world, albeit at a hefty price, we looked for more down-to-earth inventions that would shorten our days of toil. Perhaps the most significant invention of the 20th century was the washer and dryer.

Prior to the marvelous invention of the washer, and subsequently, the clothes dryer, women spent a great deal of their time cleaning clothes. Children in diapers were a particularly challenging activity. Cleaning clothes required an unstinting loyalty to cleanliness, a washboard and wringer, followed by an hour of attendance at the clothesline and a few hour’s drying time.

Given this laborious process, it is no wonder that the invention of the washer and dryer met with immediate success with the American homemaker. I still remember the day my Mom introduced the washing machine into our household. She and my grandmother installed the coveted washer in an attic location. I did not have the proper appreciation of the washing task, but I knew the automatic washer was a big hit. I did also appreciate the fact that clothing came out of the washing machine, clean and ready to hang on the clothesline. I folded the fresh smelling clothing and put it away in drawers.

By the early 1960s, the washing machine was enhanced by the clothes dryer. Hey! Now, we did not even have to use the clothesline. In those days, electricity costs were not a major concern. The washer and dryer stepped into the modern times. The household that did not enjoy a washer and dryer was thoroughly out of step with the times.

Today, I can not imagine life without a washer and dryer. I have no spare time to be indulging in dirty laundry. Furthermore, i have got dry cleaning kits that my dryer can accommodate to the Nth degree.

Back in the day, when a washer and dryer were but a wannabee dream, I would never have supposed that this team of cleaning machines would cause me to savor a batch of mechanized clean clothing, not requiring me to do more than turn a button.

i will never give up my washer and dryer machines, no matter how old fashioned I might seem.