42: Ice, Ice Maybe

Did you ever hear the story about the man who got everything he ever wanted? Well, if that story was about Andrew Walsh, then the ending is: HE HAD TO DRINK DISGUSTING ICE. 

Andrew’s stay in an AirBNB comes with a truly upsetting end to his lifelong dream of an automatic ice maker. But maybe it’s just a matter of a filter?

Listen here: 

Anyway, we’re back! We’re back together, at long last! Responsibly distances and property sanitized, we’re able to record together for the first time in a long time. So naturally, we decided to talk potential sexism, Andrew’s new Plastic Parent, and why cleaning with petroleum byproducts makes slightly more sense that we might have thought. Slightly!

But first, we talked about the absolutely essential role that Black Americans played in the work we get to do now—some of the most iconic cleaning devices were invented and patented by Africans-Americans during the 19th and early 20th century.

Those include…

Thomas W. Stewart, inventor of the first mop. He filed his patent in 1893 — and what was especially genius was the ability to wring out the mop without bending over. 

Speaking of wringers, Ellen Eglin invented the laundry wringer, which could press liquid out of clothes. She sold the patent to a white agent, though, stating that she thought most people wouldn’t buy something that a Black lady invented.

Sarah Boone invented the ironing board with collapsible legs in 1892. Before that, people were ironing on their kitchen tables or chairs or desks or floors or boards laid across the bed or whatever other flat space they could create.

But the first Black man to file a patent was Thomas Jennings, whose 1821 (!!!) patent for “dry scouring” cleared the way for modern-day dry cleaning. Jennings, who was born free and thus had more personal capital than many of his peers, was just 29 years old when filed his patent, designed to clean wools and other materials without losing “their original shape.”

It’s not surprising that Black inventors were so critical around the home; in early America, that was about all the work they could do, either by force or by choice. Both enslaved folks who were bound to housekeeping by law and in-home housekeepers who were paid (albeit poorly) for their work were often balancing their own homes as well as the households of those with more economic and political power. 

These inventions came out of necessity but also out of pure innovation. I may give the string mop a lot of shit, but Black inventors are the reason we have a lot of the appliances we use today. 

Speaking of inventions….how do we feel about this? You decide!

Finally: Do you have pink slime where you live? Are you coastal, or maybe in a humid climate? We’re gathering intel with help from the listeners to determine just where this airborne annoyance might be found and why.