Hotpoint combines easy-to-use features with practical design to complement any kitchen. These appliances have been created to affordably meet the needs of busy lives.
In 1903, Earl Richardson, a meter reader and plant superintendent for an electric power company in Ontario, California, developed a small, light-weight version of the heavy, cumbersome electric iron first patented in 1882. Richardson's invention was eventually named Hotpoint, after the heating elements that converged in the iron's tip, allowing it to be used to press around buttonholes and in and around ruffles and pleats on clothing and curtains.
Meanwhile, George A. Hughes, a 33-year-old former journalist from Iowa, was experimenting with the first electric range. The model was crude, with simple heating element wires set in clay bricks that burned out after only a few hours of use. After a few years of trial and error, Hughes created the electric range what would revolutionize the way we cook in our home kitchens.
In 1918, Richardson and Hughes joined forces, merging their companies with the General Electric Company, and creating the Hotpoint brand of appliances. Throughout the remainder of the decade, Hotpoint launched many appliance industry firsts:
- 1924: First all-white, fully enameled electric range.
- 1950: First electric "moistureless" clothes dryer.
- 1953: First refrigerator on wheels, designed to make it easier to clean behind the refrigerator.
- 1961: First 90 Day Replacement Guarantee of Satisfaction allowing any customer who is not satisfied with the performance of a Hotpoint appliance to replace it with a comparable model.
- 1965: First low-speed agitation clothes washer, making it possible to machine wash clothing such as delicate lingerie, synthetics and cashmere sweaters which previously had to be washed by hand.
The Hotpoint Electric Heating Company (generally known simply as Hotpoint) is a British brand of domestic appliances, formerly part of GEC. The brand is currently fully owned by Italy's Indesit, but most UK manufacture has now ceased.
There is also a Hotpoint brand in North America owned by General Electric, which manufactures similar appliances but is now unrelated to Hotpoint in Europe. From 1989 to 2008, Hotpoint in the UK was 50% owned by GE of the USA.
