Inventions & Gadgets

Home > Schools > Teacher Notes > Inventions & Gadgets

Inventions & Gadgets

One of Leighton Hall's owners was a famous inventor. Richard Gillow invented the huge telescoping mahogany dining table. The table in Leighton's dining room is one of the first ever made, but now the design is quite common.

The Victorians were very innovative and many inventions very patented. One innovation was the Villa Washing Machine which promised to complete "the Fortnight's Family Wash in Four Hours without Rubbing or Boiling as certified by thousands of delighted house mothers"!

One such delighted "house mother" said, "Our washing which formerly occupied a whole day is now easily done in two hours".

• Discuss why jobs like washing clothes took so long
• Look at worksheet 2.1 for an inventions activity

Click here to download some Victorian adverts (326k) which you can print off.