Josephine Cochrane and the Invention That Changed Every Kitchen

Josephine Cochrane invented the dishwasher in 1886. She is still listed on the board of directors of Kitchen Aid!

“I couldn’t get men to do the things I wanted in my way until they had tried and failed in their own,” Cochrane said.

“And that was costly for me. They knew I knew nothing, academically, about mechanics, and they insisted on having their own way with my invention until they convinced themselves my way was the better, no matter how I had arrived at it.”

Josephine Cochrane was left without any money when her husband died - and she had five kids to feed. In those days, women didn’t just go out and get jobs. So she was in trouble.

What’s a woman to do? Well, she hated washing dishes, so she invented a dishwasher - mechanical, with cranks, since there wasn’t electricity yet. She had an engineering background because her father and brothers were all engineers.

Below is a video of the first dishwasher ever built. Cochrane designed a similar one, but MUCH bigger, to work for hotel restaurants. She sold it for $800! $25,000 in today’s money. Eventually, she founded her own company - later called Kitchen Aid, now part of Whirlpool. She is still listed as on the Board of Directors of Kitchen Aid