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First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq

166 points by etewiah 5y ago

zohch 5y ago
I think the first time I saw something like this was in the 90s, and I'm sure it was around before that. Not sure what is so unique about this.
- namdnay 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_machine#/media/File:Pyykki-Maija_crank-operated_washing_machine,_1940s.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_machine#/media/File:Py...
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    After watching it work, I want to add a flywheel and a treadle.
    - stronglikedan 5y ago
      The clothes are sort of a flywheel.
- notahacker 5y ago
  You can buy plenty of cheap hand or foot cranked ones from China on Amazon for camping or for supposed environmental friendliness. This one has a nice story, donated labour and possibly adaptations unique to the situation of refugee camps
- vanderZwan 5y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmh4Uwjo-GE&t=1m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmh4Uwjo-GE&t=1m Also, it exists. The people who will go from having to slap clothes on rocks to this wouldn't be as quick to shout "meh, it's been done before"
- h2odragon 5y ago
  It made me think of a contraption I saw once. It was exactly the opposite of a washing machine, for covering big cloth tubes with some tar-like goop. Someone took a bush hog, turned it upside down, welded a steel drum to it with some drain holes and a collar that slipped up or down to block them. Hooked up to a tractor it spun the drum around; they used the higher PTO speed and lifted the collar for the drain cycle. I'm sure rednecks have been making washing machines on similar principles since steam engines.
thinkingemote 5y ago
Ships as in the verb, not the plural noun!
- Veen 5y ago
  Yes, that title is a bit of a garden path. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence
- mattlondon 5y ago
  Yeah I was also interested in these ships made of washing machines, and which used hand-cranks for propulsion! Slightly disappointed to hear that they are actually hand-cranked washing machines. Sigh - maybe next year!
auslegung 5y ago
I read Wendell Berry quite a lot, and in one essay (I forget which) he posed a question, "where would our technology be if we had continued improving on simple things like the plow, without using combustion engines", or something like that. I think this washing machine is an answer to that question. What if many of our machines used human power like they did 100 years ago, but were made far more efficient and effective than they were 100 years ago? One of the biggest health problems in America is lack of physical exercise. Biking for transportation, having a manual washing machine, etc would go a long way towards fixing that problem, while also reducing our use of electricity, gasoline, etc.
- ch4s3 5y ago
  That's all well and good, but the revolution of motorized washing machines and dishwashers was to free western women of having to spend large parts of their days washing things. Making it hand powered may shorten the time vs a wash tub, but is still going to miss the positive social outcomes. [EDIT] I don't mean to be dismissive of this pretty cool improvement on manual washing. It seems like it will be really helpful for a lot of people until their economic situation improves.
  - frutiger 5y ago
    Indeed. And having women in the workforce is literally worth trillions of dollars, far exceeding the costs of “obese Americans”.
    - koolba 5y ago
      IIUC the angle here, it’s not that they don’t go to work. It’s that rather than going to the gym, they’ll work out as they do their laundry at home.
    - eagerpace 5y ago
      I'm not a fan of the gym, as I prefer to stay active other ways, but I often wonder if the effort and energy expended there could be put to better use? This is perhaps an example of that.
baybal2 5y ago
I worked with appliance makers a lot, in Turkey, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The cost of an automatic washing machine is closing on below $100 with mass manufacturing taken to its extremes. Think of it, a PVC tank with a handle for $20-$30, or a normal washing machine made by a profit making business for $100?
- dashundchen 5y ago
  I would imagine the manual powered machine is intended for areas where electricity or water hookups aren't necessarily reliable or even available.
  - baybal2 5y ago
    What about those billion dollar NGOs not funding Bill Gates'es space toilet, or these expensive PVC tanks with handles, but actually trying to do just something on the ground like building a power station?
    - burkaman 5y ago
      Before posting a question like this, why not take a few seconds to see if any NGOs are working on expanding access to electricity? I think you'll find there are quite a few. And why work so hard to find a negative angle on this story? There's plenty of actual bad stuff happening in the world for you to criticize.
      - baybal2 5y ago
        I am abhorred at an enormous spend on many vanity projects by the "development community," and hipster NGOs. That's why. I keep repeating a line about Bill Gates'es space toilet exactly because of it being the most glaring example of that. For the money spent, Bill could've easily built like 200-300 sewage treatment plants.
        burkaman 5y ago
newsbinator 5y ago
Video report on BBC (demo at 1:35): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRAGzPtLS2M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRAGzPtLS2M
punnerud 5y ago
Video of one of the first versions in use: https://youtu.be/WDzGeGcQQYs https://youtu.be/WDzGeGcQQYs
- flanbiscuit 5y ago
  skip to 1:26 to see the machine, the rest is an interview with the creator. I know that I'm not the target for this product but if I had one I would love to hook it up to a stationary bicycle. I feel like my arms would get tired much faster than my legs would.
  - Tade0 5y ago
    Especially given that a typical washing machine has a <50W motor. I think you could easily rinse the clothes through spinning using such a setup.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
JKCalhoun 5y ago
I re-read the article to make sure I had not missed any mention of some sort of DRM on the washing machine soap, or perhaps Terms & Conditions that prevent you from repairing the washing machine.... I'm not sure how these do-gooders expect to make their next round of funding. (Man, I need to get off HN. :-))
- martin_a 5y ago
  WaaS - Washing as a Service is going to be HUGE in 2023! Better get in now!
  - f6v 5y ago
    You're laughing but "appliances as a service" exists. Someone legit is using a coffee maker and a washing machine on subscription.
    - martin_a 5y ago
      I'm working in the printing industry, printing machines are becoming more and more like that, too. Our packaging department just got a new machine for producing filling material, it works like that, too. The machine is free, but you'll have to buy the raw material from the guy who provided you with the machine and so on. It's a thing for sure.
  - condour75 5y ago
    Martinizr
neartheplain 5y ago
The most labor-intensive step of handwashing clothes is not the washing itself, but the wringing: http://www.handlaundry.com/clothes-wringer/ http://www.handlaundry.com/clothes-wringer/ It's possible to line-dry clothes without wringing water out first, but it takes much longer for soggy clothes to dry and the potential for water stains is greater. I don't see a wringer pictured or mentioned in the article. Perhaps there's also a market for hand- or pedal-powered wringers, as well as the manual washers.
- Veliladon 5y ago
  It's listed as a washer and dryer. The crank spins the drum which would have the effect of drawing water out of the clothes just like a front loader.
  - neartheplain 5y ago
    Ah, missed that part- thanks for pointing it out! Given the absence of a heater element, I'd guess the idea is to spin-dry the clothes before hanging them on a drying line.
- SkeuomorphicBee 5y ago
  It centrifuges the clothes with a geared crank (similar to a salad spinner). So the clothes come out ready to line-dry.
cstross 5y ago
See also this TED talk by the late Hans Rosling: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_machine https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_mac... Traditional washing, by beating cloth on stones beside a river, can take 10-20 person-hours a week for a family's worth of linens (and that's assuming the same clothing is worn day-in, day-out, between weekly washes): it's a horribly inefficient chore than amounts to manual labour, and because it's usually left to women it's one that policy-makers and development economists overlook or discount. Automating it could potentially free up enough time to provide extra years of education, or to increase available worker-hours in an economy by 10%. But if you can't provide everyone with automatic washer/driers, something like this is still a huge improvement.
- elzbardico 5y ago
  Freeing people from this chore probably would help families to grow more food.
- mhh__ 5y ago
  His death was a real loss to the world, I think.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  And that method wears out the fabric pretty rapidly compared to a washer.
  - cstross 5y ago
    It's worth looking into the history of textile production prior to the invention of the spinning jenny and the industrial revolution (the first impact of which was to trigger an exponential drop in the cost of cloth). From a modern perspective it was just jaw-droppingly labour-intensive -- and so was the process of turning it into garments. (Which is still primarily manual, albeit using machines that can sew seams in minutes that formerly took days of hand-stitching.) A good rule of thumb is that prior to the 19th century, a suit of clothes (mens or womens) was the equivalent of an automobile today in terms of status and ownership/maintenance costs as a proportion of income. Used garments were handed down, then dismantled and recycled as fabric for simpler/smaller clothing, and ultimately ended up as rags (which could be used for cleaning, paper-making, menstrual pads), still valuable in their own right ...
256DEV 5y ago
This is a great initiative. Interestingly, manual washing machines like this were briefly an incredibly hot commodity in even wealthy suburbs in my home city Cape Town, SA during the extreme drought and water shortages we had in 2017/2018 [1]. They used substantially less water than a traditional Samsung or LG washer and actually worked pretty well. Considering the draconian water rations that had to be put in place people were very keen to speed up washing while still very strictly controlling water use. The local brand that people used was called Sputnik [2]. Now that the drought has broken people often talk about how crazy in retrospect our water usage was before and I even know a few who actually still use these washers because of the efficiency. That said - most folks have gone back to machines now that the water situation is stabilised... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis [2] https://www.sputnikwashingmachine.co.za https://www.sputnikwashingmachine.co.za
- deltarholamda 5y ago
  Those washing machines are also popular among cruising sailors for whom water efficiency is particularly important. While you can use seawater for washing clothes, it's not very nice and if you don't rinse the salt out, it will eventually damage the clothes. I have read of some folks who just use a big bucket with a lid. They poke a toilet plunger through a hole in the lid and pump away like churning butter.
f6v 5y ago
Adding a couple of gears and a chain to make it like an exercise bike would have made it so much better.
- lbriner 5y ago
  I don't think the developing world who cannot afford to eat well are really that bothered about formal exercise. Mostly just surviving.
  - catillac 5y ago
    I didn’t get the sense that the parent comment to yours was talking about formal exercise, but as a way to use different, stronger muscles to achieve the same result as using ones arms, and with the added benefits of mechanical advantage the gears would provide. I tend to agree, putting this on something that is pedal powered seems like a really cool next step or future modular add on for efficiency.
  - f6v 5y ago
    It’s just that simply looking at the guy operate it makes my back hurt. You need to rotate the handle hundreds of times per load.
amriksohata 5y ago
Hardly an invention, used in India in barrels with spindles for years
- lbriner 5y ago
  He's not claiming he invented the first manual washing machine, just mass producing them with modern techniques at a low cost for the developing world.
  - moralestapia 5y ago
    >The first batch of 30 hand-cranked washing machines >Mass production Okay
    - anonymousab 5y ago
      > Working with humanitarian charity Care International he is now aiming to deliver 7,500 of his manual washer and dryers to those most in need in 10 countries including Lebanon, Kenya and India over the next three years. "Mass production" can look different for different things. If I had a complicated widget that normally took a month to produce, and I found a way to crank out 10, then that'd be a massive increase in production by comparison.
jnsie 5y ago
I remember similar noise/promise/talk when the 'Drumi' won a James Dyson Award years ago: https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-GB/2015/project/the-drumi/ https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-GB/2015/project/the-drumi... Drumi has since come to market. These machines are great but I think drying clothes (I live in a tiny apartment with no outdoor space) might be the more difficult challenge.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  A wringer is the basic option for that. A spinner works remarkably well, after which line-drying is fast.
- mythrwy 5y ago
  I lived in an apartment some years back and tired of using the (often filthy) public laundromat. So I got a breather washer, a small spin dryer and a heat dryer. https://www.lehmans.com/product/breathing-hand-washer/ https://www.lehmans.com/product/breathing-hand-washer/ https://www.amazon.com/Panda-PANSP23B-Swimsuits-Laundry-Extractor/dp/B08375XS5G/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Spin+Dryer&qid=1628873130&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/Panda-PANSP23B-Swimsuits-Laundry-Extr... https://www.ebay.com/itm/265264876599?var=565132371636&hash=item3dc304cc37:g:mDQAAOSwTb1hFRxi https://www.ebay.com/itm/265264876599?var=565132371636&hash=... (They weren't these exact models but hopefully you catch the idea.) The breather washer and spin dryer both worked wonderfully. Clothes came out cleaner with the breather washer then a washing machine. I don't know why those aren't in more common use in non-industrialized societies. For larger stuff I'd still have to go to the laundromat. The heated dryer was kind of meh, it worked but produced a lot of humid air and I'd have to have windows opened to use it. But much of the time I could just spin dry the clothes then hang in bathroom overnight.
jokoon 5y ago
Wow, I really want to try one. My dream would be a manual dish washing machine. I think there are some. Maybe a bigger one with a bicycle crankset would also be pretty cool. I think those are going to be really popular in the future due to climate change. The first level of comfort brought by a good supply of electricity is a washing machine.
- adventured 5y ago
  Why would climate change impact dishwashers broadly? They're particularly highly effecient in terms of water usage and energy usage.
  - jokoon 5y ago
    Not really for people living alone. People who want to keep a low water/energy footprint might like buying those.
    - glogla 5y ago
      How does number of people impact dishwasher efficiency? If you're living alone, you can just "batch" the dishes.
joshuahedlund 5y ago
> He said up to 70% of the world's population do not have access to electric washing machines. Is this accurate? Seems remarkably higher than I would have guessed, especially given ~90% of the world has access to electricity and roughly half the world is now middle class or better (depending on your definition) Edit: Number seems way too high based on this - https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-the-world-does-laundry-246123 https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-the-world-does-laundry-...
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
  apartmenttherapy fails to cite the actual study they are working off of. I'm guessing it is this one: https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/Nielsen20Global20Home20Care20Report_2016.pdf https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/N... Their methodology states: > ABOUT THE SURVEY METHODOLOGY The findings in this survey are based on respondents with online access in 61 countries (unless otherwise noted). While an online survey methodology allows for tremendous scale and global reach, it provides a perspective only on the habits of existing Internet users, not total populations. In developing markets where online penetration is still growing, respondents may be younger and more affluent than the general population of that country. In addition, survey responses are based on claimed behavior rather than actual metered data. Cultural differences in reporting sentiment are likely factors in the outlook across countries. The reported results do not attempt to control or correct for these differences; therefore, caution should be exercised when comparing across countries and regions, particularly across regional boundaries. Where noted, the survey research is supplemented with purchasing behavior using Nielsen’s Retail Measurement Services data, which is adjusted for inflation. In 2016 it looks like 46% of the population had access to the internet. https://ourworldindata.org/internet https://ourworldindata.org/internet Assuming that people that don't have internet access don't have access to electric washing machines would give 0.69 * 0.46 = 0.31 have access to electric washing machines. 1 - 0.31 gives 69%, remarkably close to the figure given in the article.
christkv 5y ago
Now hook it up to a bike and get the kids to do the work.
vanilla-almond 5y ago
This is a very inspiring story. I was struck by the following: "Mr Sawhney...said up to 70% of the world's population do not have access to electric washing machines." As someone who belongs to the 30% (as I suspect are the vast majority of HN), it's a humble reminder how much we take for granted - even with common appliances. The latest video from the Washing Machine Project channel on YouTube shows the machine in operation. The drum is angled during washing. It then moves to a vertical position and the drum spins faster to rinse the washing while water collects below the drum: https://youtu.be/Pmh4Uwjo-GE?t=62 https://youtu.be/Pmh4Uwjo-GE?t=62
Amin699 5y ago
"It was through the frustration of seeing her daily struggles, hand washing her and her family's clothes, that I promised her a manual washing machine," he said.
dredmorbius 5y ago
Is there a better link to the organisation, its goals, the use-case, and design objectives here? There are numerous small/portable washing machines already available, whether electrically-driven or human-powered. The crank and coupling look terribly inefficient and prone to breakage. A fixed handle would be more robust, a foot-treadle far more efficient. I have ... doubts and questions.
yholio 5y ago
This solution is targeted towards a very specific situation, concentrated communities for people fleeing disasters and war. Refugee camps happen unexpectedly, there is practically no infrastructure and there is a race against time to keep people fed, safe and healthy. In that specific environment, yes, a lightweight composite box that is easy to use and ship, requires little water and no infrastructure and accelerates manual washing by a factor of 5-10 is a practical solution. But as a general solution for the "developing world", sorry, no, dumbed down versions of western household items that don't require electricity aren't the solution. The developing world is poor precisely because it lacks investments, such as in the infrastructure that makes appliances work, the electric, clean water, sewer, gas, road networks. A single KWh of energy is the equivalent of cranking by hand for many hours, people in developed counties can get it by flipping a switch and paying 15 cents. That's where the wealth lays, in investment that drastically enhances productivity.
- mynameisvlad 5y ago
  Perfect is the enemy of good. This is a solution to a problem. It may not be the perfect solution to the root cause, it may just be treating the symptom, but it's still better than nothing.
roel_v 5y ago
On Dutch tv, there was a show some time ago about people designing and building specific tools for people with disabilities; like there was a special floatation vest for a girl with a muscle disease for whom regular flotation jackets didn't fit; and a guy in a wheelchair also with a muscle disease who liked photography and needed some way to mount his camera on his wheelchair and operate it; and other guy whose Playstation controller didn't fit in his hands etc. It was right up HN's alley, they should throw some subtitles on it and put it on Youtube. So many engineers who love to build stuff for causes like this.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  It would certainly get me out of my comfy chair. The problem is usually funding, and ensuring that you don't end up with a lot of grifters that are trying to steer the project into a direction where they can make money of it. The loners that do these jobs usually do an incredible job of combining both their skills and actually listening to the needs of their 'market of one'.
jacquesm 5y ago
I'm going to save this thread as an example on how the tech world is structurally incapable of relating to the problems that people in the non-tech world have. Incredible.
- aaron695 5y ago
  Many comments identify the fact this technology already exists. Many comments identify the importance of reducing clothing washing time. Many comment identify the article is missing an important part of the cycle, wringing clothing. Many comments identify this is currently an unsolved problem. What more do you want?
  - open-source-ux 5y ago
    This manual washing machine has a unique design that addresses a particular use case: helping refugees in humanitarian camps or those in most need. The machine needs to be simple, robust and easy to repair. The capacity needs to be large enough for a whole family. This is different to the compact, flimsy plastic manual washing machines for small loads or for camping which are designed for occasional use. The inventor, Navjot Sawhney, studied engineering at university i.e. a real engineer, not a 'software engineer'. I'm sure he's well aware of the physical constraints and engineering challenges in designing the machine. He actually spoke to the people who might use the washing machine to refine and update the design based on their feedback. And the machine does address rinsing (wringing). The drum mimics a front-loading washing machine: a gentle speed for tumbling clothes as they as washed. Then a switch in gear (or crank) to mimic the spin cycle. This whole thread is an odd mix of negative presumptions, nit-picks and tangents.
    - aaron695 5y ago
      We've all seen an inventor of a 'new' hand washing machine before, it's fair to ask, why this time? > helping refugees in humanitarian camps or those in most need. There is no fundamental difference between humanitarian camps and the 4 billion people without a washing machine. Maybe the other billion without because of apartment size or being in a RV there is. There is nothing about this design that couldn't have existed 100 years ago. There are many different commercial models on Amazon or Aliexpress. Some are flimsy, some not. Mam Rashan also has electricity, it makes no sense. A documentary on Mam Rashan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEOS_Z-Kfk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEOS_Z-Kfk If you truly want to help the poor, you need to ask hard questions. Like, why didn't this work the past 100 times it was tried.
Animats 5y ago
You can buy something similar on Alibaba.[1] [1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Handy-Portable-Cranked-Non-Electric-Top_60829460334.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Handy-Portable-Cranke...
- FounderBurr 5y ago
  Shhh can’t you see they’re collecting donations?
aaron695 5y ago
This is an old technology. Often seen late at night on "As Seen On TV". They have become very refined over time. Rugged, injection moulded (mass produced), years of iterations to fix problems. Designed for remote or unit living. Some higher tech components have been reversed like pressurising them I assume because the complexity has not matched in field experience. ie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUVR2vjRJRo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUVR2vjRJRo What problem does this solve? I have never seen one used by the poor compared to normal hand washing or electric, perhaps it would be done inside compared to hand washing so it might be bias. The evidence to me is hand washers like these are more for the rich getting third level education or living in downtown apartments or travelling the country or people into low tech solutions.

166 points by etewiah 5y ago

I think the first time I saw something like this was in the 90s, and I'm sure it was around before that. Not sure what is so unique about this.

namdnay 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_machine#/media/File:Pyykki-Maija_crank-operated_washing_machine,_1940s.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_machine#/media/File:Py...
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  After watching it work, I want to add a flywheel and a treadle.
  - stronglikedan 5y ago
    The clothes are sort of a flywheel.
notahacker 5y ago
You can buy plenty of cheap hand or foot cranked ones from China on Amazon for camping or for supposed environmental friendliness. This one has a nice story, donated labour and possibly adaptations unique to the situation of refugee camps
vanderZwan 5y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmh4Uwjo-GE&t=1m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmh4Uwjo-GE&t=1m Also, it exists. The people who will go from having to slap clothes on rocks to this wouldn't be as quick to shout "meh, it's been done before"
h2odragon 5y ago
It made me think of a contraption I saw once. It was exactly the opposite of a washing machine, for covering big cloth tubes with some tar-like goop. Someone took a bush hog, turned it upside down, welded a steel drum to it with some drain holes and a collar that slipped up or down to block them. Hooked up to a tractor it spun the drum around; they used the higher PTO speed and lifted the collar for the drain cycle. I'm sure rednecks have been making washing machines on similar principles since steam engines.

thinkingemote 5y ago

Ships as in the verb, not the plural noun!

Veen 5y ago
Yes, that title is a bit of a garden path. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence
mattlondon 5y ago
Yeah I was also interested in these ships made of washing machines, and which used hand-cranks for propulsion! Slightly disappointed to hear that they are actually hand-cranked washing machines. Sigh - maybe next year!

auslegung 5y ago

I read Wendell Berry quite a lot, and in one essay (I forget which) he posed a question, "where would our technology be if we had continued improving on simple things like the plow, without using combustion engines", or something like that. I think this washing machine is an answer to that question. What if many of our machines used human power like they did 100 years ago, but were made far more efficient and effective than they were 100 years ago? One of the biggest health problems in America is lack of physical exercise. Biking for transportation, having a manual washing machine, etc would go a long way towards fixing that problem, while also reducing our use of electricity, gasoline, etc.

ch4s3 5y ago
That's all well and good, but the revolution of motorized washing machines and dishwashers was to free western women of having to spend large parts of their days washing things. Making it hand powered may shorten the time vs a wash tub, but is still going to miss the positive social outcomes. [EDIT] I don't mean to be dismissive of this pretty cool improvement on manual washing. It seems like it will be really helpful for a lot of people until their economic situation improves.
- frutiger 5y ago
  Indeed. And having women in the workforce is literally worth trillions of dollars, far exceeding the costs of “obese Americans”.
  - koolba 5y ago
    IIUC the angle here, it’s not that they don’t go to work. It’s that rather than going to the gym, they’ll work out as they do their laundry at home.
  - eagerpace 5y ago
    I'm not a fan of the gym, as I prefer to stay active other ways, but I often wonder if the effort and energy expended there could be put to better use? This is perhaps an example of that.

baybal2 5y ago

I worked with appliance makers a lot, in Turkey, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The cost of an automatic washing machine is closing on below $100 with mass manufacturing taken to its extremes. Think of it, a PVC tank with a handle for $20-$30, or a normal washing machine made by a profit making business for $100?

dashundchen 5y ago
I would imagine the manual powered machine is intended for areas where electricity or water hookups aren't necessarily reliable or even available.
- baybal2 5y ago
  What about those billion dollar NGOs not funding Bill Gates'es space toilet, or these expensive PVC tanks with handles, but actually trying to do just something on the ground like building a power station?
  - burkaman 5y ago
    Before posting a question like this, why not take a few seconds to see if any NGOs are working on expanding access to electricity? I think you'll find there are quite a few. And why work so hard to find a negative angle on this story? There's plenty of actual bad stuff happening in the world for you to criticize.
    - baybal2 5y ago
      I am abhorred at an enormous spend on many vanity projects by the "development community," and hipster NGOs. That's why. I keep repeating a line about Bill Gates'es space toilet exactly because of it being the most glaring example of that. For the money spent, Bill could've easily built like 200-300 sewage treatment plants.
      - burkaman 5y ago

newsbinator 5y ago

Video report on BBC (demo at 1:35): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRAGzPtLS2M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRAGzPtLS2M

punnerud 5y ago

Video of one of the first versions in use: https://youtu.be/WDzGeGcQQYs https://youtu.be/WDzGeGcQQYs

flanbiscuit 5y ago
skip to 1:26 to see the machine, the rest is an interview with the creator. I know that I'm not the target for this product but if I had one I would love to hook it up to a stationary bicycle. I feel like my arms would get tired much faster than my legs would.
- Tade0 5y ago
  Especially given that a typical washing machine has a <50W motor. I think you could easily rinse the clothes through spinning using such a setup.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

JKCalhoun 5y ago

I re-read the article to make sure I had not missed any mention of some sort of DRM on the washing machine soap, or perhaps Terms & Conditions that prevent you from repairing the washing machine.... I'm not sure how these do-gooders expect to make their next round of funding. (Man, I need to get off HN. :-))

martin_a 5y ago
WaaS - Washing as a Service is going to be HUGE in 2023! Better get in now!
- f6v 5y ago
  You're laughing but "appliances as a service" exists. Someone legit is using a coffee maker and a washing machine on subscription.
  - martin_a 5y ago
    I'm working in the printing industry, printing machines are becoming more and more like that, too. Our packaging department just got a new machine for producing filling material, it works like that, too. The machine is free, but you'll have to buy the raw material from the guy who provided you with the machine and so on. It's a thing for sure.
- condour75 5y ago
  Martinizr

neartheplain 5y ago

The most labor-intensive step of handwashing clothes is not the washing itself, but the wringing: http://www.handlaundry.com/clothes-wringer/ http://www.handlaundry.com/clothes-wringer/ It's possible to line-dry clothes without wringing water out first, but it takes much longer for soggy clothes to dry and the potential for water stains is greater. I don't see a wringer pictured or mentioned in the article. Perhaps there's also a market for hand- or pedal-powered wringers, as well as the manual washers.

Veliladon 5y ago
It's listed as a washer and dryer. The crank spins the drum which would have the effect of drawing water out of the clothes just like a front loader.
- neartheplain 5y ago
  Ah, missed that part- thanks for pointing it out! Given the absence of a heater element, I'd guess the idea is to spin-dry the clothes before hanging them on a drying line.
SkeuomorphicBee 5y ago
It centrifuges the clothes with a geared crank (similar to a salad spinner). So the clothes come out ready to line-dry.

cstross 5y ago

See also this TED talk by the late Hans Rosling: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_machine https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_mac... Traditional washing, by beating cloth on stones beside a river, can take 10-20 person-hours a week for a family's worth of linens (and that's assuming the same clothing is worn day-in, day-out, between weekly washes): it's a horribly inefficient chore than amounts to manual labour, and because it's usually left to women it's one that policy-makers and development economists overlook or discount. Automating it could potentially free up enough time to provide extra years of education, or to increase available worker-hours in an economy by 10%. But if you can't provide everyone with automatic washer/driers, something like this is still a huge improvement.

elzbardico 5y ago
Freeing people from this chore probably would help families to grow more food.
mhh__ 5y ago
His death was a real loss to the world, I think.
jacquesm 5y ago
And that method wears out the fabric pretty rapidly compared to a washer.
- cstross 5y ago
  It's worth looking into the history of textile production prior to the invention of the spinning jenny and the industrial revolution (the first impact of which was to trigger an exponential drop in the cost of cloth). From a modern perspective it was just jaw-droppingly labour-intensive -- and so was the process of turning it into garments. (Which is still primarily manual, albeit using machines that can sew seams in minutes that formerly took days of hand-stitching.) A good rule of thumb is that prior to the 19th century, a suit of clothes (mens or womens) was the equivalent of an automobile today in terms of status and ownership/maintenance costs as a proportion of income. Used garments were handed down, then dismantled and recycled as fabric for simpler/smaller clothing, and ultimately ended up as rags (which could be used for cleaning, paper-making, menstrual pads), still valuable in their own right ...

256DEV 5y ago

This is a great initiative. Interestingly, manual washing machines like this were briefly an incredibly hot commodity in even wealthy suburbs in my home city Cape Town, SA during the extreme drought and water shortages we had in 2017/2018 [1]. They used substantially less water than a traditional Samsung or LG washer and actually worked pretty well. Considering the draconian water rations that had to be put in place people were very keen to speed up washing while still very strictly controlling water use. The local brand that people used was called Sputnik [2]. Now that the drought has broken people often talk about how crazy in retrospect our water usage was before and I even know a few who actually still use these washers because of the efficiency. That said - most folks have gone back to machines now that the water situation is stabilised... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis [2] https://www.sputnikwashingmachine.co.za https://www.sputnikwashingmachine.co.za

deltarholamda 5y ago
Those washing machines are also popular among cruising sailors for whom water efficiency is particularly important. While you can use seawater for washing clothes, it's not very nice and if you don't rinse the salt out, it will eventually damage the clothes. I have read of some folks who just use a big bucket with a lid. They poke a toilet plunger through a hole in the lid and pump away like churning butter.

f6v 5y ago

Adding a couple of gears and a chain to make it like an exercise bike would have made it so much better.

lbriner 5y ago
I don't think the developing world who cannot afford to eat well are really that bothered about formal exercise. Mostly just surviving.
- catillac 5y ago
  I didn’t get the sense that the parent comment to yours was talking about formal exercise, but as a way to use different, stronger muscles to achieve the same result as using ones arms, and with the added benefits of mechanical advantage the gears would provide. I tend to agree, putting this on something that is pedal powered seems like a really cool next step or future modular add on for efficiency.
- f6v 5y ago
  It’s just that simply looking at the guy operate it makes my back hurt. You need to rotate the handle hundreds of times per load.

amriksohata 5y ago

Hardly an invention, used in India in barrels with spindles for years

lbriner 5y ago
He's not claiming he invented the first manual washing machine, just mass producing them with modern techniques at a low cost for the developing world.
- moralestapia 5y ago
  >The first batch of 30 hand-cranked washing machines >Mass production Okay
  - anonymousab 5y ago
    > Working with humanitarian charity Care International he is now aiming to deliver 7,500 of his manual washer and dryers to those most in need in 10 countries including Lebanon, Kenya and India over the next three years. "Mass production" can look different for different things. If I had a complicated widget that normally took a month to produce, and I found a way to crank out 10, then that'd be a massive increase in production by comparison.

jnsie 5y ago

I remember similar noise/promise/talk when the 'Drumi' won a James Dyson Award years ago: https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-GB/2015/project/the-drumi/ https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-GB/2015/project/the-drumi... Drumi has since come to market. These machines are great but I think drying clothes (I live in a tiny apartment with no outdoor space) might be the more difficult challenge.

dredmorbius 5y ago
A wringer is the basic option for that. A spinner works remarkably well, after which line-drying is fast.
mythrwy 5y ago
I lived in an apartment some years back and tired of using the (often filthy) public laundromat. So I got a breather washer, a small spin dryer and a heat dryer. https://www.lehmans.com/product/breathing-hand-washer/ https://www.lehmans.com/product/breathing-hand-washer/ https://www.amazon.com/Panda-PANSP23B-Swimsuits-Laundry-Extractor/dp/B08375XS5G/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Spin+Dryer&qid=1628873130&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/Panda-PANSP23B-Swimsuits-Laundry-Extr... https://www.ebay.com/itm/265264876599?var=565132371636&hash=item3dc304cc37:g:mDQAAOSwTb1hFRxi https://www.ebay.com/itm/265264876599?var=565132371636&hash=... (They weren't these exact models but hopefully you catch the idea.) The breather washer and spin dryer both worked wonderfully. Clothes came out cleaner with the breather washer then a washing machine. I don't know why those aren't in more common use in non-industrialized societies. For larger stuff I'd still have to go to the laundromat. The heated dryer was kind of meh, it worked but produced a lot of humid air and I'd have to have windows opened to use it. But much of the time I could just spin dry the clothes then hang in bathroom overnight.

jokoon 5y ago

Wow, I really want to try one. My dream would be a manual dish washing machine. I think there are some. Maybe a bigger one with a bicycle crankset would also be pretty cool. I think those are going to be really popular in the future due to climate change. The first level of comfort brought by a good supply of electricity is a washing machine.

adventured 5y ago
Why would climate change impact dishwashers broadly? They're particularly highly effecient in terms of water usage and energy usage.
- jokoon 5y ago
  Not really for people living alone. People who want to keep a low water/energy footprint might like buying those.
  - glogla 5y ago
    How does number of people impact dishwasher efficiency? If you're living alone, you can just "batch" the dishes.

joshuahedlund 5y ago

> He said up to 70% of the world's population do not have access to electric washing machines. Is this accurate? Seems remarkably higher than I would have guessed, especially given ~90% of the world has access to electricity and roughly half the world is now middle class or better (depending on your definition) Edit: Number seems way too high based on this - https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-the-world-does-laundry-246123 https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-the-world-does-laundry-...

X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
apartmenttherapy fails to cite the actual study they are working off of. I'm guessing it is this one: https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/Nielsen20Global20Home20Care20Report_2016.pdf https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/N... Their methodology states: > ABOUT THE SURVEY METHODOLOGY The findings in this survey are based on respondents with online access in 61 countries (unless otherwise noted). While an online survey methodology allows for tremendous scale and global reach, it provides a perspective only on the habits of existing Internet users, not total populations. In developing markets where online penetration is still growing, respondents may be younger and more affluent than the general population of that country. In addition, survey responses are based on claimed behavior rather than actual metered data. Cultural differences in reporting sentiment are likely factors in the outlook across countries. The reported results do not attempt to control or correct for these differences; therefore, caution should be exercised when comparing across countries and regions, particularly across regional boundaries. Where noted, the survey research is supplemented with purchasing behavior using Nielsen’s Retail Measurement Services data, which is adjusted for inflation. In 2016 it looks like 46% of the population had access to the internet. https://ourworldindata.org/internet https://ourworldindata.org/internet Assuming that people that don't have internet access don't have access to electric washing machines would give 0.69 * 0.46 = 0.31 have access to electric washing machines. 1 - 0.31 gives 69%, remarkably close to the figure given in the article.

christkv 5y ago

Now hook it up to a bike and get the kids to do the work.

vanilla-almond 5y ago

This is a very inspiring story. I was struck by the following: "Mr Sawhney...said up to 70% of the world's population do not have access to electric washing machines." As someone who belongs to the 30% (as I suspect are the vast majority of HN), it's a humble reminder how much we take for granted - even with common appliances. The latest video from the Washing Machine Project channel on YouTube shows the machine in operation. The drum is angled during washing. It then moves to a vertical position and the drum spins faster to rinse the washing while water collects below the drum: https://youtu.be/Pmh4Uwjo-GE?t=62 https://youtu.be/Pmh4Uwjo-GE?t=62

Amin699 5y ago

"It was through the frustration of seeing her daily struggles, hand washing her and her family's clothes, that I promised her a manual washing machine," he said.

dredmorbius 5y ago

Is there a better link to the organisation, its goals, the use-case, and design objectives here? There are numerous small/portable washing machines already available, whether electrically-driven or human-powered. The crank and coupling look terribly inefficient and prone to breakage. A fixed handle would be more robust, a foot-treadle far more efficient. I have ... doubts and questions.

yholio 5y ago

This solution is targeted towards a very specific situation, concentrated communities for people fleeing disasters and war. Refugee camps happen unexpectedly, there is practically no infrastructure and there is a race against time to keep people fed, safe and healthy. In that specific environment, yes, a lightweight composite box that is easy to use and ship, requires little water and no infrastructure and accelerates manual washing by a factor of 5-10 is a practical solution. But as a general solution for the "developing world", sorry, no, dumbed down versions of western household items that don't require electricity aren't the solution. The developing world is poor precisely because it lacks investments, such as in the infrastructure that makes appliances work, the electric, clean water, sewer, gas, road networks. A single KWh of energy is the equivalent of cranking by hand for many hours, people in developed counties can get it by flipping a switch and paying 15 cents. That's where the wealth lays, in investment that drastically enhances productivity.

mynameisvlad 5y ago
Perfect is the enemy of good. This is a solution to a problem. It may not be the perfect solution to the root cause, it may just be treating the symptom, but it's still better than nothing.

roel_v 5y ago

On Dutch tv, there was a show some time ago about people designing and building specific tools for people with disabilities; like there was a special floatation vest for a girl with a muscle disease for whom regular flotation jackets didn't fit; and a guy in a wheelchair also with a muscle disease who liked photography and needed some way to mount his camera on his wheelchair and operate it; and other guy whose Playstation controller didn't fit in his hands etc. It was right up HN's alley, they should throw some subtitles on it and put it on Youtube. So many engineers who love to build stuff for causes like this.

jacquesm 5y ago
It would certainly get me out of my comfy chair. The problem is usually funding, and ensuring that you don't end up with a lot of grifters that are trying to steer the project into a direction where they can make money of it. The loners that do these jobs usually do an incredible job of combining both their skills and actually listening to the needs of their 'market of one'.

jacquesm 5y ago

I'm going to save this thread as an example on how the tech world is structurally incapable of relating to the problems that people in the non-tech world have. Incredible.

aaron695 5y ago
Many comments identify the fact this technology already exists. Many comments identify the importance of reducing clothing washing time. Many comment identify the article is missing an important part of the cycle, wringing clothing. Many comments identify this is currently an unsolved problem. What more do you want?
- open-source-ux 5y ago
  This manual washing machine has a unique design that addresses a particular use case: helping refugees in humanitarian camps or those in most need. The machine needs to be simple, robust and easy to repair. The capacity needs to be large enough for a whole family. This is different to the compact, flimsy plastic manual washing machines for small loads or for camping which are designed for occasional use. The inventor, Navjot Sawhney, studied engineering at university i.e. a real engineer, not a 'software engineer'. I'm sure he's well aware of the physical constraints and engineering challenges in designing the machine. He actually spoke to the people who might use the washing machine to refine and update the design based on their feedback. And the machine does address rinsing (wringing). The drum mimics a front-loading washing machine: a gentle speed for tumbling clothes as they as washed. Then a switch in gear (or crank) to mimic the spin cycle. This whole thread is an odd mix of negative presumptions, nit-picks and tangents.
  - aaron695 5y ago
    We've all seen an inventor of a 'new' hand washing machine before, it's fair to ask, why this time? > helping refugees in humanitarian camps or those in most need. There is no fundamental difference between humanitarian camps and the 4 billion people without a washing machine. Maybe the other billion without because of apartment size or being in a RV there is. There is nothing about this design that couldn't have existed 100 years ago. There are many different commercial models on Amazon or Aliexpress. Some are flimsy, some not. Mam Rashan also has electricity, it makes no sense. A documentary on Mam Rashan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEOS_Z-Kfk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEOS_Z-Kfk If you truly want to help the poor, you need to ask hard questions. Like, why didn't this work the past 100 times it was tried.

Animats 5y ago

You can buy something similar on Alibaba.[1] [1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Handy-Portable-Cranked-Non-Electric-Top_60829460334.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Handy-Portable-Cranke...

FounderBurr 5y ago
Shhh can’t you see they’re collecting donations?

aaron695 5y ago

This is an old technology. Often seen late at night on "As Seen On TV". They have become very refined over time. Rugged, injection moulded (mass produced), years of iterations to fix problems. Designed for remote or unit living. Some higher tech components have been reversed like pressurising them I assume because the complexity has not matched in field experience. ie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUVR2vjRJRo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUVR2vjRJRo What problem does this solve? I have never seen one used by the poor compared to normal hand washing or electric, perhaps it would be done inside compared to hand washing so it might be bias. The evidence to me is hand washers like these are more for the rich getting third level education or living in downtown apartments or travelling the country or people into low tech solutions.