Hanging out clothes on the line can be quite a chore, especially when you have children. Imagine a tumble dryer driven by a windmill where you can just toss the load straight in. Using an old tumble dryer drum with holes slotted or enlarged for greater airflow, mounted on a frame with the drive connected to the windmill by a series of shafts and perhaps a gearbox. Paint the drum black for greater heat absorption. A vane to keep the prop facing the wind. Then the wind can do the work and collecting the clothes out is a doddle.
-- Santiago, Oct 24 2010

I think I would call it something less, ...well... less industrial. But I gave you an air dried bun.
-- blissmiss, Oct 24 2010


Welcome to the halfbakery and I like your idea. +
though I agree with [blissy] on the title...
spinmill?
-- xandram, Oct 25 2010


(sp. "vane") I like the idea of using power from windmills directly - i.e. for things which have to rotate - rather than going through inefficient energy conversion processes.
-- hippo, Oct 25 2010


//can be quite a chore, especially when you have children//

Isn't the answer to cease having children? If everyone stopped procreating then pretty soon there wouldn't be a need for clothes at all, let alone a reason for washing them, as everyone will have died out. Seems simple to me.
-- DrBob, Oct 25 2010


//If everyone stopped procreating then pretty soon there wouldn't be a need for clothes at all, let alone a reason for washing them, as everyone will have died out// - yes, but this is an unverifiable claim - that is to say, there is no way of testing it, and therefore it is scientifically worthless.
-- hippo, Oct 25 2010


I disagree, there is a very simple way of testing it.
-- pocmloc, Oct 25 2010


I've got a sketch in my notebook of this very thing. Mine has a vertical axis turbine (Savonius or similar; can be made from an old 44 gallon drum cut in half) connected to a gearbox, so the turbine can catch winds from any direction without having to re-orient itself, and a black plate solar hot air generator below the tumbler to create a warm draft through the drum.
-- BunsenHoneydew, Oct 26 2010


(+) Love it. I had the same Idea but for a black drum composter/ condenser.

That sketch would be cool to see [BunsenHoneydew].
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 26 2010


+
-- Zimmy, Oct 27 2010



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