Hi all,
My first post here 
Does anyone has a certitude about why the washing machine front “windows” are concave?
I thought that it may be a water pressure question but considering the limited amount of water and therefore of pressure I don’t think it is the right answer anymore…
NINJA
Monte-Carlo
And no, I am NOT rich…
My WAG* is that it is to deflect clothes towards the middle.
Interresting theory BUT :
the “concavity” is kinda cone shaped and the periphery of the windwon is “flat”.
As the clothe are rotating in the “I-don’t-know-the-english-word-for-that-part-of-the-machine” the inertia tend to push them toward the “exterior” and therefore the clothe rarelly ever contact the window at the most concave part…
I can’t believe I am actually thinking about such things!!
NINJA
The concave glass door fits firmly into the rubber seal around the door (like a stopper in a bottle) and keeps the water where it should be.
‘Drum’
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The concave glass door fits firmly into the rubber seal around the door (like a stopper in a bottle) and keeps the water where it should be.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OK but a flat panel would do this just as well, so why a concave one?
NINJA
My guess is that it helps keep the clothes away from the edge of the drum, otherwise they would likely get caught between the drum and seal.
Why have a window at all? I mean, what are we really looking for? I agree that a flat window should be just as good, shouldn’t it? After all, dryers have flat windows.
In fact, thinking about the laundromat up the street, their washers have the same protrusion, only these are made of stainless steel since there is no window.
What’s so crucial about this protrusion?
A new theory crossed my mind :
To clean the clothe the washing machine needs to “shake” them.
Is the machine is overfilled the clothe gets too packed to receive enough mouvment and therefore aren’t well cleansed.
The window concavity prevent you to close an overfilled drum and force you to maintain a maximum load of clothe.
What do you think?
NINJA
Nononono, you’re missing the point; the door seal is a rubber ring, like the neck of a bottle, the “concavity” is kinda cone shaped (to quote you) - like a cork.
A flat door would leak because the water splashes around inside then machineand would force it’s way through a flat sealed door, if you examine the rubber door seal, you’ll see that it’s turned back in on itself, this means that any water splashing against it tightens the seal against the glass ‘stopper’, like this [sub](hope this works)[/sub]:
-\ ===== <Door seal
\ /
\ | <Water pressing here closes the seal more tightly
\ \--
\
|
door |
|
/
/ /--
/ | <Water pressing here closes the seal more tightly
/ \
-/ =====
That’s not to say that this is the only way it could be done; I’m sure there are ways of getting a flat door to seal properly, or other methods entirely, like loading the machine through the top, but I’m pretty sure that the reason that the door is concave on most washing machines is to ensure an effective seal.
The window is there to give your cat something to watch.
The window’s concave* so that the axial length of the wash cavity at the center is no more than that at the drum’s maximum diameter, otherwise the clothes will tend to spread out and collect in the center, reducing washing efficiency. The more the clothes are tossed and splashed around, the better they are cleaned.
>>>>>>>>>
actually, it’s a cone with the top cut off. Class, who knows what that’s called
>>>>>>>>>
the name for that kind of geometric figure is (in french) “cone tronqué” wich would give in english truncated cone, well I think
We have a lot of convincing “theories” but I kinda hoped a washing machine specialist would give us the definitive answer
Come on millions, don’t fail me 
NINJA
Well, since you wanna be specific…
A frustrum of a cone is formed when the top and bottom surfaces (or planes) are parallel to each other and normal (perpindicular) to the axis of the cone. The intersection of each plane and the cone forms a circle.
A truncated cone (cone tronqué?) is a more general case, in which the top plane may be at any angle - from normal to the cone’s axis, up to but not including the slope of the cone. The shape formed by the intersection of the plane and the cone in this case is an ellipse.
If the angle of the top plane is between parallel to the cone axis and the slope of the cone, the plane doesn’t cut the top of the cone off, it cuts the side off. In this case, the shape formed by the intersection of the plane and the cone is an hyperbola, or a parabola if the plane is exactly parallel to the cone axis.
Here ends the geometry lesson for today.
As for your plea for a “washing machine specialist”, how do you know one of us isn’t a Maytag repairman?
Well kamandi, I usually hate being picky but :
The same way a square is a special rectangle but a rectangle anyway the frustrum of a cone is a special truncated cone but a truncated cone anyway. Hence I am right 
<<<<As for your plea for a “washing machine specialist”, how do you know one of us isn’t a Maytag repairman?>>>
for the extensive trolling I did here before my first post I know that when a doper as a background relevant to the fact discussed in a thread he announce it.
As no one announced he was a washing machine repairman/designer/specialist the logical conclusion is quite obvious, my dear watson
NINJA
Agreed. I was just being a little more specific.
Ah, but how do you know that that is ALWAYS the case? Perhaps someone here IS involved in the washing machine industry, but is unwilling to say so. Maybe for national security reasons.
Screw that. The reason I bought a front loader with a window in the first place is so that I can watch.
My wife says its a guy thing.
I’m with you, brother. Since we got our front-loader, I’ve been doing a lot more laundry. I blame it on the lack of quality shows on TV.