December 20, 2004

The Army that marches in its stomach... needs to do some laundry once in awhile. The new Laundry Advanced System (LADS) is capable of washing and drying 400 pounds of laundry an hour, and only produces 40 gallons of wastewater a day.

Laundry service is relatively new to the armed forces - before 1901, soldiers were left to handle their own dirty laundry however they could.

posted by cabingirl 20 years ago
  • Out, damned spot! out, I say! Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this laundry. Oh, oh, oh!
  • I am curious how they pull this off. The article is full of jargon with few details. Does it use more energy? Could this migrate to civilian manufacurers? Seems like it could be a great way to save resources.
  • Civilians can already get something like LADS. Take an Equator Clothes Processor, jigger it to turn up the heat a bit, connect it in series with a still to reclaim and recycle used washwater, and enlarge the results to fill a semi trailer.
  • And dos the Equator Clothes Processor work very well?
  • It does sip water, use very little electricity, and consume very little footprint. But it only 'processes' very small amounts of clothing at a time, having a drum the size of a small euro front-loader, and it takes its sweet time to do so. The dryer works best in the summer when you can hang woolens and polys to finish drying, and cottons will overdry and come out wrinkled-to-downright-crisp if you're not careful. Basically it combines all of the finickinesses of a front-loading washing machine and a condensation dryer. I know a woman who launders for a family of six active people, using only one of these tiny things. She's pretty darn gung ho. For a single person who wants to conserve resources, it's the shit. I don't know that I'd recommend it for a family. On review, it looks like LADS doesn't use a condensing dryer, but the regular vented forced-air kind. My mistake.
  • Graywater recycling resource for civilian home designers and builders
  • great link, cabingirl! monkeyfilter: observed with water remaining, fuzzy still plates, and inches of dried lint and dirt in the bottom
  • The laundry must still carry the stench of a thousand soldiers, especially with such a snall amount of water. Like in any metropolitan county jail, there is an oppressive odor that can not be washed away from the issued clothing, it`s like wearing a puked on shirt everday.
  • monkeyfilter: needs to do some laundry once in awhile monkeyfilter: only produces 40 gallons of wastewater a day monkeyfilter: here's the smell of the blood still monkeyfilter: full of jargon with few details monkeyfilter: jigger it to turn up the heat a bit monkeyfilter: wrinkled-to-downright-crisp if you're not careful monkeyfilter: I don't know that I'd recommend it for a family monkeyfilter: the stench of a thousand soldiers monkeyfilter: like wearing a puked on shirt everday
  • So what are they going to call the system that replaces this Laundry Advanced System (LADS)? The Laundry Even Better System (LEBS)? LADS II: Electric Washaloo?