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I have had this in my head for quite some time and never really thought of putting any work into it.  Was just curious if it was possible to manufacture a Washer/dryer combination for clothes.  Rather than having two machines just have one that does both.  I know you could do more laundry in your household if you have the two machines but personally would rather have a machine that I could load push warm/cold for washing and then med heat for drying and when I come back its done rather than having the pick the clothes up and moving them to the dryer.  I know this would be great to have in laundromats as it would get people in and out a lot quicker as you would have exactly double the capacity of washers and dryers in the same amount of space or you could simply have a smaller building that could hold the same workload. 

But anyway I am just curious if this could be made.  I mean if I could I would say GE or IBM already has it in the works of being made and they are just sitting on it.  But I don`t even know how to go see if it is already patented.

Thanks for reading if you have any mechanical/electrical knowledge of washers dryers simply tell me if you think it can work.  If you can get it to work and its not patented go for it.


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Ryan J. If you dig and find nothing, dig deeper or go somewhere else and dig.

Sorry   .. they`ve had them for decades in Europe and Asia

Hotpoint Washer / Dryer

As I said I wasn`t trying to make it mate!!  Just curious if they had them already. Thanks for the info.

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Ryan J. If you dig and find nothing, dig deeper or go somewhere else and dig.

Brilliant idea. Thanks for sharing Jeff !  (we have rental properties where space is limited, this is perfect!)

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Leslie
Founder and President
Charmed Life Products LLC
Grill Charms™… The MUST HAVE grilling accessory that is revolutionizing the American Cook-out AND The perfect gift for any occasion!
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I just leave all my clothes outside. When it rains, they get washed. When the sun comes out, they get dried. Still, it`d be an interesting idea to have a machine.



All kidding aside, though, it might make sense. The mechanics would be more in the "tumble" aspect. Washing machines tend to spin horizontally at high speeds for the "spin dry" cycle, where dryers spin across the vertical, slower, and the clothes "fall" from top to bottom.

The washers have to be horizontally oriented (for the most part) to handle the water, which is affected by gravity. I`ve seen heavy-duty laundromat washers on a vertical plane, but the problem is how to get the clothes continually soaked in soapy water.

I`m guessing that the overall cost of having two "side-by-side" or "stacked" machines, each dedicated to their own function is the reason we don`t see the combination so often.

Then again, there`s this combo machine. (Looks pretty large!)

I think your product may already by available.

Here`s an article on recent laundry inventions

Bye Bye Boring Laundry
http://www.americaninventorspot.com/node/1663