devilx science

Home appliances are becoming smarter with every passing day, helping you economize the use of energy while helping the environment. Talking in particular about washing machines, although research has proved that the best way of washing clothes is by hand; most of us confide in using them owing to our hectic lives. Carl McGreavy, a graduate from the University of Central Lancashire decided to reenact the mechanism of hand washing with his latest washing machine prototype, christened the retroGRADE.

Looking at the pictures of the retroGRADE, the first obvious thing that strikes us is that it is a front loading machine. This obviously implies that it will use comparatively lesser water and energy in comparison to top load models. But, such machines are already available on the market. So where does innovation play a role in all this?

To begin with, the most remarkable feature of the machine is the ‘dolly’ inspired agitator placed in the center of its drum. The drum spins in opposite directions and allows the clothes to get rubbed against each other and against a perforated surface inside, replicating the mechanism of hand washing using a wash board.

Another impressive feature of the machine is its lightweight. This owes to the fact that the water tank of the washing machine itself acts as the counterweight and when it is empty, transporting the washing machine becomes real easy. Therefore, we can conclude that since there is no concrete counterweight, the machine will weigh lesser when empty and its carbon footprint will reduce.

The designer claims that no matter what the hand washing mechanism of the machine will not compromise a bit on cleaning your clothes and that soon he will also come up with a solution to the maintenance problem of washing machines as well.