A Homemade Wind-Powered Washing Machine

The Basics

• The washing machine is essentially an agitator that moves dirty clothing around in soapy water, using the agitation to keep the water continually moving over and through the clothing. As it moves, the soap and water carry away the dirt from the clothes. To create this agitation, the wind-powered washing machine uses windmill-like blades to catch the wind and turn an axle.

Parts

• One way of using this turning axle to wash clothes is to attach an arm with a 90-degree bend to the end of it. Place another short armature on the end of that arm. As the axle turns around in its small circle, the short armature turns in a large circle centered on the axle. If the short armature is attached to a plunger by a swivel joint, the plunger will move up and down as the armature rotates around its circle. The plunger is placed in a drum that is partially filled with soapy water and dirty clothes. As the plunger moves up and down, it churns the water and moves the clothing.

An Alternate Method

• An alternate method of creating agitation is to spin the drum instead of moving a plunger in it. This is what modern electric washing machines do. The axle can be attached directly to the drum. With this arrangement, the drum only turns as fast as the propellers do. This may not be fast enough to effectively wash clothing. A more complicated, though more effective, method is to attach the axle to the drum by means of some sort of gearing. As the propellers turn a large diameter gear slowly, the small diameter gear it is attached to spins quickly. This gear, when attached to the drum, spins the drum quickly. A simple gear mechanism for this kind of washing machine can be made out of a bicycle chain and gears.

Bearings

• The propellers and axle need to be kept suspended high enough above the ground that the propellers can spin freely. The axle needs to be able to turn without too much friction, which would reduce its effectiveness. The expensive way to solve this problem would be to buy bearings sized for the axle and bolt them to a stand. However, there is a much simpler and cheaper method. Build an A-frame sawhorse with a groove running down the middle lengthwise. String smooth leather straps loosely across this groove. Set the axle into the groove so that it is suspended by the straps. The straps will support the axle without hindering its rotation.