{"id":2672,"date":"2013-01-25T15:12:54","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T15:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/?p=2672"},"modified":"2016-03-03T09:48:24","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T09:48:24","slug":"first-electric-washing-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/first-electric-washing-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"First Electric Washing Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nToday they are a staple appliance few of us could live without but where did they begin?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first mass-marketed electric washing machine was the Thor, a tumble washer produced by the Hurley Machine Company in 1908.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The machine worked by tumbling clothes with a wooden drum, in two directions, at eight revolutions per minute. The drum&#8217;s rotation mechanisms were powered by a single Westinghouse Electric Company electric motor and connected together via drive belts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Most innovatively, however, the Thor featured an integrated clutch, which allowed the machine to switch revolution direction and also be held in a stationary position once power was supplied. For a closer look at the machine&#8217;s inner workings see the diagram to the left.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Inside the Thor electric clothes washer<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Spin <\/b>&#8211; The drum turned at eight revolutions per minute before reversing direction to spin again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/first-electric-washing-machine\/inside-the-thor-electric-clothes-washer\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2674\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2674 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Inside-the-Thor-electric-clothes-washer-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Inside the Thor electric clothes washer\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Inside-the-Thor-electric-clothes-washer-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Inside-the-Thor-electric-clothes-washer.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Wringer<\/b> &#8211; The machine&#8217;s chain-driven wringing mechanism could be reversed through the operation of a top-right-mounted lever.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Drum<\/b> &#8211; The Thor&#8217;s drum was made of wood, into which a galvanized tub was inserted to hold clothes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Clutch<\/b> &#8211; A control lever on the left side of the machine was operated to engage and disengage its clutch.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Read also:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/michaelbluejay.com\/electricity\/laundry.html\">How much does it cost to run a washing machine?<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Power<\/b> &#8211; Unlike modern machines, the Thor did not have an on\/off switch, instead requiring users to physically disconnect its power cord to turn it off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today they are a staple appliance few of us could live without but where did they begin? The first mass-marketed electric washing machine was the Thor, a tumble washer produced by the Hurley Machine Company in 1908.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/someinterestingfacts.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}