“For many of us, history was just another subject we took in school, and we’ve likely forgotten more than we remember. While it may not have been everyone’s favorite topic, history is full of fascinating details we can still learn from.

Take this intriguing item, for example. It’s a historical artifact once used by millions but isn’t easily recognized today. In fact, most people might not even know what it is.

If you haven’t guessed by now, it’s related to laundry. Laundry has been a necessary chore for thousands of years, though the methods have evolved significantly over time.

Long ago, people would haul their dirty clothes down to the river and beat them against rocks to clean them. Nowadays, we simply toss them into a machine, and they’re done within an hour.

The curious device pictured here was designed to make doing laundry easier. Considering all the steps involved back then—hauling water, boiling it, washing, rinsing, wringing out clothes, and drying—the process was quite labor-intensive. This tool helped simplify one of those steps.”