A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, or washer) is a machine to wash laundry, such as clothing and sheets. The term is mostly applied only to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids, and is performed by specialist businesses) or ultrasonic cleaners. Washing entails immersing, dipping, rubbing, or scrubbing in water usually accompanied by detergent, or bleach. The simplest machines may simply agitate clothes in water; automatic machines may fill, empty, wash, spin, and heat in a cycle. Most washing machines remove substantial amounts of water from the laundry at the end of a wash cycle, but do not completely dry it.
History of Washing Machine * 1782- First washing machine designed by H. Sidgier of Great Britain (People had to scrub their clothes on a scrubbing board and hang it up to dry.) * 1797- the washboard was the earliest washing machine * mid-1800s- Chinese owned & operated most of the laundries in California * 1874- among many of the earliest inventors of washing machine was an Indiana corn planter & manufacturer named William Blackston who created a washing machine as a birthday gift for his wife * 1893- Maytag Corporation began with F. L. Maytag * 1900- first electric washing machine developed (motor moved the tub) * 1908- Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois introduced the first ever electric-power washing machine, named Thor (a drum form with a stimulated tub and an electric motor). * 1911- Whirpool Corporation started as the Uptown Machine Company, founded in St. Joseph, Michigan to produce electric-motor driven wringer washers * 1922- Maytag Corpor. began producing agitator washing machine * 1960s- Automation washing machine began

* 1990- James Dyson, a British inventor, invented a washing machine with two cylinders rotating in opposite directions, which reduced the wash time and produced better results. * 1994- Staber Industries introduced the System 200 washing machine, which was the only top loading, horizontal-axis washer manufactured in the US. This washin machine has hexagonal tub that spin like front loading machines, but use only a third of the water as the conventional top loaders. * 2001- Whirpool Corporation introduced the Calypso, the first vertical-axis high efficiency washing machine to be top loading. * 2006- Sanyo introduced the first drum type washing machine with “Air Wash” function, which uses only 50 liters of water, in the recycle mode. * 2008- University of Leeds created a washing machine that uses only 1 cup of water to carry out a full wash and leaves clothes dry, using less than 2% of the water and energy, otherwise used by a conventional machine.