Frequently from corporate inventors and collective labs
Better Cars
Incremental Advances in Washing Machines, 1940
A conservative invention?
Central Vaccuums, Modern incarnation
Revolutionizing Modern Transport
The electric system
Edison and the Light Bulb
Pearl St. Station, New York
Pearl St. Station, Interior
Household electrification in the United States
1907
8%
1912
16%
1920
34.7%
1941
80%
Very early (1880s?) electric wiring
Socket Sharing
Socket standards
Household Appliance, c. 1908
An early toaster ad (New York World, 1913)
GE ad, 1936
Case Study: Refrigeration
Ice Boxes
GE designs refrigerators
The electric power bill of the air cooled machine would be about $1.40 more in six months than the water cooled machine.... Since the General Electric Company is entering this field for the benefit of the central station, it would seem wise to exploit a machine in which the total revenue would accrue to the central station rather than partly to the water works.
Advertising anxiety: General Electric Monitor Top ad, 1920s
Advertising modernity: 1930s (?) Monitor top ad
Household Labor and the new gender balance
Soup Advertisement, Cosmopolitan (1898)
Campbell's soup
Original Gibson Girls, Charles Dana Gibson
Sorority members in the Gibson girl style, 1905
Coco Chanel as Gibson Girl, 1913
Two 19th-century methods: Boston Public Library, Trade Cards
