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Tube Launderettes

incorporate laundrettes into the Tube
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The Tube is horrible to use in warm weather because it has no air conditioning. The warm air created within the carriages and subterranean stations simply moves around the tunnels or lies trapped in the sweltering stations. This creates the perfect opportunity for a chain of launderettes to be built into the network that take advantage of all of that surplus hot air, by venting it into their drying machines. "This suit was dried by commuters on the Bakerloo line at The Elephant and Castle"
xenzag, May 13 2017

London Underground "Fluffers" https://en.wikipedi...London_Underground)
A vital engineering service [8th of 7, May 13 2017]

Excess heat used for homes https://www.globalc...ent&linkId=72987625
[xenzag, Sep 04 2019]


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Annotation:







       // venting it into their drying machines //   

       You really don't know what's in that air, do you ?   

       Have a look at "Fluffers" <link>   

       Skin flakes, hair, brake dust, metal particles, asbestos fibres, silica, dried saliva, soot, ozone, bacteria, viruses, street dirt ...   

       You'd need air-to-air heat exchangers - big ones - and frequently-cleaned filters.
8th of 7, May 13 2017
  

       Filters! Or the option to wear your Tube detritus with pride.
xenzag, May 13 2017
  

       Where, in an isolation ward ?
8th of 7, May 13 2017
  

       Somebody should do the microbiome of Underground fluff. I have no idea why, but they should.
MaxwellBuchanan, May 13 2017
  

       Let the fresh smell of clean clothes brighten your commute.
popbottle, May 14 2017
  

       Would everyone have to take off their clothes while on the tube, washing and drying their clothes en route, like a sort of train-based version of the Nick Kamen Levi's ad?
hippo, May 15 2017
  

       <contemplates mental image of tube carriage full of unclad Londoners>   

       <screaming and uncontrollable retching>   

       The oft-reported dream meme of being partially or fully unclothed on public transport is bad enough in the dreamer's own head ... the reality doesn't bear even thinking about.
8th of 7, May 15 2017
  

       One carriage in each train set should be reserved for nudies, who also get to travel free.
xenzag, May 15 2017
  

       They'd have to - where would they put their Oyster cards ?
8th of 7, May 15 2017
  

       // Currently TfL staff cannot read android phones //   

       Currently, most TfL staff cannot read; indeed, even pictograms defeat them. Some of the very senior ones have knowledge of fire and the use of edged tools, but that's about the limit.
8th of 7, May 15 2017
  

       Do you know what happens to that air *after* it's been passed over and through damp clothes? It goes from being hot, dry(ish) air to being warm, humid air. And that's terrible, hence the fishbone from me.
Selky, May 15 2017
  

       Yes, perhaps to make best use of this hot, moist air the carriage next to the launderette carriage should be a tropical greenhouse carriage, with rainforest plants, tropical fruit that the hungry passenger can pick from trees, etc.
hippo, May 16 2017
  

       Hummingbirds ?
8th of 7, May 16 2017
  

       //to being warm, humid air. And that's terrible// (sic) Humbug! No it doesn't, and besides even if it did, warm humid air is lovely. Ask any orangutan and they'll confirm it.
xenzag, May 16 2017
  

       ...but I like warm, humid air...
Voice, May 16 2017
  

       Orangutan! Just like me. The secret's out.
xenzag, May 17 2017
  

       See last link. A spokesperson for London Transport said they got the idea from a mad internet site where it had been proposed as a means of drying clothes. I’ll be expecting thermal royalties at regular intervals.
xenzag, Sep 04 2019
  

       Stimulating an idea feeds my self esteem but when I have not put any work in the sibling idea, recompense is not fitting.   

       Gratitudes are not unwelcome, though.
wjt, Sep 05 2019
  

       In this case, I am the originator and London Transport the 'sibling' user of my idea, as confirmed by their acknowledgement and I presume soon to be sent incremental rewards on a per therm basis.
xenzag, Sep 05 2019
  

       I don't think so. All you told them was that there is excess hot air. A stimulus for an idea, does not a prototype make.
wjt, Sep 06 2019
  

       No. I showed a use for that excess hot air, to provide the heat necessary to dry clothes. Central to the idea is the redirection and use of the hot air, and that was my idea, which I'm happy for them to use, but the fact remains; it was and is my idea. I own it, and I expect thermal benefits.
xenzag, Sep 06 2019
  

       Can you patent the generalised idea of redirecting hot air? A specific use or specific way of doing it ,yes, but the overview nebulous concept? But if I am wrong, you deserve all the hot air owed to you.
wjt, Sep 06 2019
  

       Do you know what the term 'having an original idea' means? If so then let's hear your definition. As far as I can tell, no one published the idea of harvesting the excess hot air produced by the London Tube system and putting it to useful purpose before I did, albeit in a halfbaked manner, as befitting the purpose of this site as a depository of the daft and semi daft.
xenzag, Sep 07 2019
  

       So, you're saying that the hot air came first, and this was just a dafterthought?
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2019
  

       Incidentally, it should be possible to air-condition the underground through the cunning use of chimneys. If every other station along a line were enclosed in a vast 200m-tall chimney (with revolving doors or airlocks for passenger access), then the warm air would create huge currents moving from chimney-less to bechimneyed stations.   

       With a little extra engineering, the air currents could assist the passage of the trains.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2019
  

       I can have a generalised idea that the energy from falling fruit can be utilized in some way. I can't then patent that thought and make anyone whom has a great specific idea, using this untapped resource, owe me an overhead. They can, off their own feel will, show me gratitude for stimulating their great specific idea. I am free, of course, to patent a great specific idea using this resource and put the time and effort into making it realised.
wjt, Sep 08 2019
  

       If you think this is an idea, then post it here and see if some power generating company picks it and uses it, in the same way as the London Tube did with my idea. Good luck getting your patent but when you believe in yourself, nothing should stand in your way. How about dressing up as a banana and flinging yourself off a tall structure as your contribution to providing the power to illuminate some previously dark corner for a few nano seconds? You can call yourself Bananampere The Great.
xenzag, Sep 08 2019
  

       // [//nudies, who also get to travel free//]'d have to [travel free] - where would they put their Oyster cards ? //   

       Well, the name suggests a place, though a non-card form factor may be more comfortable.   

       // Do you know what the term 'having an original idea' means? //   

       Do you? Also, do you know that, while copyright is automatic upon fixation, patent is not?   

       Do you have a citation for this:?   

       // A spokesperson for London Transport said they got the idea from a mad internet site where it had been proposed as a means of drying clothes. //,   

       because I didn't see anything about that in the linked article.
notexactly, Sep 22 2019
  

       That article appeared in April's edition of "Mind- The-Gap" magazine. It's only available by subscription but the British Library keeps back copies, if you'd like to pop in and make a request. I can also recommend The Laundry Lounge. It's a private club for all lovers of industrial washing apparatus. (by invitation only, but if you compose an application here outlining why you think you would be a suitable candidate for membership, I can pass it on)
xenzag, Sep 22 2019
  


 

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