Washer, Dryer, Automatic-Ironer

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Image from originally by J-M Côté

The term "Washer, Dryer, Automatic-Ironer" can be traced back to the first half of the 21st century c.e.(the second half of the first century AT). It originated as a tag line for an all-in-one commercial laundry product known as the Launda CX. The appliance featured a spinning compartment for washing and drying of clothes that would empty into a second compartment wherein robotic arms would sort items and apply heated tongs to iron ¹ them. Finally the clothes would be, via a mechanical folding mechanism, deposited into externally accessible drawers.

Beyond advertisement for this particular device the term became widespread when referring to the developments in domestic automation throughout the Information Age. Previously technology had introduced many labour saving appliances such as electronic water heaters, automatic dish washers, vacuum cleaners and many more. However with improvements in robotics as well as significant reductions in cost by the mid-21st century most domestic chores were handled entirely unsupervised by autonomous domestic appliances. The market for household robots that could clean, tidy, garden, fetch items on request as well as appliances that could perform multiple complex functions such as meal preparation, laundry and household maintenance grew significantly. In a relatively short period of time there were multiple revolutions in the market causing households to frequently upgrade every few years to reduce their domestic workload. Thus when a new item was purchased it would often be humorously referenced as a "Washer, Dryer, Automatic-Ironer".

1. Ironing was the practice of applying heat and pressure to fabrics in order to smooth them out. While it was common in various cultures from the second millennium AD onwards it was made obsolete by developments in textiles science in the late information age such as self-adjusting fabrics.

Cleanliness
Laundry, The

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Daily Life

Everydaytech

Robotics

Development Notes

Text by Ryan B
Initially published on 06 December 2013.

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