Billions of people on the planet still wash their clothes by hand. Swedish academic and doctor Hans Rosling uses this fact as a jumping-off point for a great TED talk about industrialization and environmentalism.

From “Fifteen Hundred Knuckles at the Tub,” an article in the December 28, 1854 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, as reprinted from the Charleston Courier: “The latest invention is a new washing machine at the Astor House. It is called the ‘great knuckle.’ In the card of the owner it is stated that the new machine is saving from ten to fifteen girls a day, in the wash-room at the Astor House. A vial washing machine man at the Crystal Palace offered a cup valued at $50, to any person who could produce anything that would beat his. The great knuckle washing-machine man will give a cup valued at $500 to any one who will bring his machine to the Astor House, and wash one dozen pieces while he is washing three dozen! He says that instead of using one pair of knuckles, as old Eve commenced with, his machine is a combination of from 200 to 1,500. Great are the merits of washing mahcines!”