Washing Machines

If there’s one field of industry that’s going to be moving forward leaps and bounds in the next few years, it’s that of the washing machine. OK, that might not be strictly true – the basic design and function of the washing machine has remained basically unchanged for the last 70 years, and until some kind of new technology is discovered for removing the dirt from clothes, that’s unlikely to change much in the future either. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate!

One such speculative possibility comes courtesy of that bastion of innovation and invention – Leeds University. They have developed a washing machine that uses just one cup of water to wash a load of clothes, saving on energy and money. The clothes are tossed around with plastic granules, that reduce the need for water and detergent – pretty nifty really! A company in the US has come up with a similar design, however their design goes a cup further than that of the plucky Yorkshire inventors; it uses no water whatsoever, and works by injecting oxygen, peroxides and small amounts of antibacterial silver into the wash. That doesn’t sound like it’ll be a cheap washing machine…

Many of the potential innovations in the field focus on the reduction of energy usage, particularly in terms of the water used by the washing machine. But how accurate is all this speculation and concept design? Well, if we hop in our DeLorean and crank it up to 88, we can see how accurate it was in the past. Alternatively, we can just use Google. At the 1970 World Expo in Osaka Sanyo demonstrated their vision for the washing machine – it wasn’t one that washed clothes though, it was one that washed you. It was basically a huge water-tight pod, in which the mucky person would sit and be thoroughly washed by a series of jets and massage balls. Surprisingly, the cumbersome, 6 foot tall monstrosity never replaced the humble bath.

So what have we learnt from this? Well, you won’t need to replace your washing machine for a new design any time soon! Most of the changes in the market continue to be superficial, but with technology constantly improving, there could be more innovations to come soon.  Try not to get too excited.

Washing Machines, or washers, as they’re known to their friends, have been doing the rounds for years. As with anything that’s been around that long, it’s inevitable that they’ve picked up some dirty laundry along the way – we’re going to sort through it by looking at the history of the noble washing machine.

Since time began, people have washed their clothes. This, I am sure, is no surprise to you; even the Romans weren’t that keen on wandering round in mucky rags. Arguably, the very first washing machines were the rocks and boulders next to streams, on which animal fat was smeared and used as soap. As you can imagine, nobody really enjoyed rubbing and scrubbing their clothes up against rocks to get out the stains of last night’s tea, but it wasn’t until the 18^th century that someone actually decided to do something about it.

First to appear on the scene were simple washboards, which boasted A Class energy ratings (because they didn’t use any) but were still a bit of a pain to use. Following on from those though, in 1782 a presumably clean man called Henry Sidgier was issued with a British patent for a ‘rotating drum washer’ – or in other words, the first real washing machine. Round of applause for that man.

The next big step in washing machine technology was the introduction of electricity; always a good ingredient when you’re dealing with water. Electric washing machines were touted as early as 1904, and were soon put into production. They were essentially the same design as Sidgier’s machine, but, as the name suggests, were driven by electricity rather than someone’s arms.

Though they were electric, they weren’t automatic; that was the next big step in the washing machine world, followed by the notion of front loading. Basically then, everyone spent thousands of years doddling around in streams or up to their elbows in basins of water, until one man’s bright idea sparked a washing machine revolution. Nowadays, it’s more than likely you’ve got an integrated washing machine sat under your kitchen worktop and you haven’t given it a second thought! Which is probably fair enough. But what’s to come for washing machines in the future? Find out next time!