Instead of opening from the side, dryer doors should open from the top, with a detent at 45 degrees. Sidewalls between the door and the front face make the door into a chute, using an 'oriental fan' mechanism. For loading, the door is opened to 45 degrees, allowing wet laundry to be tossed in with ease. For removal, opens to 90 degrees (or more) to overlap a laundry basket -- no more socks on the floor.
And yes, WIBNI there were robotic laundry servants.-- rmutt, Apr 27 2001 Maybe it could use a washing machine with a trap door for a brother. Or some sort of rack for both with mountings which allow at least the top unit (the washer) to be rotated easily.-- Monkfish, Apr 28 2001 My dryer has a door that hinges from the bottom <I think this is what you mean by 'open from the top', yes?>...Wouldn't be too hard to rig some kind of sidewall, but it wouldn't make much of a chute. The inside of the door has a bump with rubber weatherstripping around it, to seal the heat in.
I just throw stuff into it, rather than trying to pull it all out at once...-- StarChaser, Apr 28 2001 Hinge the bottom of the dryer itself, install multiple levers(for the trap door that opens to reveal a sunken floor/laundry basket with reversed fan beneath to make sure the socks and undies are sucked out) , springs, gas shocks, fulcrums, pulleys and buttons. You'll also need a hydraulic system for the 'shaker'. Make sure the gas line is long enough to accomodate what happens next... When laundry is dry-push bottons, pull levers and get out of the way while dryer violently shakes and dumps laundry into sunken laundry basket. After machine is done emptying contents tip machine back on its gas shocks... retrieve basket via pulley, close trap door.-- thumbwax, Apr 28 2001 One idea I had awhile ago would be to have a washer (probably front-loading) mounted above a dryer, with pivot mechanisms so that the washer and dryer could be pivoted so the openings faced each other. Pull another lever to open the doors and clothes would automatically go from washer to dryer.-- supercat, Jun 27 2001 random, halfbakery