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When I look back over the 30 years that I’ve been on this planet, the amount of technological progress we’ve made as a society has been nothing short of stunning. It’s impacted the way that we work, play, communicate, and ridicule those “who” are less grammatically “inclined” than we are. And yet, despite all of the incredible innovation out there today, we still have a few things that just plain suck.

The washing machine is one of them.

And not just the washing machine itself, but the entire process of transforming dirty clothes into clean clothes is broken. Let’s take a look at my laundry workflow.

First, at the end of the day, dirty clothes are taken off and tossed into a laundry basket, where they are piled up in a heap left to sit for about a week. Once there are enough clothes for a load of laundry, I manually carry the clothes down a flight a stairs to the washing machine. I need to separate the clothes into whites and darks, start up the machine, and measure out the right amount of soap.

While the washing machine is running, it’s having a considerable impact on energy and water use. An average washing machine accounts for 14% of household water usage, and emits 160 lbs of CO2 each year (source). Also, most laundry detergents contains phosphates and other chemicals that can be harmful to the environment.

Once the machine is done after about an hour, I need to go back downstairs, pull wet clothes out of the machine and put them into the drier. After checking the lint trap to make sure that it’s clean and adding a drier sheet, I need to set the timer and wait another hour for the clothes to dry. While running, each load burns another 4.4 lbs of CO2 (source).

After the clothes are done drying, that’s where the real fun begins. I bring the clothes upstairs (quickly, to avoid wrinkles), and go through the process of folding and hanging up clothes to put back in the closet and drawer.

Along with the time involved with this process, there’s also considerable expense. The washer and dryer each cost between $500 and $1000, and they need special electrical outlets and water hookups to run. You also need a fairly large amount of space in your house/apartment dedicated to this task. And, of course, if you don’t have enough space, you need to load up your clothes and spend a few hours at a laundry mat.

OK – so I know I sound like a huge whiner, but the point I’m trying to make is that there is this process that has multiple pain points across time, money, and environmental impact. Any innovation that could greatly reduce or eliminate those issues would surely result in the potential for massive profits. And yet, I haven’t seen any progress made to apply our 2009 knowledge to fix a broken 1930’s solution.

The fundamental question is: why?

This actually reminds me a lot of the situation we’re in now with automobiles. While cars today are more advanced than previous models, we’re still using the same old core technology wrapped in a nicer package. One reason that a major change such as a move to electric cars hasn’t taken place yet is that gas-powered cars have such a massive legacy infrastructure of gas stations that have been built out over the past 100 years.

However, I feel like that’s a solvable problem – the real problem is that the general population has a set perception of what a car is supposed to be. Switching over to something completely new and different is a huge leap of faith, and as you increase the cost and necessity of the item, you also reduce the chance that someone will branch out and try something new.

That’s why it’s so easy to innovate on the web, where trying out something new will only cost a few minutes of your time, and so hard to innovate on something like a car (or washing machine), where the cost of choosing something new and risky has a massive economic impact in the case of failure.

So, despite the issues involved with brining a total new clothes-washing paradigm to market, let’s look at what a perfect cleaning workflow would look like.

First, let’s do away with the water. That would take away the environmental impact of both the washing and drying, and would also take out the need to have a separate water hookup (which provides more flexibility in where it can be set up).

Next, forget this whole business of putting the clothes off a rack, into a pile, moving them around a bit, and placing them back on the rack. Instead, I was to just take my clothes off at the end of the day and hang them back on the rack. When I wake up in the morning, I want those garments that I hung up the night before to be clean and ready to wear again.

One way to do this is to add on a special compartment to one end of a closet. Clothes that are hung up in the compartment could use a combination of ultraviolet light, ultrasonic waves, micro lasers, and specialized nanobots to both remove odors and spot-treat any spots or stains. Once the clothes are cleaned, the compartment opens and the clothes are automatically moved into the main closet.

Of course you could poke a hundred different holes in this plan (I’m looking at you, random Internets commenters!), but if some random nobody like me can crank out an idea like that in a few minutes, just imagine what kind of real progress we could make if some of the world’s smartest engineers and entrepreneurs got to work on this?

The first English patent under the category of Washing and Wringing Machines was issued in 1691. A drawing of an early washing machine appeared in the January 1752 issue of “The Gentlemen’s Magazine,” a British publication. In Germany, Jacob Christian Schäffer’s washing machine design was published in 1767. In 1782 Henry Sidgier was issued a British patent for a rotating drum washer.

The first United States Patent titled “Clothes Washing” was granted to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire in 1797. Fire destroyed the patent office and no description of the device exists so it is not known what kind of washing device Briggs invented. A device that combined a washing machine with a wringer mechanism did not appear until 1843 when John E. Turnbull of Saint John, New Brunswick patented a “Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls.”

Electric washing machines were advertised and discussed in newspapers as early as 1904. Louis Goldenberg of New Brunswick, New Jersey invented the electric washing machine around the late 1800s to early 1900s. He worked for the Ford Motor Company at that time, and all inventions that were created while working for Ford under contract, belonged to Ford. The patent would have been listed under Ford and or Louis Goldenberg. Alva J. Fisher has been incorrectly credited with the invention of the electric washer. The US patent office shows at least one patent issued before Mr. Fisher’s US patent number 966677 (e.g. Woodrow’s US patent number 921195).

US electric washing machine sales reached 913,000 units in 1928. However, high unemployment rates in the Depression years hit sales; by 1932 the number of units shipped was down to about 600,000.

The first laundromat opened in Fort Worth, Texas in 1934[citation needed]. It was run by Andrew Clein. Patrons used coin-in-the-slot facilities to rent washing machines. The term laundromat can be found in newspapers as early as 1884 and they were widespread during the depression. It is almost impossible to determine who had the first laundromat. England established public wash rooms for laundry along with bath houses throughout the nineteenth century.

Washer design improved during the 1930s; the mechanism was now enclosed within a cabinet; more attention was paid to electrical safety; spin dryers were introduced, to replace the dangerous power wringers of the day.

Early automatic washing machines were usually connected to the water supply via temporary slip-on connectors to the sink taps. Later, permanent connections to both the hot and cold water supplies became the norm. Most modern front-loading European machines now only have a cold water connection (i.e. cold fill) and rely completely on electric heaters to raise the water temperature.

By 1940, 60% of the 25,000,000 wired homes in the United States had an electric washing machine. Many of these machines featured a power wringer, although built-in spin dryers were not uncommon.

Bendix introduced the first automatic washing machine in 1937,having applied for a patent in the same year. In appearance and mechanical detail, this first machine is not unlike the front loading automatic washers produced today. Although it included many of the today’s basic features, the machine lacked any drum suspension and therefore had to be anchored to the floor to prevent “walking”.

1910 advertisement

Many of these early automatic machines had coin-in-the-slot facilities and were installed in the basement laundry rooms of apartment houses. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, US domestic washer production had to be suspended for the duration of World War II. However, many US appliance manufacturers were given permission to undertake the research and development of washers during the war years. Many took the opportunity to develop automatic machines, realizing that these represented the future for the industry.

An improved front loading automatic model, the Bendix Deluxe (which retailed at $249.50) was introduced in 1947.

General Electric introduced the first top loading automatic also in 1947. This machine had many of the features that are incorporated into modern machines.

A large number of US manufacturers introduced competing automatic machines (mainly of the top loading type) in the late 1940s/early 1950s. Several manufacturers even produced semi-automatic machines, where the user had to intervene at one or two points in the wash cycle. A common semi-automatic type (available from Hoover in the UK until at least the 70’s) included 2 tubs: one with an agitator or impeller for washing and/or rinsing; another, smaller, tub for water extraction or centrifugal rinsing.

One early form of automatic washing machine manufactured by Hoover used cartridges to program different wash cycles. This system, called the Keymatic, used plastic cartridges with key-like slots and ridges around the edges. The cartridge was inserted into a slot on the machine and a mechanical reader operated the machine accordingly. The system did not really take off, since it offered no real advantage over the more conventional program dial, and the cartridges were prone to getting lost. In hindsight it can be seen as a marketing gimmick rather than offering any really useful functionality.

Since their introduction in the late 1930s/mid 1940s, automatic washing machines have relied on mechanical timers to sequence the washing and extraction process. Mechanical timers consist of a series of cams on a common shaft. At the appropriate time in the wash cycle, each cam actuates a switch to engage/disengage a particular part of the machinery (e.g. drain pump motor). The timer shaft is driven by a small electric motor via a reduction gearbox.

On the early mechanical timers the motor ran at a constant speed throughout the wash cycle, although it was possible for the user to truncate parts of the program, by manually advancing the control dial. However, by the 1950s demand for greater flexibility in the wash cycle led to the introduction of electronic timers to supplement the mechanical timer. These electronic timers enable greater variation in such functions as the wash time. With this arrangement, the electric timer motor is periodically switched-off to permit the clothing to soak, and is only re-energised just prior to a micro-switch being engaged/disengaged.

Despite the high cost of automatic washers, manufacturers had difficulty in meeting the demand. Although there were material shortages during the Korean War, by 1953 automatic washing machine sales in the US exceeded those of wringer-type electric machines.

In the UK and in most of Europe, electric washing machines did not become popular until the 1950s. This was largely because of the economic impact of World War II on the consumer market which did not properly recover until the late 1950s. The early electric washers were single tub, wringer-type machines, automatic washing machines being extremely expensive. During the 1960s, twin tub machines briefly became very popular, helped by the low price of the Rolls Razor washers. Automatic washing machines did not become dominant in the UK until well into the 1970s and by then were almost exclusively of the front-loader design.

A 1950s model

In early automatic washing machines, any changes in impeller/drum speed were achieved by mechanical means or by a rheostat on the motor power supply. However, since the 1970s electronic control of motor speed has become a common feature on the more expensive models.

Early front loading machines, especially those manufactured in Mediterranean countries (e.g. Italy), had low spin speeds (e.g. 800 rpm or less). Nowadays, a spin speed of 1200 rpm is common and a peak spin speed as high as 1600 rpm is available on many machines. Now models in Europe have speeds of 1800 rpm and a few European washing machines have a spin speed of 2000 rpm. However, because they were not susceptible to gravitational forces, some early top loading machines had spin speeds in excess of 1000 rpm, although some were as low as 360 rpm. Most US top-loading washers have spin speeds less than 1000 rpm.

In the late 1990s, the British inventor James Dyson launched a type of washing machine with two cylinders rotating in opposite directions; which, it is claimed, reduces the wash time and produces cleaner results; however, this machine is not now in production.

In the early 1990s, upmarket machines incorporated microcontrollers for the timing process. These proved reliable, so many cheaper machines now incorporate microcontrollers, rather than mechanical timers. Washing machines are a classic application for fuzzy logic. Miele, from West Germany, was the top of the line front load washer, and was introduced in Kananaskis, Alberta by Glenn Isbister starting a revolution in Laundry in Canada.

In 1994, Staber Industries released the System 2000 washing machine, which is the only top loading, horizontal-axis washer to be manufactured in the United States. The hexagonal tub spins like a front loading machine, only using about third of the water as conventional top-loaders. This factor has led to an Energy Star rating for its high efficiency.

In 2001, Whirlpool Corporation introduced the Calypso, the first vertical-axis high efficiency washing machine to be top-loading. A washplate in the bottom of the tub nutated to bounce, shake, and toss the laundry around. As this happened, water containing detergent was sprayed on to the laundry. The machine proved to be good at cleaning but gained a bad reputation due to frequent breakdowns and destruction of laundry and the washer was recalled with a class-action lawsuit and pulled off the market.

In 2007, Sanyo introduced the first drum type washing machine with ‘Air Wash’ function. This washing machine uses only 50L of water in the recycle mode.

In 2008, the University of Leeds created a washing machine that uses only a cup (about 0.5 imperial pints (280 ml)) of water to carry out a full wash. The machine leaves clothes virtually dry, and uses less than 2 per cent of the water and energy otherwise used by a conventional machine. As such, it could save billions of litres of water each year.

Quoted from caned

When I look back over the 30 years that I’ve been on this planet, the amount of technological progress we’ve made as a society has been nothing short of stunning. It’s impacted the way that we work, play, communicate, and ridicule those “who” are less grammatically “inclined” than we are. And yet, despite all of the incredible innovation out there today, we still have a few things that just plain suck.

The washing machine is one of them.

And not just the washing machine itself, but the entire process of transforming dirty clothes into clean clothes is broken. Let’s take a look at my laundry workflow.

First, at the end of the day, dirty clothes are taken off and tossed into a laundry basket, where they are piled up in a heap left to sit for about a week. Once there are enough clothes for a load of laundry, I manually carry the clothes down a flight a stairs to the washing machine. I need to separate the clothes into whites and darks, start up the machine, and measure out the right amount of soap.

While the washing machine is running, it’s having a considerable impact on energy and water use. An average washing machine accounts for 14% of household water usage, and emits 160 lbs of CO2 each year (source). Also, most laundry detergents contains phosphates and other chemicals that can be harmful to the environment.

Once the machine is done after about an hour, I need to go back downstairs, pull wet clothes out of the machine and put them into the drier. After checking the lint trap to make sure that it’s clean and adding a drier sheet, I need to set the timer and wait another hour for the clothes to dry. While running, each load burns another 4.4 lbs of CO2 (source).

After the clothes are done drying, that’s where the real fun begins. I bring the clothes upstairs (quickly, to avoid wrinkles), and go through the process of folding and hanging up clothes to put back in the closet and drawer.

Along with the time involved with this process, there’s also considerable expense. The washer and dryer each cost between $500 and $1000, and they need special electrical outlets and water hookups to run. You also need a fairly large amount of space in your house/apartment dedicated to this task. And, of course, if you don’t have enough space, you need to load up your clothes and spend a few hours at a laundry mat.

OK – so I know I sound like a huge whiner, but the point I’m trying to make is that there is this process that has multiple pain points across time, money, and environmental impact. Any innovation that could greatly reduce or eliminate those issues would surely result in the potential for massive profits. And yet, I haven’t seen any progress made to apply our 2009 knowledge to fix a broken 1930’s solution.

The fundamental question is: why?

This actually reminds me a lot of the situation we’re in now with automobiles. While cars today are more advanced than previous models, we’re still using the same old core technology wrapped in a nicer package. One reason that a major change such as a move to electric cars hasn’t taken place yet is that gas-powered cars have such a massive legacy infrastructure of gas stations that have been built out over the past 100 years.

However, I feel like that’s a solvable problem – the real problem is that the general population has a set perception of what a car is supposed to be. Switching over to something completely new and different is a huge leap of faith, and as you increase the cost and necessity of the item, you also reduce the chance that someone will branch out and try something new.

That’s why it’s so easy to innovate on the web, where trying out something new will only cost a few minutes of your time, and so hard to innovate on something like a car (or washing machine), where the cost of choosing something new and risky has a massive economic impact in the case of failure.

So, despite the issues involved with brining a total new clothes-washing paradigm to market, let’s look at what a perfect cleaning workflow would look like.

First, let’s do away with the water. That would take away the environmental impact of both the washing and drying, and would also take out the need to have a separate water hookup (which provides more flexibility in where it can be set up).

Next, forget this whole business of putting the clothes off a rack, into a pile, moving them around a bit, and placing them back on the rack. Instead, I was to just take my clothes off at the end of the day and hang them back on the rack. When I wake up in the morning, I want those garments that I hung up the night before to be clean and ready to wear again.

One way to do this is to add on a special compartment to one end of a closet. Clothes that are hung up in the compartment could use a combination of ultraviolet light, ultrasonic waves, micro lasers, and specialized nanobots to both remove odors and spot-treat any spots or stains. Once the clothes are cleaned, the compartment opens and the clothes are automatically moved into the main closet.

Of course you could poke a hundred different holes in this plan (I’m looking at you, random Internets commenters!), but if some random nobody like me can crank out an idea like that in a few minutes, just imagine what kind of real progress we could make if some of the world’s smartest engineers and entrepreneurs got to work on this?

+1

Quoted from dotfloat™

[…]

The Chris of washing machines, that is.

Of course, sorry for any misunderstandings!
edit: where did all my lovely VYEs go :(? and chris? who will now compete with me in the bosch vs LG debate :/?

Last edited by Dummy, 14 years ago

Quoted from Dummy

[…]
Of course, sorry for any misunderstandings!
edit: where did all my lovely VYEs go :(? and chris? who will now compete with me in the bosch vs LG debate :/?

sorry went for dinner babes.

Quoted from stvv

[…]

sorry went for dinner babes.

thank god you’re here to save this thread

Quoted from Dummy

[…]
Of course, sorry for any misunderstandings!
edit: where did all my lovely VYEs go :(? and chris? who will now compete with me in the bosch vs LG debate :/?

i am making a video

Quoted from blorg

[…]
wow you’re trolled easily