The Machines That Built America: Season 1, Episode 8

1 - 8: Home Tech Revolution

Housework in the late 1800's is back-breaking labor and has been for centuries. It takes 40 hours a week to maintain a sanitary home and preserving food in an icebox is a luxury only the rich can afford. But with America plugging in to electric power, a flood of innovation is not only changing industry, it's revolutionizing the home. The new technology makes housework easier and gives women opportunities to work outside the home. Today's home appliance market is worth more than a billion dollars, but 100 years ago, it exists only in the imaginations of a few daring inventors.