Hanging clothes of the line on a warm summer day is undoubtedly the most cost-effective and environmentally sensitive manner to dry ones clothes. However, I find pegging each individual item on the line as a fiddly, time-consuming process which I'm often likely to forgo for the convenience of tossing the entire mass of wet laundry into the tumble dryer and getting on with other things.
The solution proffered is the best of both worlds. It's a large mesh barrel mounted horizontally on a rotating frame with a large access hatch on the side. Simply toss the sodden mass into the access hatch, latch it shut and turn on the tumbling action. It will still use some electricity (although you can use wind-power to rotate the drum if you wish) but draws much less electricity than the conventional tumble dryer inside with all it's vents and heating elements. On a hot, windy Aussie day the clothes will dry faster than conventional mechanical methods and other days will be slower - but cheaper. You will reap the added benefit of having no creases in your dried clothes caused by pegs and clotheslines.-- AusCan531, Dec 29 2016 Similar devices were improvised in the Pacific theatre in WW2 by USAAF crews on some of the islands like Tinian.
If it was lightweight, low geared and solar-powered (maybe with a battery to store energy when not operating) it could be cheap and very cost-effective.
Since it operates at low speeds and ambient temperatures, the drum could be plastic.-- 8th of 7, Dec 29 2016 [+]
On a windless day, a fan could be used as well... run through a black tube for extra solar heat.-- FlyingToaster, Dec 29 2016 A semi-cylindrical mirror could collect solar energy and direct it onto a black-body surface under the drum.
Then, a black chimney would pull the warm, humid air up and away from the garments, sucking in hot, dry air.
This could be sold as a DIY kit, or a set of plans.-- 8th of 7, Dec 29 2016 This is not the topology I was expecting. I had hoped that this was going to be a tumble dryer in which the drum could be fixed, thereby causing the rest of the room to revolve instead, for drying large quantities of clothing.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 29 2016 Don't have the bird crap problem that you get with clotheslines either. Good idea.
I'm guessing you'd get a net savings in power usage by eliminating the heating elements, but it would be offset by the fact that the motor would have to run for quite a bit longer.
Maybe have the motor be solar powered for hot windless areas.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 29 2016 random, halfbakery