The inventor of the first practical automatic dishwasher was born on this date in 1839 and was perhaps an unlikely candidate for the distinction. Josephine Cochrane was a socialite, and devised the dishwasher out of some annoyance at how her domestic staff damaged her china. Awarded a patent in 1886, Cochrane sold her machines in the 1890s mainly to restaurants and hotels. Her company eventually became KitchenAid, now part of the Whirlpool Corporation. In 2013, the Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey found that of the nation’s nearly 133 million housing units, some 87 million had automatic dishwashers. They are sold at the nation’s 8,300 household appliance stores, in addition to department stores. Y You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at <www.census.gov>.