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Allison Sniper Warhorse 
for Hot Water Washing

Never before has such careful thought and planning been put into a professional pressure washer.

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Allison TNT Warhorse 
for Cold Water Washing

A professional pressure washer that can be assembled in less that 1-hour.

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Largo Cold Water Blasters 
for Cold Water Washing

Largo gas and electric machines are among the best pressure washers for the price.

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A History Of Professional Pressure Washers

Innovation that has made the world cleaner and cleaner

It all started in 1926, in the middle of the Prohibition era. Although alcohol was officially illegal, moonshiners of course were doing a brisk business as long as they could stay ahead of the law.

To that end, a Pennsylvania moonshiner hired engineer Frank Ofeldt to build a portable whiskey still in his spare time. While fine-tuning the device, Ofeldt noticed something interesting. As wet steam from the still’s steam outlet hit his greasy garage floor, the dirt and grease began to crawl away before his eyes, leaving a spot of clean concrete.

The engineer stopped and thought about the cleaning potential of the phenomenon he had just witnessed. But since the grease was relocated without being completely removed, he knew there was still work to do. How could cleaning chemicals be added to finish the job?

Like many of the world’s inventions, a number of sharp people contributed to the development of the professional power washer. During the same time period, new laws in California required the sterilization of utensils used in milk production. In stepped a fellow named Fordyce Malsbary, who created small sterilization units using coil-type heaters that ran on gasoline.

As a sideline, Malsbary adopted his technology to making steam cleaners. Although the early machines were crude, he found a way to incorporate detergents with the water spray. Unfortunately, those chemicals were caustic, and tended to eat away at internal components of the equipment itself.

By the next decade, Walter Kerrick, also in California, patented a system of forced circulation that emitted more hot water than steam. He sold the rights to William Clayton Sr., who began offering pressure washers for sale to industrial plants and steel mills. Although they were the best pressure washers available at the time, he found it challenging to ‘sell the need’ for the equipment, since baked-on dirt and grease in industrial environments had always been considered ‘normal.’

By that time, a number of entrepreneurs had entered the power washer market, each with their own approach and technologies. Quarreling bitterly in patent fights, they attempted to extract royalties from each other for perceived infringements.

The attempt to avoid royalties, however, had the positive effect of spurring further innovation and improvements. Fordyce Malsbury re-entered the picture with his Hydraulic Pressure Cleaning system, using a high-volume pump that powered a variety of different cleaning actions with hot or cold water. He also simplified his machines, making them less likely to break down and ruin the workday.

With the industrial market pretty much tapped out, competing manufacturers sought out other businesses to offer their pressure washers for sale. Truck fleets and airplanes were soon being cleaned by power washing equipment. And it was found that proud car owners in the ‘30s were willing to have their engine compartments regularly cleaned with professional pressure washing equipment at their local service stations.

Building on existing knowledge and technologies in 1950, the first truly modern professional pressure washers were created by German inventor Alfred Kärcher. Pressure washing as an industry soon took off – especially when homeowners found that they didn’t need a paint job to make their houses look fresh and new.

Today’s best pressure washers have achieved a whole new level of technology, power and efficiency. Almost a century of improvements and innovation have reached their apex with robust Allison Warhorse equipment, designed by EnviroSpec’s John Allison. As the machines of choice by top professionals across the U.S., they are built upon on a platform of intelligent design that surely would have amazed the industry’s early pioneers.