The Washer Invention at the Snohomish Fair
A local demonstration of a new, lightweight washing machine promises to revolutionize labor for households across the Puget Sound country.
Mr. C. C. Coleman, formerly of Snohomish City but for some time a resident of Halsey, Oregon, was there with an implement in the washer which a man by the name of Goodline sold so extensively around the Sound a couple of years ago. Mr. Coleman is the patentee of the improved machine, and Mr. C. is his agent. Besides the washer, Mr. C. had the agency for this Territory for a stove-harness, light enough to be useful and cheap enough so that it ought to be generally introduced throughout the Sound country. Judging from the character of the washing done by the model, it is a success.
“Judging from the character of the washing done by the model, it is a success.”
The struggle to automate domestic labor is a perennial theme in local history. Just as this 1878 invention promised to relieve the burdens of the household, today's Snohomish residents face a different set of domestic pressures, primarily centered on housing affordability and the ongoing challenge of maintaining a livable quality of life in a rapidly changing region.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.