The irons will die

It was a fundamentally new, economical and environmentally friendly, washing machine to iron underwear by the Korean Corporation LG Electronics. It consumes significantly less water and energy than ordinary, but the main advantage of the new model is that it not only erases, dries, but also stroke the laundry, betraying it completely ready for use.

Technical progress has long promotes the whole humanity to get rid of everyday routine work, and the invention of LG seems to be a good illustration of how this promise is being fulfilled. The washing machine is equipped with a steam generator, which begins to work after all the main processes of linen cleaning, including washing and rinsing, are completed. For about 20 minutes, a stream of hot air is directed to the clothes, which removes all the folds and wrinkles from the fabric.

Such a technology has long been used in industrial cleaning, but LG was the first to borrow it for household purposes. The system works unusually neat and avoids shrinkage and damage to the tissue. However, according to developers, many consumers are much more than the efficiency and environmental safety of the device. Steam Direct Drive Washing Machine consumes 35% less water and 21% less energy than traditional washing machines. In addition, it is less noisy and is able to cleanse itself from the inside with the help of steam.

The whole process, including complete cleaning, drying and elimination of folds from clothes, takes quite a lot of time - about two and a half hours. The chief engineer of the project Kim Kwan Sud claims that such a washing duration is a necessary condition for achieving the best results, however, some specialists have the quality of smoothing the underwear by the washing machine still doubtful. Sometimes it is difficult to judge how much clothing is deprived of folds. The LG manager for marketing Don Kvak admits that it should not be completely relying on Steam Direct Drive Washing Machine: if an important business meeting is to be done, it is perhaps better to use the traditional iron. “It’s still necessary to iron clothes, but after such washing it is much easier to do,” Kvak says. “In some cases, however, ironing becomes completely unnecessary.”

According to the British newspaper The Observer, Steam Direct Drive Washing Machine in Europe should begin in June this year. The car will cost about 1000 pounds. The correspondent of this publication, wanting to personally check the effectiveness of the new model, went to test it at the LG plant. During the end of the washing, the Cavan Su, who was present at the testing, was a little nervous. “Perhaps she does not quite stroke,” he said. “She dries with steam and thus eliminates the folds.” Nevertheless, the excitement of the engineer was in vain. Getting his shirt from the drum of the car, the Briton was convinced that there was not a single fold on it.

04/12/2006 / Oleg Komotsky material published in the newspaper No. 64 dated 04/13/2006.