Frances Gabe
Personal Information
Born: 1015
Died: 2016
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Girls Polytechnic High School
""I was born a most unusual person, so I had a heck of a time in school. Everything moved much too slowly," Gabe continued. "My last day, I stood up in class and screamed at my teacher, 'You told us that last week!'" (wikipedia); "A self-cleaning building construction comprises apparatus for applying a fine spray or mist of water and/or water and detergent to wall, floor and ceiling surfaces, followed by warm air drying. Floors slope in a direction for removing excess moisture via a drain. Also included are closet apparatus for cleaning clothing, cupboard dishwasher apparatus for cleaning stored dishes, self-cleaning bathtub apparatus, and self-cleaning washbasin apparatus." (wikipedia); “You can talk all you like about women’s liberation, but houses are still designed so women have to spend half their time on their knees or hanging their head in a hole,” Ms. Gabe told The Baltimore Sun in 1981. “Housework stuck in my craw even when I was a kid.” (archinect.com); “I want to eliminate all unnecessary motion so that handicapped and elderly people can care for themselves. My system will allow people to do so by pushing a few buttons.” (hagley.org); "
— Frances Gabe
Professional Life
Field of Study: Inventor; Jewelry maker; Ceramist
Institution/Corporation: None found
Degrees & Memberships: None found
Awards & Achievements
Awards: None found
Achievements: most well known for devising household gadgets for convenience but more specifically for designing and building the first "self-cleaning house;" The house incorporated 68 of her separate inventions from a self-cleaning dishwasher, a self-cleaning fireplace, and even giving her dog a bath by routing the receding water used to clean the house through the dog house. Each room contained a cleaning apparatus that was roughly 10 square inches in the center of the room. The self-cleaning system works by opening a valve and then pushing a button. This activates a sprinkler system that dispenses soap and water across the room. This automated car wash-like system cleans ceilings, walls, floors, windows, curtains, and furniture. Gabe obtained 36 patents for various pieces of cleaning inventions she invented; 1 of her inventions was for a material used to cover upholstery which is strong enough to hold molten steel but soft enough to sleep on comfortably; to cope with laundry she designed a tightly sealed cabinet where soiled clothing was placed inside on hangers, washed and dried there with jets of water and air, and then, still on hangers, pulled neatly by a chain into the clothes closet;
father was an architect & construction working which led to numerous job-related schools when she was growing up
attended 18 different elementary schools
worshiped father & accompanied him to job-sites often riding up scaffolding on his shoulders
graduated high school at 16 & was married at 17
after her divorce in 1967 decided she hated housework & found it inconvenient & time consuming which ultimately led to her designing the self-cleaning house
it took her 12 years to build her self-cleaning house
mother died when she was very young & she didn't get along with her stepmother, preferring to spend time with her father
completed six years of middle school and high school in two years
after her divorce changed her last name from Bateson to Gabe which was a combination of her maiden and married names: Grace, Arnholtz, Bateson and added the E
built a model of her 2-story home & travelled the country trying to sell her patents & get backing for building more homes, even charging for tours of her own home to raise money but was unsuccessful & her own home was the only self-cleaning house to be built
her family sold the home when they had to put her in a nursing home & the current owner has removed most of the self-cleaning features
January 31, 1984 the model of her home was donated to the Hagley Museum and Library
2005 Artist Lily Benson visited Gabe & subsequently made a short film released in 2015 documenting her patents & home
invented 68 separate devices to eliminate every part of the cleaning of the home including a cupboard that could clean dishes without needing to move them, and cabinets in which one could hang dirty clothes to be washed and dried that could later be pulled with chains into the closet
her house was about a thousand square feet and was completed in the 1980s at a cost of $15,000
she reportedly had contentious relationships with all her neighbors & was very difficult to get along with & often attributed to the cement mixer which was permanently in her front yard, her pack of snarling Great Danes or her penchant for doing her yard work in the nude during her younger days
after divorcing her husband she allowed him to continue living in a trailer on the property
was an accomplished jeweler and ceramist
lived on 7 overgrown acres 25 miles southwest of Portland OR
for dirty dishes she designed a cupboard in which dirty dishes were set on mesh shelves then washed and dried in situ
floors in the home were coated with multiple layers of marine varnish, furniture was encased in clear acrylic resin, bedclothes were kept dry by means of an awning pulled over the bed before the cascade of water began & books were encased in plastic covers
got the idea for her self-cleaning house after 1 of her children smeared fig jam on the wall of her house & she used a hose to wash it off
her patent patent contained 68 individual parts covering the home’s other labor-saving cleaning devices
she was unable to afford to maintain her patent & it expired in 2001
her family moved her (reportedly against her wishes & "kicking & screaming" according to 1 of her grandsons) to a nursing home in 2008
built the entire house by herself
her husband started a building repairs business which she ran for 35-45 years (times vary depending on the source consulted)
her patent is under the name Frances G. Bateson