Washing Machines

A washing machine, or washer, is a machine designed to clean laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets. The term is mostly applied only to machines that use water as the primary cleaning solution, as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids, and is performed by specialist businesses) or even ultrasonic cleaners. All washer machines work by using mechanical energy, thermal energy, and chemical action. Mechanical energy is imparted to the clothes load by the rotation of the agitator in top loaders, or by the tumbling action of the drum in front loaders. Washing machine technology was developed as a way to reduce the drudgery of this scrubbing and rubbing process, by providing an open basin or sealed container with paddles or fingers to automatically agitate the clothing.

The earliest machines were often hand-operated but were built with the belief that the machine itself was faster and easier to operate than washing the clothing by hand directly. As electricity was not commonly available until at least 1930, these early machines were often operated by a low-speed single-cylinder hit and miss gasoline engine. 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.

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. 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.

An industrial clothes washer extends from the commercial washer to include extremely large capacities, severe-abuse textiles cleaning and processing, and automated robotic assembly-line systems. These can be used to batch process up to 300 pounds (140 kg) of textiles at once, and can be used for extremely machine-abusive washing tasks such as stone washing or fabric bleaching and dyeing. An industrial washer can be mounted on heavy shock absorbers and attached to a concrete floor so that it can extract water from even the most severely out-of-balance and heavy wash loads. It may even be mounted on hydraulic cylinders, permitting the entire washer to be lifted and tilted so that fabrics can be automatically dumped from the wash drum onto a conveyor belt once the cycle is complete.