Pearl Diving: The Joy of Washing Dishes

by Daniel E. Walsh  Author of Our Sunday "History & Reflections" Series

Is necessity the mother of invention? Not always. In 1886 Josephine Cochrane became annoyed with her servants. Their offense: chipping her fine china when they washed the dishes. She, the granddaughter of John Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat, put the family talent to work and invented the automatic dishwasher. Her model operated on the same washing principles as today’s machines: spray the dishes with extra hot soapy water, agitate the water to remove soil, drain, rinse, and allow time for drying.  Josephine may have been happy with her unchipped china but her bulky energy wasting invention would take a few decades before it became the sleek under-the-counter kitchen appliance it is today.

Not that those servants had anything to worry about if they were concerned about losing their occupation. Washing by hand would endure. Surprisingly, almost half of American households still wash dishes in the sink with varying degrees of impact on the environment--mostly negative. The skill of the hand dishwasher comes into play as to the use of heat and water necessary to do the job.

Professional dishwashers use a combination of hand techniques and large automatic machines. Known in street parlance as pearl diving, this less than honorable menial position is ideal for the youngster on the road to experience, the grizzled, worn-out street character, or the individual living off the grid for reasons best kept to themselves. Such alienated characters slaving away in hash houses and gin joints were mainstay role players in the hard-boiled world of pulp fiction.  For a walk in a real dishwasher’s shoes you can check out the adventures of Dishwasher Pete on the radio show This American Life or in his book Dishwasher.

The development of the automatic dishwasher, as a kitchen appliance, paralleled that of the refrigerator. As preservation of food (necessity) has more importance to the consumer than washing dishes, sales of refrigerators far outstripped those of the automatic dishwasher. In America, 99.8% of households have a refrigerator while 56.4% own dishwashers.

Do the machines use more water and consume more energy than a human washing dish by hand? The answer depends on the abilities of the human; the machines are very predictable. Studies have shown that an above-average person hand washing dishes can outperform a dishwashing machine in terms of energy and water use. Maybe a Dishwasher Pete could be more efficient than a machine, but most of us can’t. So as the manufacturers of the appliances drool over that statistic as a sales opportunity, environmentally-aware folks may also want to see that percentage rise to lessen the burden on the ecosystem.

For their part, the manufacturers of dishwashers have seen the trends and have finessed their offerings to reflect environmental concerns. For example, the Bosch Company was named the 2009 Energy Partner of the Year for designing appliances with EcoSense.  Bosch dishwashers use 20% less energy than previous Bosch models. Many of the newer models have self-contained garbage disposals and better condition waste as it enters into sewer systems.

Soap companies have responded as well. Traditional powders are very high in alkaline content; typically these powders although corrosive to human touch are very effective in the machines but a detriment to the water system they enter.  Seventh Generation and Shaklee are a couple of brands that feature biodegradable dishwasher powders.

Josephine’s invention—born of petulance—has sure come a long way, but has a lot of room to advance if the goal is to become standard issue in the household. Societal factors sometimes provide a boost to market position of products. A pearl of green wisdom, if you will—perhaps the current movement to environmental conscientiousness will cause folks to take another look at the machine as not only a convenience in the home, but as an important way to save energy and water.  As a bonus, having no chipped dishes is nice, too.

Comments

[Steven]

I'm not surprised there are more households with refrigerators than dishwashers. As developing countries grow in wealth, I would expect citizens there to value ownership of a fridge more than ownership of a dishwasher.

[Petter Berg]

The dishwasher have to be one of the great inventions ever, it saves the biggest time and doesn't cost that much. It sure helps an 50 yr old fellow like me :)

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[Heidi]

Also, did you know that the biggest growth in sales of refrigerators happen during the great depression? While you would think it would have been a time when the outcome would have been exactly the opposite but when it came time to saving money, preserving food was one easy way to do it.