Thursday 21 April 2016

A bit about clothes dryers


Good afternoon, how is everyone this fine Thursday afternoon, I just came in from pegging the washing on the line I don't know if it will dry or if it will rain but what the hell they can go out one the line as you all know I am not a big user of the clothes dryer.

Have you ever thought about the clothes dryer, do you know when the first clothes dryer were invented and who was the first inventor of the clothes dryer. Well I turned to the internet to see what I could find out and you know what clothes dryers were first being invented in way back in the early 1800's what the hell. For some reason I didn't think it would had been so long ago, one of the early types of clothes dryer was the ventilator and the first one was built by a Frenchman named Pochon. It was a barrel-shaped metal drum with holes in it and was turned by hand over a fire.

The first electrical clothes dryers appeared around 1915, but it wasn't till around the late 1930's that the first automatic dryer came about when the Hamilton Manufacturing Company produced the first automatic clothes dyer.

Of course the cost of owning a dryer was to remain out of reach for most people till sometime in the 1960's, the cost of a dryer in the 1950's would had been equivalent of about $1,600 in today’s money can you imagine paying that type of money for a dyer, I know there is no way I would have done so.

However, with time came new technologies, production methods and generally lower costs meant to have a dryer in ones home was truly affordable by the late 1990's although I can tell you my parents have had a clothes dryer for as long as I can remember and Tim and I have also always had one so from my point of view they were pretty much affordable since the early 1980's.

Now as we all know technology is forever changing and the time of the tumble driver as we know it may come to an end to be replaced with dryers that make use of microwave technology or we could have solar dyers and vent-less dryers also known as compression or heap pump dryers. In fact this stage the design or function of a dryer has not changed in 200 years, many modern clothes dryers include electronic sensors that detect when the clothes are dry. Not the dryer I have though as I have a pretty standard (cheap) dryer.

When I first meet Tim the house he was living in had a vertical clothes dryer I had never seen anything like it before and only thought about it while writing this so tried to find out about them via the internet. The only thing like it I could find was a drying cabinet, which is an electrical machine designed to expedite the drying of items that are unsuitable for traditional tumble dryers. This could be what it was I don't really know Tim was told it was a vertical clothes dryer so I don't know.

What I do know is that even though I like my clothes dryer for wet days or days when the clothes just going to take forever to dry, I prefer to hang my clothes on the line and let the sun dry them.





13 comments:

  1. I have always had a clothes dryer, even as a small child in the late 50s. Today my washer and dryer are both front loaders and can hold an enormous amount of clothes. I rarely hang clothes outdoors as I like the softness of things coming out of the dryer but I know a lot of people prefer line dried clothes as you do.

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    1. Yes except for towels I like how soft towels are when they come out of the dryer

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  2. Interesting about the clothes dryer.
    My late mum had a clothes airer instead of a dryer.

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  3. Wouldn't the problem with those early 1800s dryers be getting the smoke smell out of the clothes? It'd be like you were camping all thew time.

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    1. Yeah I thought that about the smoke smell and also wondered how often something would catch fire

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  4. To be honest I have never thought about nore than "how long till my laundry is dry?" but you're right, it deserves a tribute, and I'm glad you wrote it!

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    1. Well I think many people today take it for granted that if it is wet or not good weather they can just toss the clothes in the dryer when for many people for many years that was not ht case

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  5. I was impressed in 1970 when I stayed with my aunt and uncle in California and they had a dryer. I hadn't seen one before then. I use mine for undies and towels to make them soft. the rest I hang on the line.

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    1. I also love to dry my towels and underwear in the dryer, although my daughter thinks that if whites go in the dryer they will come out grey that I don't get

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  6. Interesting read ...
    You can't beat line dried clothes but clothes dryers are so handy.

    All the best Jan

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