science · 15 August 1835 · 189 years ago
In 1835, a U.S. patent was issued for a rotary washing machine to C. H. Farnham (issued without number, known as 8993X). A hand-turned crank rotated a perforated cylinder within a covered wooden shell. Clothes were put inside the cylinder through a hatch in the shell and a removeable panel in the cylinder. This was not the first patent for a washing machine issued in the U.S. - the earliest patent was granted 3 Mar 1797 to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire for "an improvement in washing clothes."
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