The Invention That Started It All
Architect John W. Hammes came up with an idea that has defined the industry.
Architect John W. Hammes came up with an idea that has defined the industry.
In 1927 John was watching his wife clean up the kitchen after dinner. Seeing the mess, he had a thought. What if food scraps could be ground into tiny pieces and flushed down the kitchen sink?
No stranger to solving problems through design, architect John Hammes built the first garbage disposal in his basement after dinner one night. He spent the next eight years refining the design before patenting it, and in 1938, he and his sons started the InSinkErator® Manufacturing Company. We sold fifty-two garbage disposals that year. A small start, but one that would continuously grow over the coming decades.
Our quality is why our garbage disposals consistently outperform the competition and why we’re the brand most recommended by plumbers and professional contractors. You can stop worrying about which food scraps can and can’t be put down the drain: nothing grinds more food than today’s InSinkErator® garbage disposals.
Every garbage disposal we sell is designed and assembled in the USA. We’re the only manufacturer who can say that about our disposals.
In the 1940s and 50s, more than a dozen competitors began selling other garbage disposal designs, but InSinkErator remained the industry leader. We introduced our signature Badger® series in the 1960s, and today there are still more Badger garbage disposals in kitchens all over the world than any other brand.
By the mid-2000s and the launch of our high-performance Evolution® line, we were a global company manufacturing millions of garbage disposals every year. We're still where we started, in John W. Hammes' hometown of Racine, Wisconsin, but now in a new state-of-the-art, LEED designed headquarters and innovation center.
Dig deeper into the story of our industry shaping history, American roots and continuous innovation.
Dig deeper into the story of our industry shaping history, American roots and continuous innovation.
*MSRP is manufacturer's suggested retail price. Dealer alone determines actual retail and advertised prices.
