It’s summer in California – perfect weather for drying clothes on the line, especially considering previous summers’ electricity shortages. But it’s such a pain in the neck! Who wants to haul a hamper full of wet clothes out to the backyard in this heat? As a result, many of us continue the wasteful practice of drying clothes in the dryer.
I have often been envious of people who live in apartments where you can attach the clothes to the line through the window and winch them out over the street. I suppose I could do the same in my house, but there aren’t any windows near the washing machine, and I would like the convenience of transferring clothes directly from machine to line without need for an intervening hamper. Therefore, I plan to take the following steps:
1. Attach a 50-foot mast to the top of the house with a pulley wheel at the top.
2. In the roof, near the base of the mast, install a remotely operated trap door.
3. Cut a hole in the ceiling directly above the washing machine.
4. Rig up a rope that goes over the pulley at the top of the mast, and down through the trap door and hole in the ceiling to the washing machine. The rope should have loops attached to it that can be use as attachment points for clothes hangers.
After that, I will be able simply to take each clean-but-wet article of clothing out of the washing machine, put it on a hanger, hang it on the rope, and pull it up through the ceiling. Imagine my entire wardrobe towering up to 50 feet above the rooftops, drying happily in the sunshine.-- AO, Jun 20 2003 (??) Vertical Clothesline Search Yield http://members.aol....tenrandy/suplex.jpg [k_sra, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] I agree, Kathy, vanity is one word. Do you think it has anything to do with this idea?-- AO, Jun 20 2003 Name that movie: "Al, he's flying his pants, Al..."-- RayfordSteele, Jun 20 2003 one word, lightning!-- po, Jun 20 2003 six words: skid marks for all to see! (+ great idea)-- lintkeeper2, Jun 20 2003 I was trying to figure out what Kathy_151 was talking about with her 1 word. I looked it up at www.m-w.com and the fourth definition is a fashionable trifle or knicknack. I think she was saying your idea is a fashionable trifle or knicknack. I think you have lots of ideas that are a so totaly vanity. Keep it up AO!-- shazam, Jun 20 2003 no lint has the right idea, she doesn't want the whole world to see her Bridget Jones knickers. brill idea AO.-- po, Jun 20 2003 no, the knickers would frighten them off.-- po, Jun 20 2003 Angles. It's been years since I last trigged, so I can't calculate how far from your pole the trapdoor would have to be to ensure that on windless days the garments didn't all clump on top of each other, like sad flags. Which leads to Stretching. Assuming your house isn't so long that the angle of the pulley rope is near horizontal, clothes will stretch in new and misshaping ways.-- my face your, Jun 20 2003 Summer Rental comes to mind.-- TitaniumZ, Jun 20 2003 Just fix wheels to the house, run up a couple of bedsheets and hey presto! An eco-friendly SUV.-- egbert, Jun 20 2003 //allowed to fly flags of sanctioned countries not pants// Maybe the "The Church of No-Pants" (cf.) could adopt pants as its flag, and then you could claim the right as a religious freedom.-- krelnik, Jun 20 2003 Titanium wins the underroos...-- RayfordSteele, Jun 20 2003 //allowed to fly flags of sanctioned countries not pants//
You can get undies in Stars and Stripes, that should shut them up.-- kbecker, Jun 20 2003 It's generally unsafe around here to leave anything to the reader to "put together for themselves". Haven't you noticed the kind of stuff we put together when left to our own devices?-- half, Jun 30 2003 I think a 50-foot mast on top of a house would be quite attractive. I forgot to mention the polished wood finish with cherry stain and handsome brass finial on top.-- AO, Jun 30 2003 So, what about the hole in your roof?-- k_sra, Jun 30 2003 It’s not just a hole, it’s a remotely operated trap door.-- AO, Jun 30 2003 random, halfbakery