Why won't my "invention" work?

[Surly_Chick]

I had one when I was posted in Albania. It took over four hours to do a tiny load of laundry.

[TriPolar]

@WotNot

I mean, I realise we’re just spitballing this hypothetical idea that Why Child just came up with, rather than a line of appliances that major manufacturers have had in production for decades, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t examine all the practical aspects.

Definitely. If this was a practical device it would have been made already. The low space lack of vent market is all I could see looking for it now.

[Yllaria]

The one I ran across in the US was meant to be used on boats. It’s been long enough that I don’t remember the brand, so I can’t say if it was an import. But it was small.

[iamthewalrus_3]

@TriPolar

Definitely. If this was a practical device it would have been made already.

I don’t buy that argument by itself. There are lots of useful things that don’t get made because they’re different enough than what people are used to that they’re hard to sell.

And lots of useful combination gadgets that don’t get combined for years even though all the pieces were there and seemingly obvious in retrospect.

[TriPolar]

@iamthewalrus_3

I don’t buy that argument by itself. There are lots of useful things that don’t get made because they’re different enough than what people are used to that they’re hard to sell.

And lots of useful combination gadgets that don’t get combined for years even though all the pieces were there and seemingly obvious in retrospect.

Well that is true. I recently ran across the Sisu Nemo, a hydraulic motor.

The idea of the motor came from DI Ilmari Louhio who worked in SAT as design engineer. The operating principle was so simple, that when Louhio presented his invention to the technical department and company management, he was not taken seriously; the answer was “if that would work, someone would have invented it for long ago”. However, Louhio didn’t give up and[1] in 1959[2] there was set up a team for developing of the concept. The members were Louhio, Pentti Tarvainen, Antti Saarialho and Lasse Airola; in addition, dozens of people from different departments took part in the development work. A number of prototypes were built and they went through intense testing before the construction was ready for production. The first field test took place in autumn 1960; a Fordson Major tractor was pulling a hydraulically driven trailer. The invention was granted with a patent in January 1961 and it was named Nemo, which comes from nestemoottori (“fluid motor”).[1]

So occasionally the new idea succeeds. But washers and dryers are like razor blades now, they just keep stamping them out. Even a better idea can’t necessarily gain traction against high volume mass production.

[Why_Child]

I’ve read the thread and kept score. Of the posters that have used one and stated whether or not it worked, there have been 5 that said the laundry still came out damp, and 2 that said it came out dry.

If I’m understanding all the posts correctly, then the main problem causing them to not dry the laundry is that they are not vented to the outside, and therefore must dry by an air-conditioner type dehumidifier?

@Bill_Door

The big disadvantage is that you lose the ability to parallel process multiple loads. You gain a lot of time by being able to wash load two while load one is drying.

I understand that, and it may be a concern for bigger families. But again, this requires that someone be there to babysit it.
For example, I rarely have more than two loads to wash on any given day. Some things I could put off for the next day.

For two loads…If I put one in before I go to work, I can fold it when I get home. If I put the other in before I go to sleep, I can fold it when I wake up.

Even in a bigger family, if two of the people could be (hmm…) trusted? responsible? in charge of laundry duties? … I’d imagine they could keep up with it.

**Also, **I am not sure I am gaining time when I have to wait on load one to dry in order to dry load two. I almost feel that I am running behind, because load two needs dried before load one is done. YMMV.

@Springtime_for_Spacers

We have them in Britain but, yeah they don’t really do what the OP wants and turn out perfectly dry washing at the end. And when I had one you had to reprogramme it to do the drying. <snip>

Springtime for Spacers, you still had to go in to the laundry room at the end of the wash cycle to program the dryer? There was no way to program the machine for “X” amount of time to dry?
Set it and forget it?

WotNot, when TriPolar said, “That addresses ventless systems…” your answer was:

@WotNot

It does, because that’s how most washer/dryers work. Most people who choose them because of lack of space for separate units also lack the facility to vent them outside, so that’s the market manufacturers cater to.

If I am not lacking space, and if I am not lacking the ability to vent outside, then the contraption could work? Actually work, with dry laundry?!

@iamthewalrus_3

Yeah, you can run more clothes through the pair, but someone has to babysit it. If I could just throw a load in the combo unit on my way out the door to work, or when I come home for 10 minutes, that would be a bigger time savings for me (and for lots of people, I think). As it is now, doing a load of laundry requires that I be at home and awake for a minimum of an hour, or that I accept having my clothes sitting around wet for many hours. I’d be happy to give up throughput capacity for flexibility in scheduling.

If it actually worked well, of course.

EXACTLY!

[ticker]

I have one and it works really well. One common issue is that the quoted drying capacity is often much lower than the washing capacity so people often overload them. When my previous machine needed replacing I spent some effort comparing specs and purchased a more expensive one that can handle a good load size. It has proved to be worth the little extra cost. I mostly set it on timer when I go to bed so my clothes are perfectly dry just when I get up for breakfast.

[WotNot]

@Why_Child

WotNot, when TriPolar said, “That addresses ventless systems…” your answer was:If I am not lacking space, and if I am not lacking the ability to vent outside, then the contraption could work? Actually work, with dry laundry?!

Yes, it will work. Even with a ventless system, it will work. Honestly. These things already exist, and if you want one you can go and buy one today. One machine that you can put your laundry in and programme to wash and dry all in one go. It’s really, really true.

Like any other product, some are better than others, and like anything involving technology, the designs are improving over time. A quick scan of reviews on the internet tells me that (as you’d expect) the newest, top-of-the-range models can take larger loads and dry clothes faster than the economy model I bought six years ago – though even that can be programmed to do a complete wash-and-dry cycle in advance, which seems to be what you’re mainly interested in.

As always, you get what you pay for (more or less), so if you actually want one, decide on your budget, read the reviews and act accordingly.

[Senegoid]

@Your_Great_Darsh_Face

I suppose now someone’s going to tell me that my “Reduced Sliding Friction Constant-Radius Transportation Module” has been thought of already. :smack:

Yes it has, but there’s still time to invent the axle. You’ll be a bazillionaire.

[Aquadementia]

Here’s the low tech version.

Hang your dirty laundry on the line.
Soak it with a garden hose.
Fill one of those hose spreader attachments with detergent to soap them up.
This may be the point you want some agitation. Feel free to beat your clothes with a broom handle.
Rinse with clean water.
Leave hanging until dry.

[Habeed]

Now that I know what to google for, I found what the OP’s actually asking for in seconds. All he’s asking for is a vented combination washer dryer. I found severald different models, available for purchase at different prices. Here, and here.

Someone above said that if you had a combo-washer dryer, you can’t do 2 laundry loads in parallel. Well, not parallel, more like staggered series, since the first wash load, the dryer is idle.

There is a solution to that. If you have room for a conventional washer and dryer, you could buy 2 combination units for the same space, and now you can do 2 loads in parallel, and theoretically only have to tend them after the laundry is both clean and dry.

One of the models, the Amazon reviewer was complaining that the spin cycle is so fast (something someone above asked for) that while it gets the water out of the clothes, they tend to “stick” to the hot drum when the drying cycle starts and get horribly wrinkled.