Laundry

[Blue Ghost]

Okay. This just came up last night as I was writing. Where is laundry done on a starship?

Are 57th century clothes self cleaning, or can you toss them into the galley washing machine (imagine your food tasting like your... er... umm ... "aftershave" ).

Is there a laundromat at Class D and above ports of call?

I'm going to skim over this in my fiction, but this is starting to gnaw at me.

Anyone?

 

[mike wightman]

The write up of staterooms in Signal GK mentions the fresher including laundry provision of a small washer/dryer.

 

[kafka47]

Well, that might explain the stink on certain Scoutships...actually the previous poster is correct the fresher is quite the multipurpose device.

 

[flykiller]

if you assume clothes are "self-cleaning" the dirt, dead skin, and body oils, along with the cleaning mechanism, still have to go somewhere. a dedicated laundry machine seems best, it minimizes any need for high-tech supplies and can accomodate anyone aboard wearing ordinary clothing. the machine may use soap or "nanite scrubbers" or whatever technobabble sounds good. water if used will of course have to be recycled and purified, but this shouldn't be an issue in a setting where fusion power is available.

all my starship deckplans have laundry facilities. I don't go into any more detail than that, doesn't seem necessary.

 

[aramis]

There are small (75x75x50cm) washer/dryer units that combined the wash bin with the dryer bin. Saw them on a home remodeling show. (I want one, too.) it's quite reasonable that the commons areas might have a couple. note that they won't handle comforters, but will do sheets...

 

[Easterner9504]

Cleaners

The variety and types of clothes will exceed our own.

IMTU I find some unused nook and add a closet for ships cleaning bots about size od old K-9 on Dr. Who that scurry around cleaning. A 2nd room of about the same size holds a clothing machine from GURPS:UT that manufactures plain style clothes has a washer dry & cleaner and ships linen supplies. Except for LEVIATHAN I've seen no designs that take this into consideration. A Fresher based one sounds fine for passenher ships but requires close to one-on one fresher availability. A troopship, capital ship, general military ships just does not have that kind of spare space.

IMTU Scout campaign. I have an ex-socialite aboard churning out endless new clothes. If she got to vote on IN unis they'd be pink, her preferred jumpsuit & lingerie colors.

She has doubts modern styled undies would exist in future. I suspect they will with planetloads of variations.

 

[Blue Ghost]

The write up of staterooms in Signal GK mentions the fresher including laundry provision of a small washer/dryer.

Don't think our group ever did Signal GK. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[fiat_knox]

One episode of Star Trek: Enterprise once had the idea of recycling solid wastes into fabrics for uniforms and boots.

Presumably scripts, too.

 

[DonM]

How many people remember to have a room for your low passengers to freshen up before they leave the ship? Or do you just say, hey, you've only worn that for a week, have fun stinking up the starport!

I suppose you could have the med bay near the low berths, and use the med bay for cleanup/triage of your low passengers... And don't forget the awarding of the low lottery winnings.

o:

 

[far-trader]

How many people remember to have a room for your low passengers to freshen up before they leave the ship?

I do, depending on my application

Something like the Free-Trader with 20 lowberths in a separate area I include a fresher (half ton) per 10 lowberths (and lockers for gear/clothes - my lowberthers are nude or disposable thin suit).

Something like a Far-Trader with a couple of converted cattle lowberths () that's all you get (no freshers, no lockers, not much of anything, take the desperate lowberthers on at the adjacent airlock and freeze them on the spot, at the other end thaw and toss them out, the starport freshers are that way).

The big haulers just stack the dozens or more lowberths in cargo slots and the actual freeze and thaw is done starportside in dedicated facilities. The hauler just handles it like freight, and popsicles making multiple jumps just stay on or get shifted to another ship.

 

[flykiller]

How many people remember to have a room for your low passengers to freshen up before they leave the ship?

me too. the iss lewis has a wc and locker associated with the four lowberths next to medical, and the ics imperial jewell has a full-on recovery room next to twenty-five, with medical adjacent.

haven't posted jewell yet, still have to clean it up.

 

[far-trader]

...Other than labelling, what have others used to visually display a Laundry device?

Dave Chase

My little classical drafting training would have me using simple boxes with a "W" and "D" or "W/D" for the combo or stacked versions. But, in mtu it's part of the fresher. Just toss in your clothes, linens, boots, whatever; shut the door and hit the clean cycle. Wait a few minutes and open the door and there on the floor is your freshly sanitized and dry laundry ready for sorting and folding (at TL16 it even does the folding and sorting :smirk. Some care must be taken with low tech textiles and items.

Some designs (where space allows) I'll put a common fresher or two that the steward(s) make do double duty doing extra laundry for high pax. Generally though they use the fresher in each stateroom to do the laundry for that passenger right there while the pax is off in the commons. Middle pax do their own laundry in their stateroom fresher.

Similar arrangements for military ships, enlisted (mid pax) do their own and officers (high pax) have staff (stewards).

 

[Easterner9504]

One problem with a bunch of guys discussing laundry is that few actually do it.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...&prev=/images?q=ships+laundry&um=1&hl=en&sa=G

Here's a ships laundry, LSD 16. Now tell me how exactly you do this quantity using tiny toilet tumblers, fit for lingerie but not dozens or hundreds or 1000's of crew/passenger laundrys? Yes 56th century will be more streamlined, but capacity doesn't change.


Arcadia passenger ship laundry.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_PSNvSDuZKhg/RxcpkmCBOzI/AAAAAAAACTI/wUS8qaC5A2k/IMG_6968.jpg

 

[far-trader]

One problem with a bunch of guys discussing laundry is that few actually do it.

Speaking for myself, I do

Now tell me how exactly you do this quantity using tiny toilet tumblers, fit for lingerie but not dozens or hundreds or 1000's of crew/passenger laundrys? Yes 56th century will be more streamlined, but capacity doesn't change.

Works for me per the fresher solution. Cr500,000 buys a lot of magic, er, technology And one fresher has far more than enough capacity to handle all the soiled laundry of a stateroom, all at once even. And in short order thanks to the capacity.

Actually I seem to recall the Japanese have something like the idea already. Might just be in trials. I'm talking about a closet that you just put dirty laundry into and clean dry laundry comes out. I'll have to see if I can google up the thing if I didn't bookmark it...

 

[Icosahedron]

For me, a laundry is as much a part of the accommodations as a galley. Only the smallest of boats would be without one. I often have 'public' WCs/freshers on board and there is at least one fresher attached to every gym (which again is a standard fitment IMTU, space permitting). I don't have standard symbols at present.

 

[aramis]

Thinking about the washing mechanism... we don't need an agitator & drum; we need a means of grime removal. Best way I've found, in my personal experience, is to force water and solvent through, then vacuum to near-dry; repeat; then rinse and vacuum to near dry. Put that on a one-way between two flexible rollers... and you get about a 40x40x100cm device... use localized gravitic assist, and you pull the water/solvent mix through much faster. Then hang in a drying rig.

It minimizes water use, while still getting the "water cleaning"... by using an additional pass with disinfectant and/or perfume...

Side effect: presses them, too.

Drawback: can't use it on non-fluid-permeable materials. set it up with a single-side option as well (force in, suck out same side)...

 

[Valarian]

How many people remember to have a room for your low passengers to freshen up before they leave the ship? Or do you just say, hey, you've only worn that for a week, have fun stinking up the starport!

IMTU, the popsicles come aboard and leave the ship frozen with all the other cargo. The low berth passengers are frozen and revived at the starport medical facility. The ship has to be capable of supporting the number of low berths. The loading routine is basically wheel the casket aboard and plug it in to the ship's power in the low berth area. The low berth caskets are a standard fit and have standardised connections.

I suppose you could have the med bay near the low berths, and use the med bay for cleanup/triage of your low passengers...

Worth placing the medbay near to the low berth area for medical emergencies and for the times where a passenger may have to be revived.

And don't forget the awarding of the low lottery winnings.

Nope, no such thing. It's very bad form to lose a passenger, even a frozen one.

 

[CosmicGamer]

I have images of my grandmother doing laundry in a bucket with a scrub board.

My mom used do clean certain items in the tub or sink.

I do not need a schematic of the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical details of this future high tech laundry machine. If we could design it without any 'hand waving', it would be current tech not future tech.

IMO it is very conceivable that you put your cloths in your fresher and it gets the job done. Maybe for certain materials it would not work.

A reasonable person would not wear cloths that are made in such a way that they require specialized cleaning that is not available, would wait to clean them until such facilities were available, would bring with them the ability to clean such materials, or, if very necessary, would clean them and risk damage or inadequate cleaning.

I think taking care of large # of people would be simple enough. Everyone is responsible for their own laundry and you use whatever fresher you normally would use (in room or in common area). Got a servant? They can do it in whatever fresher they normally use. Luxury high passenger? Steward does it in whatever fresher they normally use or maybe do it in the passengers fresher. Maybe if a ship is specially designed for coddling large numbers of people they may have a special area for laundry.

 

[Sturn]

But, in mtu it's part of the fresher. Just toss in your clothes, linens, boots, whatever; shut the door and hit the clean cycle. Wait a few minutes and open the door and there on the floor is your freshly sanitized and dry laundry ready for sorting and folding...

This makes complete sense to me for a futuristic fresher on ships where space is a premium. A "future people shower" might even have a dry cycle, you hit a button after showering, the water shuts off and you are hit with some heated air from all angles so you don't need to use a towel when you get out. Thus, hanging your clothes inside and flicking a "linen" setting makes sense - higher heat for both the wash and dry cycles. I would also imagine that the door to such a fresher would be sealable, not just a curtain.

 

[far-trader]

...I would also imagine that the door to such a fresher would be sealable, not just a curtain.

Yep, and in MTU not just a simple sealed door, the fresher is a self-contained 2 occupant safe room. Secure against most threats and serves as an emergency shelter in the event of fire, attack, or even decompression. The life support for the stateroom is in the ceiling of the fresher (the fresher is the main component and expense in each "stateroom" cost) so 1 or 2 can be safe in there for some time.

I've also toyed with the idea of making the door split horizontally to allow not just a shower feature but a large soaking jet tub feature as well.