The Hand Powered Portable Washing Machine purports to be a fast, easy and green alternative to the bulky, water and electricity sucking behemoths we normally use. The plastic tub comes pre-assembled and requires just dirty laundry, soap and water. Seal it up and spin the handle (one revolution per second, say the instructions). Open it up ten seconds later and you have… Well, you have a tub filled with dirty, soapy water and clothes.
The makers of this sloshy-tub have completely missed the point of the automatic washing machine. See if you can spot the gap in the instructions here:
- Rinse your laundry either in the portable washing machine after draining the dirty water or in the sink
- Then hang the clothes to dry!
This reminds us of the "How to Draw Comics" books we used to buy as kids. Step one is a stick man. Step two is a slightly rounded out stick man. Step three is a perfectly inked and colored superhero.
The washer is the same. Anyone who has washed clothes by hand knows that the easy part is the kneading of the laundry in the bathtub. The hard part is the rinsing and then the wringing. This is why the mangle was invented way before the washing machine.
However, at just $50 it could be useful for campers, or at least caravanners as a way to avoid sloshing water all over the RV. We’ll find out soon enough. Bent on forcing me to write about washing machines of all kinds, Wired editor Dylan Tweney and Gadget Lab review maestro Danny "Frosty Tips" Dumas have conspired to have one of these sent to me for review purposes. Thanks, guys.
Product page [Clean Air Gardening via Book of Joe]
