A washing machine , clothes washer , or simply washer , is a machine designed to wash 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. Thermal energy is supplied by the temperature of the wash bath. The spin speed in these machines can vary from 500 to 1600 rpm (or higher).
History
For particularly dirty clothing covered with mud or dirt, it was necessary to constantly rub and flex the cloth to break apart solids and help the soap penetrate through thick, dry, or sticky layers of soil on the cloth. At first this was done by pounding or rubbing the clothing with rocks in a river, and later developed into the corrugated wash board. In Roman times a fuller would whiten clothing by stomping on it in a bucket full of fermented urine.
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.
Because water usually had to be heated on a fire for washing, the warm soapy water was precious and would be reused over and over, first to wash the least soiled clothing, then to wash progressively dirtier clothing. The load of soaking wet clothing would be removed, and another load of dirty clothes added to the machine. While the earliest machines were constructed entirely from wood, later machines made of metal permitted a fire to burn below the washtub, to keep the water warm throughout the day's washing.
Removal of soap and water from the clothing after washing was originally a separate process. The soaking wet clothing would be formed into a roll and twisted by hand to extract water. To help reduce this labour, the wringer/mangle was developed, which uses two rollers under spring tension to squeeze water out of the clothing. Each piece of clothing would be fed through the wringer separately. The first wringers were hand-operated, but were eventually included as a powered attachment above the washer tub. The wringer would be swung over the wash tub so that extracted wash water would fall back into the tub to be reused for the next wash load.
The modern process of water removal by spinning did not come into use until electric motors were developed. Spinning requires a constant high-speed power source, and was originally done in a separate device known as an extractor. A load of washed clothing would be transferred from the wash tub to the extractor basket, and the water spun out. These early extractors were often dangerous to use since unevenly distributed loads would cause the machine to shake violently. Many efforts have been made to counteract the shaking of unstable loads, first by mounting the spinning basket on a free-floating shock-absorbing frame to absorb minor imbalances, and a bump switch to detect severe movement and stop the machine so that the load can be manually redistributed. Many modern machines are equipped with a sealed ring of liquid that works to counteract any imbalances.
What is now referred to as an automatic washer was at one time referred to as a washer/extractor, which combines the features of these two devices into a single machine, plus also includes the ability to fill and drain water by itself. It is possible to take this a step further, to also merge the automatic washing machine and clothes dryer into a single device, but this is generally uncommon because the drying process tends to use much more energy than using two separate devices; a combined washer/dryer not only must dry the clothing, but also need to dry out the wash chamber itself.
In 2009, L'Osservatore Romano, the semi-official newspaper of the Holy See, pronounced the washing machine an important milestone in the liberation of women, as it freed them from the drudgery of household chores.
Washing machine milestones
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. 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".
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, realising 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 H
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