Combination washer photographed on March 26th, 1925

Combination washer photographed on March 26th, 1925. The smallest of Jules-Louis Breton’s motor-washer machines had a special feature. It combined washing dishes with washing laundry. This could be achieved by simply changing the basket and the load of a wash. The machine was simple to use, and did not require special installation or piping. It could be used immediately upon purchase both in the countryside and in the city. Its distinguishing feature, separating it from American models, was that the plates and the basket rotated rather than the water moving around a stationary basket. In Breton’s device, the plates became the turbine. During a washing cycle, they acted as the buckets of a water turbine and during the drying cycle, they also served as the blades of a centrifugal fan, creating vigorous and effective air flow. Extract from the book Inventions 1915-1939 by Luce Lebart.