In 1883, American socialite Josephine Cochrane was suddenly widowed and left with mounting debts.
But she had an idea, she hoped would turn her fortunes around.
Years of hosting lavish dinner parties and watching her dishware get chipped during hand-washing convinced her the world needed a better way to clean dishes.
So, she poured the little money she had left into building a prototype, eventually showcasing her dishwashing contraption at the Chicago World's Fair.
This was the first step towards the modern dishwasher, whose basic design remains remarkably similar to Cochrane's.
When you press start on a dishwasher, it fills a small basin with water that's heated up to 60 degrees Celsius.
Then the pre-wash cycle begins.
A circulation pump sends high-pressure water up into spray arms, where it shoots out of angled nozzles, propelling the arms to spin.
The water re-collects in the basin where, in most modern models, a turbidity sensor measures the water's dirtiness by seeing how much light passes through it.
The dishwasher then adjusts the wash time and water temperature accordingly and transitions to the wash cycle.
