What Household Appliances Looked Like in the Last Century (13 photos)

Ever since humans started wearing clothes, doing laundry has been a daily necessity across every culture. Hand washing was standard practice for centuries, but the quest to build devices to lighten the load began long ago. It wasn't until March 28, 1797, that Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patented the first washing machine in the United States—a wooden box with a movable frame.

Here is a look back at other vintage household appliances from decades past.







This Charles Colston dishwasher retailed for 85 guineas. The first dishwasher was patented in 1886 by Josephine Cochrane, but it was used strictly in commercial establishments due to the massive volume of water required. Domestic dishwashers didn't become common household items until the 1970s.





The first electric hair dryer was invented in 1890 by French salon owner Alexandre Godefroy. This aluminum hair dryer from 1925 featured two settings and a wooden handle.



The Regency TR-1 was the smallest portable radio on the market when it debuted in 1955.



William Henry Hoover acquired the patent for the vacuum cleaner in 1908. This was its first commercial version—the "Model O," which remained in use through the 1920s.



The first commercially successful electric toaster was the D-12, released by General Electric in 1909. A British company called Crompton & Company had created an electric toaster earlier, in 1893.



The DynaTAC 8000X mobile phone offered 30 minutes of talk time. Released in 1983, it retailed for $3,995.



The microwave was invented in 1946. It debuted in the US in the late 1940s and reached the UK in 1959. This particular model dates back to the late 1960s.



The electric washing machine debuted in 1906. The model shown in this photo dates to 1927 and was among the first to feature an electric agitator.



The "Tin" television set was produced by John Logie Baird in 1930, but only around 1,000 units were sold because buying a DIY assembly kit was far cheaper. The first television broadcast took place in 1929.



The 1927 "Monitor-Top" refrigerator got its name from its top-mounted compressor, which resembled the cylindrical gun turret of the USS Monitor ironclad warship. It was the first refrigerator made entirely of steel instead of wood.



Electric kettles were first experimented with in the 1890s, but the first model with a fully submerged heating element was produced by the Swan Company in 1922. It could boil 2.8 liters of water in 9 minutes.



The strikingly futuristic 8-bit Commodore VIC-20 home computer was released in 1980.