page_title: Thor washing machine
section_title: Controversy
hierarchical_section_title: Thor washing machine / Controversy
caption_attribution_description: Thor washing machine Pengrove Power and Implement Museum, Penngrove, CA, July 9, 2011
context_page_description: The Thor washing machine was the first electric clothes washer sold commercially in the United States. Produced by the Chicago-based Hurley Electric Laundry Equipment Company, the 1907 Thor is believed to be the first electrically powered washer ever manufactured, crediting Hurley as the inventor of the first automatic washing machine. Designed by Hurley engineer Alva J. Fisher, a patent for the new electric Thor was issued on August 9, 1910, three years after its initial invention.
  The idea of an automatic washing machine had been around for many years but these were crude mechanical efforts that typically involved a manually operated crank or similar design. In many ways, the patent of the new Thor washer sounds modern, even today. The patent states that a "perforated cylinder is rotatably mounted within the tub containing the wash water". A series of blades lifted the clothes as the cylinder rotated. After 8 rotations in one direction, the machine would reverse rotation to "prevent the cloths from wadding up into a compact mass". Drive belts attached to a Westinghouse motor connected to three wheels of different sizes, which moved the drum during operation.
context_section_description: There is dispute over who was the first inventor of the automatic washer.  A company called Nineteen Hundred Washing Machine Company of Binghamton, NY claims to have produced the first electric washer in 1906; a year before Thor's release.  Additionally, it has been stated in various articles on the Internet that a Ford Motor Company employee invented the electric washer in late 19th century or early 20th century. Since Ford was incorporated in 1903, it seems unlikely that the Ford story is valid.  Regardless, Thor remains one of the first (if not the first) company to manufacture and sell an automatic washing machine on a large scale.
caption: Penngrove Museum, CA
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