UK student's WashDryIron does just that
By Evan Blass 
posted Feb 15th 2006 7:00AM
posted Feb 15th 2006 7:00AM
While the brains at Whirlpool,
Samsung, GE, and the like have been toiling for years to improve
upon the staid washer/dryer combo ("now with nanofilters!"), it took a UK college student to design a new
laundry solution that actually succeeds in saving the owner significant time/labor. Oliver Blackwell of Devon came up
with the creative-but-awfully-named WashDryIron, which performs all three titular functions in one machine without the
need for operator intervention, for his final project at the University of Plymouth. Rather than tossing your clothes
into the machine a la traditional washers, each item is attached to a hanger in one of several
independently-controllable compartments, where they are washed and air-dried right where they hang. This method
supposedly eliminates color runs, shrinking, and wrinkles, and also allows different fabric types to be washed at the
same time. Blackwell will be showing off a prototype at next month's Ideal Home Show, where he hopes to impress some of
those same manufacturers who have thus far failed to come up with something this innovative.[Via Techdirt]
Wel, its a nice concept, but you can only clean 16 Items at once, it looks like it will take up way more space than a regular washer and I'm concerned about the water / energy efficency of this machine.
I really doubt that I would get one..
Give that boy a grant!
"Wel, its a nice concept, but you can only clean 16 Items at once, it looks like it will take up way more space than a regular washer and I'm concerned about the water / energy efficency of this machine."
Sounds perfect for the US market - overly large, inefficient and not really very necessary*.
*provided you're married.
looks perfect for apartments. Also no agitator by the looks of it, so then less noise hopefully.
However, depending on how long it takes, it could be a great idea for, say, conference centers. "Spill your soup at lunch? Don't go buy a new shirt for the afternoon; just bring it to us and we'll wash it right away!"
awesome. Sign me up for one.
Regardless of how few items it washes now or how much room it takes up, it's a great idea and should be developed further. I predict that we'll all have it's decendants in our home in the recent future.
How much?
Where from?
Does it come in different colours?
Does it do underwear, duvets, pillow cases, and bedsheets?
Does it come with extended warranty?
Does it have special plumbing/ventillation requirements?
Where are the details?
Divorce your wives...
Dump your girlfriends...
Disown your mothers....
This is the "killer app" of the home.
Well, for those of us we do in fact wash, dry and iron our OWN clothes...
this is awesome! I want one!
But you still have to hang you clothes on a hanger....
If this was really the ultimate lazy man's accessory you could just throw the whole laundry basket in and the machine would sort and hang the clothes first!
Good try though, maybe Generation 2 of this will be perfect....
Since when do college kids care about washing clothes?
But can it wash your socks?
Its the ironing! Washing and drying clothes - I think thst's been pretty much automated. This thing hits right where the most maunal labor time is spent - the ironing. Sign me up for one ASAP. I think it will pay for itself in shirt-laundering bills alone!
Having a t-shirt, sweater, or sweatshirt washed on a hanger probably results in stretched out collars from the water weight. I am not fond of stretched out collars.
This is the first generation....
It is taller than most washer and dryers and not as wide if you throw in an ironing board. 1 Appliance instead of 4. Perfect for small appartments (Japan)
My guess is that the large players will try and recruit the kid and market this new product.
Well worth it is you are a business man that spends thousands yearly on cleaning at the laundromat.
It seems you would still need a regular washer and dryer for socks, and other small items.
Stretched out collars are the worst.
Give me a model that pairs up socks.
I agree with Chasqui, ironing is by far one of the most time consuming and boring (and hot) home tasks. I'd be happy to get just the ironing function :P
Agreed- the killer is the no ironing. Could he split just that part out of the appliance and sell it?
I have things i've washed and dried - yet send it out to dry cleaning out of pure laziness.
It is very ignorant to think that the industries who manufacture washers and dryers have not thought of this already. They have I'm sure already produced concepts in their research labs.
I am hesitant to judge this product from the little information I have from reading a short article in a blog. However, I do congradulate Oliver Blackwell for successful proof that his idea works. If this is ready for mass-production, is a new question.
Matag allready has such a product. I saw it at Disney's Inovations exibit at Disney Land and it has been feratured on HGTV.
I dont believe that the companies in these industries didnt already think of this either. The only reason that there are separate washers and dryers is so that the companies can sell you two equally expensive components instead of one all-in-one solution that would cut their profit in half.
Why would it matter how many things you can wash at once? With a system like this you aren't piling clothes in a basket to take care of at one time. You could come home from work, hang your shirt and pants in this machine and walk away, a little later you take em out and hang them in the closet until the next time you want to wear them.
You can't treat this like your old washer/dryer combo and expect to be impressed, it's about a new way of doing laundry.
i'm sure that it will save you time especailly if it next to your clothes. So you can just taking cloth out of basket, and just hang and done, instead of "checking the item in your pocket and seperate the color, set the time to wash and come back to chang to dry machine and iron and hang all the cloth again"
I'd call it The Washington, no, no?
This is great. No need to buy loads of clothing items because most of your clothes are piling up in the dirty laundry as you only want to wash/dry/iron in big quantaties because you dread doing this work daily. Now you only wear you favourite clothes and have them cleaned almost immediately. If it does what it promises for the price mentioned, it's a bargain.
I think it is a great idea for singles/couples: instead of putting dirty clothes in the bin at night, you hang them in the washer, and run it overnight. Bingo, next morning, your uniform/shirts/party frock is clean and shiny and ready to go again. Any chance that it could be subsidised for key workers eg. nurses, coppers, fire officers? Won't be practical for families though, and ecologically it could be a nightmare unless it is ultra-energy and waterefficient!
We can get the ladies to mow the lawn for now ,till we find another machine.
Since men found out how to press buttons they have been becoming near extinct.
P.s Does it pick garments up from the floor every couple of weeks ?