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Reusable: two capsules; the inner
one is twisted against the outer one by a spring;
as time elapses, the openings start to overlap,
and fabric softener is released into the wash.
Sdpinpdx recalls a version of this
from the early 70's, albeit with a more
ingenious opening mechanism:
"This
one was spherical too. It had a hole on a flat
spot, and a rubber disc was held on the
outside of the flap by a rubber band
that attached to the
inside, opposite the
hole. The rubber
band had a weight
attached in the
middle, which was
always about the
center of the
sphere.
"When the washer entered the
spin cycle, the
weight tended to
move towards the
drum of the washer.
If that was directly
towards the hole
(unlikely) the
pressure on the
rubber disc was
released and so was
the fabric softener.
If the weight moved
any other direction
(more likely), the
rubber disc was
pulled through the
hole, also releasing
the fabric softener.
"It also looked kind
of like a spaceship,
which is why I
appropriated ours
when I was 8 or so."
[Thanks!]
Laundry Product Showcase
http://www.worldwidescam.com/show.htm
Scam Laundry products, all (unlike this idea) attempting to substitute belief for detergent. [jutta, Jul 15 1998]
Spin Off
http://www.quixtar....oc_id=&LPrice=False
Not reusable. Provides detergent for the wash and fabric softener for the dryer. [reensure, Jul 15 1998]
[link]
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The Downy ball. I've got one of them now. Really useful for putting the fabric softener in without having to watch the thing like a hawk. |
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http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970725.html Cecil Adams of the Straight Dope did a test of them too. Found out that on some stains, plain water did better than laundry balls, AND detergent. |
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Editorial suggestion:
To create an annotation that's mostly a link, click
on the [link] to the lower left of the text.
Annotations don't auto-mark-up URLs, and tend
to squish the center column if they contain long
unbreakable words.| — | jutta,
Oct 26 1999, last modified Oct 28 1999 |
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Starchaser -- enjoyed the Straight Dope column, thanks for the link. However, it was a review of laundry ion balls (to replace detergent), and not fabric softener release balls. |
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I knew that, I just didn't make it clear in my post...the first half was about the 'fabric softener release' ball, the second was about the 'Laundry Product Showcase'... |
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There are now washing machines with compartments for detergent, bleach, fabric softener, etc. and the appropriate amount is released at the appropriate time in the wash cycle |
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