Importance

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Abstract

A laundry washing machine has a cabinet 2 and a drum 1 suspended within the cabinet for rotation about a horizontal axis. The drum 1 includes a pair of drum ends with a pair of vanes 110, 111 extending between the drum ends 11, 12 rigidly connecting the drum ends together. The drum 1 has a substantially cylindrical perforated skin 22 having a main section 34 and a hatch section 35. The main section 34 and hatch section 35 connect along the edges to form the complete drum skin. In an opening operation the drum 1 is opened by disconnecting the edges of the main section 34 and hatch section 35 of the drum skin 22, retaining the hatch section 35 in a fixed position relative to the cabinet 2 and rotating the drum 1 such that the main section 34 of the drum skin 22 moves apart from the hatch section 35 to provide an opening into the drum. The opening is provided in conjunction with an opening into the cabinet, normally closed by a lockable lid 4. The cabinet 2 may comprise a rectangular folded up wrapper 32 together with a water collecting tray 28 fitting within the lower end 33 of the rectangular wrapper. Laundry load guiding flaps 18, 19 are disclosed which hide from view the spaces between the drum 1 and the cabinet 2 with the lid 4 open and the drum 1 in its open condition. These flaps also provide laundry guiding and scraping functions during the opening and closing operations.

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First Claim