EZ
Content Blueprint
Technology and the Early Twentieth Century House
STANDARDS:
The
material in this unit may be used to address the following Social
Studies Standards:
H-1D-E2
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H-1B-M14 |
H-1B-H11 |
H-1A-E3
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H-1A-M4
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BACKGROUND:
Early
twentieth century citizens viewed science and the progress it created
as something of a religion. As a result, modernization quickly became
a goal in itself.
Architects,
builders, and mail order companies viewed technology as the servant
of the home owner. As a result, they included numerous labor and
cost saving devices in their home designs.
Technology
made the twentieth century home more efficient, clean, compact,
and safe.
Almost
all domestic technological improvements eventually became available
to twentieth century Americans, whether rural or urban, rich or
poor. The latter were assisted in their purchases by the practice
of buying on the installment plan, which became common in the 1920s.
20th
CENTURY TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS:
THE
BATHROOM:
Sanitation:
Installation
of municipal sewer systems did not become routine until the
problem of what to do with the collected waste was solved by
the development of sewage treatment plants. Although these date
to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was
the application of the principles of bacterial decomposition
to sewage treatment around 1914 that led to modern sewage systems.
The
bathroom with toilet, sink, and bathtub became standard in middle
class homes after 1905, well before the issue of sewage disposal
was resolved.
Gleaming
white porcelain and china fixtures became available.
Lead
pipes replaced older wooden ones.
Built-in
bathtubs and sinks available by 1915; by 1920s some have showers.
Popularity
of easy-to-clean floor and wall coverings.
By the
1920s the bathroom had been reduced to a compact size to save space.
By the end of that decade, the bathroom looked and functioned much
as it does today.
Despite
this progress, 36 percent of American homes (especially those in
rural areas) still lacked full bathrooms in 1950.
Food
Preparation:
When
electricity and natural gas replaced wood as the cooking fuel
of choice, the old cast iron stove/range was simplified and its
size reduced. The invention of the oven regulator made cooking
with gas easier, and the creation of a better heating element
improved the function of the electric range. Porcelain in white
and pastel colors superceded black cast iron as the stove material
of choice.
Homemakers
reduced the time they spent baking (formerly a day-long chore
repeated weekly) by purchasing baked goods from local bakeries
and/or national companies.
Refrigeration:
Although
small refrigerators were available in the United States as early
as 1911, only approximately twenty thousand homes had them in
1923. It was 1930 before purchases of refrigerators surpassed
those of old fashioned ice boxes.
Three
advances made refrigeration practical: a sealed compressor to
replace the older and noisy motor and belt-driven version, an
automatic control which turned the compressor on and off, and
the use of Freon as a coolant.
The
refrigerator became more stylish in the 1920s, receiving a white
enamel cover and incorporating new features such as the freezer
compartment.
Kitchen
Sanitation:
Use
of screens to eliminate insects.
Linoleum
floors for durability and cleanliness
White
walls and plain doors and windows, all designed for ease of cleaning
Other
changes to the kitchen included:
Reduction
of size to create a compact and square space, and better organization
to save steps.
Carefully
planned layouts, including the grouping of tools to create a better
work environment.
New
tools such as mixers, toasters, percolators, etc.
Ventilation
hoods and fans
Built-in breakfast nooks for informal family meals.
OTHER
TECHNOLOGIES IMPACTING THE HOUSEHOLD:
Standardization:
Standardization
of building materials (nails, lumber, brick, etc.); building
parts (door and window size, space between studs in a wall,
etc.); and municipal building codes (the standards buildings
must meet to receive approval from local officials) brought
about the mass production of construction products and the
conversion of construction from a seasonal to a year round
business.
Standardization
also was applied to many other consumer products, from foods
to clothing sizes to home furnishings to tools.
Communication:
The
publishing revolution begun in the nineteenth century with
the invention of machinery for printing in bulk continued
into the twentieth. Magazines with huge circulations (House
Beautiful, Craftsman, Ladies Home Journal, etc.) told
families what kind of homes to build and how to furnish and
decorate them. They also featured advertisements designed
to convince consumers to purchase all kind of household products
from furniture to cleansers.
Heating:
Invention
of a blower for the circulation of hot air, a mechanical stoker
to provide fuel, and the electric thermostat to regulate temperature
greatly improved the performance of furnaces.
Radiators
and forced air furnaces remained the most popular forms of
heating.
As
the century passed inventions such as insulation and weather
stripping also made the house less cold.
Coal
remained the most popular heating fuel for many years, followed
in popularity by natural gas and oil. After mid-century natural
gas took the lead because it is easier to burn and can be
delivered to homes more easily than coal via pipelines.
Electricity:
Nikola
Tesla's invention of an alternating current electric motor
(which could be built in sizes small enough to run household
machines) and the standardization of voltages increased the
demand for electricity and allowed the nation's power industry
to expand.
The
value of electrical appliances produced in the United States skyrocketed
from $23 million (1915) to $83 million (1920) to $180 million
(1929).
The
number of people with electric lights in their homes increased
from 16 percent of the population in 1912 to 63 percent (almost
two-thirds of the population) in 1927.
In
1928 half of the electricity used in the world was produced
by the United States.
Electrical
appliances which became available in the early twentieth century
included, but were not limited to, toasters, percolators, griddles,
waffle irons, hot plates, mixers, grinders, cutters, slicers,
choppers, beaters, polishers, vacuum cleaners and carpet sweepers,
irons, washing machines, hair dryers, heating pads, and sewing
machines.
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