35 innovations that transformed our home life
Can you imagine the hassle of not having a refrigerator at home? How would the present be like if the world wide web was not invented? We go through our day-to-day chores at home without realizing how these numerous gizmos have made it seamless for us. What if these gadgets or appliances are not here to assist us in our household tasks? From the kitchen and the bathroom to the living room and home office, here are 35 innovations that have transformed the way people live through the years.
Dishwasher (1886)
The first practical dishwasher was invented by Josephine Cochrane in 1886. The hand-operated mechanical machine made its debut at the 1893 World’s Fair.
Vacuum cleaner (1901)
Engineer Hubert Cecil Booth rolled out the world’s first vacuum cleaner on the streets of London in 1901.
Air conditioner (1902)
The modern air conditioner was designed and built by Willis Haviland Carrier in 1902.
Electric-powered washing machine (1908)
The first electric-powered washing machine was introduced in 1908 by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois. It was invented by Alva J. Fisher and called “The Thor.” Hand-powered washing machines, however, have been in use even half a century prior to Thor’s arrival.
Electric mixer (1908)
After observing a baker mixing bread dough using a metal spoon, an idea hit Herbert Johnson. The engineer for Hobart Manufacturing Co. came up with the electric standing mixer. The year was 1908.
Refrigerator (1913)
Refrigerators for home and domestic use were invented by Fred W. Wolf in 1913. The models consist of units that were mounted on top of an ice box.
Pop-up toaster (1919)
Invented by Charles Strite, the world saw its first pop-up toaster in 1919 and was initially intended then for restaurant use. In 1926, it was made available to the public and was called “Toastmaster.”
Blender (1922)
By placing a spinning blade at the bottom of a tall container, Stephen Poplawski invented the blender in 1922. He used this appliance to make soda fountain drinks. In 1935, Fred Osius, with the financial backing of Fred Waring, then made improvements to Poplawski’s blender, which then eventually resulted in the Waring Blender.
Range hood (1926)
Range hoods were first invented by Theodore R.N. Gerdes in 1926.
Television (1927)
The world’s first electronic television was created in 1927 by Philo Taylor Farnsworth. Ironically, the then 21-year-old inventor lived in a house without electricity until he was 14 years old.
Tankless water heater (1929)
The tankless water heater was invented in 1929. Patented by Stiebel-Eltron, the coil immersion heater could heat water without having to store water in a reservoir. Prior to this innovation, Norwegian mechanical engineer Edwin Ruud designed the first water heater for domestic use in 1889.
Ice dispenser (1929)
Professor Jurgen Hans invented the first machine that could produce ice that was safe for consumption. The year was 1929. Hans eventually founded a company that made ice machines for commercial use.
Slow cooker (1936)
More popularly known as Crock Pot, the slow cooker was invented by Irving Nachumsohn in 1936. It was inspired by a story which his mother told Nachumsohn, about how his grandmother would cook a big crock of cholent, a traditional Jewish stew.
Pressure cooker (1938)
While the history of the pressure cooker dates back to 1679 when French physicist Denis Papi invented the “steam digester,” the first pressure cooker that was intended for home use did not appear until about 200 years later. Alex Vischer made the “Flex-Seal Speed Cooker” in 1938.
CCTV technology (1942)
Designed by engineer Walter Bruch, CCTV was first used by the Germans in 1942 to observe V-2 rocket launches. The technology was then made available for commercial use in 1949.
Small rice cooker and a bowl of white rice.
Rice cooker (1945)
Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric produced the first electric commercial rice cooker in 1945. However, it needed constant monitoring while cooking. It had no automatic turn-off facility. A few years later, Yoshitada Minami came up with the first practical electric rice cooker. In 1956, Toshiba Corp. introduced the first commercially successful automated electric rice cookers to the public.
Microwave oven (1946)
Named the “Radarange,” the first working microwave oven was invented by Percy Spencer in 1946. The first food that the American engineer cooked using it was–you guessed it–popcorn.
Cable TV (1948)
Originally known as community antenna television (CATV), cable TV was first introduced in 1948 in small towns and rural areas in the United States–places which hardly received broadcast network signals.
Electric drip coffee maker (1954)
Gottlob Widmann invented the first electric drip coffee maker called the “Wigomat” in 1954. Forty six years prior, however, it was Meltitta Bentz who came up with the world’s first drip coffee maker through the use of blotting papers.
TV remote control (1955)
Couch potatoes all over the world have Eugene Polley to thank for this nifty invention. The engineer came up with the first TV remote control when Zenith Electronics president challenged the company’s engineers to come up with something that would allow him to mute commercials or skip to another channel as he hated having to sit through adverts.
Cordless tools (1961)
Black and Decker created the first cordless power tool, an electric drill, in 1961.
Push-button telephone (1963)
Bell Labs introduced push-button dialing to replace rotary-dial phones in 1963.
Home air purifier (1963)
Manfred and Klaus Hammes introduced the first home air filtration system in 1963. Fast forward to 1998, the first high performance compact portable home air purifier made its debut via IQAir.
Smart home technology (1966)
Before Amazon Echo and Alexa, there was the Echo IV. Jim Sutherland, an engineer of Westinghouse, created the first true home automation device in 1966. Echo IV had the ability to control temperature and appliances and input and retrieve shopping lists, recipes and other family notes.
Video game console (1966)
German immigrant and inventor Ralph Baer changed the game in home entertainment when he invented the first video game console in 1966. Simply called the “Brown Box” due to the brown tape in which the units were wrapped to make it look like wood veneer, it was later known as the Magnavox Odyssey when it was licensed to Magnavox in 1972.
Food processor (1971)
The world first caught a glimpse of today’s food processor in 1971, when its inventor Pierre Verdon showcased it in Paris. It was called Le Magi-Mix, a compact household version of Verdon’s Robot-Coupe which was used in restaurants.
Laptops (1975)
IBM 5100, the first portable computer was released in 1975. It was then followed by Alan Kay’s Dynabook in 1976, Bill Moggridge’s GRiD Compass in 1979, and Adam Osborne’s Osborne I in 1981 which was the first truly portable computer and recognized as the first true laptop computer.
Walkman (1979)
Introduced first by Sony in 1979, the Walkman was an instant hit among consumers. It sold out on its initial run in Japan and later on in the US. It changed the way the world listened to music.
Dual flush toilet (1980)
Japanese sanitaryware manufacturer TOTO first developed the system in 1960. American industrial designer Victor Papanek then proposed the dual flush system in 1976. But it was in 1980 when the first practical implementation of the design was done by Australian company Caroma.
Cordless phones (1980)
The early cordless phones debuted in 1980, operating at a frequency of 27 MHz. Not only did it have limited range but it also produced poor sound quality, walls and appliances interfered with the signals.
Mobile cellular phone (1984)
Star Trek’s communicator fascinated Motorola engineer Martin Cooper so much that he thought of developing a device that came close to it. In 1984, Motorola launched the DynaTAC. It weighed over a kilogram but it paved the way for what now is everybody’s essential.
Robotic vacuum cleaner (1996)
Commonly referred to as “roomba,” robotic vacuum cleaners were first introduced in 1996 by Electrolux. Problems such as colliding with objects and leaving small areas of the house not cleaned considered it inefficient which prompted it to be discontinued. Robotic vacuum cleaners made their way to the market once more in the early 2000s when iRobot launched the Roomba, which could change direction when bumping into an obstacle and detect dirty spots on the floor.
MP3 player (1997)
The first successful MP3 player was created in 1997, by Advanced Multimedia Products developer Tomislav Uzelac. It was called the AMP MP3 Playback Engine. In 1998, university students Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev ported AMP to Windows, resulting in Winamp, a free MP3 music player.
World wide web (1990)
In 1990, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web. Not to be confused with the internet itself, the world wide web helped popularize the internet among the public as it is our most common means of accessing data online through websites and hyperlinks.
Wi-Fi (1997)
Australian radio-astronomer Dr. John O’Sullivan and his colleagues Terence Percival, Graham Daniels, Diet Ostry and John Deane are credited with inventing WiFi. The team developed a key patent used in WiFi as a by-product of a CSIRO research project. In 1992 and 1996, CSIRO obtained patents. Wi-Fi was made available to the public in 1997.
Sources: History.com, Theinventors.org, Brittanica.com, Gizmohighway.com
