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Washing machine

A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to launder clothing. Modern-day home appliances use electric power to automatically clean clothes. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and is performed by specialist businesses) or ultrasonic cleaners. The user adds laundry detergent, which is sold in liquid, powder, or dehydrated sheet form, to the wash water.

Washing by hand
Laundering by hand involves soaking, beating, scrubbing, and rinsing dirty textiles. Before indoor plumbing, it was necessary to carry all the water used for washing, boiling, and rinsing the laundry from a pump, well, or spring. Water for the laundry would be hand carried, heated on a fire for washing, then poured into a tub. This meant the amount of warm, soapy water was limited; it would be reused, first to wash the least soiled clothing, then to wash progressively dirtier laundry.

Removal of soap and water from the clothing after washing was a separate process. First, soap would be rinsed out with clear water. After rinsing, the soaking wet clothing would be formed into a roll and twisted by hand to extract water. The entire process often occupied an entire day of work, plus drying and ironing.

Early machines
An early example of washing by machine is the practice of fulling. In a fulling mill, the cloth was beaten with wooden hammers, known as fulling stocks or fulling hammers.

The first English patent under the category of washing machines was issued in 1691. A drawing of an early washing machine appeared in the January 1752 issue of The Gentleman's Magazine, a British publication. Jacob Christian Schäffer's washing machine design was published in 1767 in Germany. In 1782, Henry Sidgier was issued a British patent for a rotating drum washer, and in the 1790s, Edward Beetham sold numerous "patent washing mills" in England.

One of the first innovations in washing machine technology was the use of enclosed containers or basins that had grooves, fingers, or paddles to help with the scrubbing and rubbing of the clothes. The person using the washer would use a stick to press and rotate the clothes along the textured sides of the basin or container, agitating the clothes to remove dirt and mud. This crude agitator technology was hand-powered, but still more effective than actually hand-washing the clothes.

More advancements were made to washing machine technology in the form of the rotating drum design. These early design patents consisted of a drum washer that was hand-cranked to make the wooden drums rotate. While the technology was simple enough, it was a milestone in the history of washing machines, as it introduced the idea of "powered" washing drums. As metal drums started to replace the traditional wooden drums, it allowed for the drum to turn above an open fire or an enclosed fire chamber, raising the water temperature for more effective washes.

It would not be until the 19th century that steam power would be used in washing machine designs.

In 1862, a patented "compound rotary washing machine, with rollers for wringing or mangling" by Richard Lansdale of Pendleton, Manchester, was shown at the 1862 London Exhibition.

The first United States Patent, titled "Clothes Washing", was granted to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire in 1797. Because of the Patent Office fire in 1836, no description of the device survives. The invention of the washing machine is also attributed to Watervliet Shaker Village, as a patent was issued to an Amos Larcom of Watervliet, New York, in 1829, but it is not certain that Larcom was a Shaker. A device that combined a washing machine with a wringer mechanism did not appear until 1843 when Canadian John E. Turnbull of Saint John, New Brunswick patented a "Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls". During the 1850s, Nicholas Bennett of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society at New Lebanon, New York, invented a "wash mill", but in 1858 he assigned the patent to David Parker of the Canterbury Shaker Village, where it was registered as the "Improved Washing Machine".

Margaret Colvin improved the Triumph Rotary Washer, which was exhibited in the Women's Pavilion at the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. At the same Exhibition, the Shakers won a gold medal for their machine.

Electric washing machines were advertised and discussed in newspapers as early as 1904. Alva J. Fisher has been incorrectly credited with the invention of the electric washer. The US Patent Office shows at least one patent issued before Fisher's US patent number 966677 (e.g. Woodrow's US patent number 921195). The "inventor" of the electric washing machine remains unknown.

US electric washing machine sales reached 913,000 units in 1928. However, high unemployment rates in the Depression years reduced sales; by 1932 the number of units shipped was down to about 600,000.

It is presumed that the first laundromat in the United States opened in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1934. It was run by Andrew Klein. Patrons used coin-in-the-slot facilities to rent washing machines. The term "laundromat" can be found in newspapers as early as 1884 and they were widespread during the Depression. England established public washrooms for laundry along with bathhouses throughout the 19th century.

Washer design improved during the 1930s. The mechanism was now enclosed within a cabinet, and more attention was paid to electrical and mechanical safety. Spin dryers were introduced to replace the dangerous power mangle/wringers of the day.

By 1940, 60% of the 25,000,000 wired homes in the United States had an electric washing machine. Many of these machines featured a power wringer, although built-in spin dryers were not uncommon.

Automatic machines

Bendix Home Appliances, a subsidiary of Avco, introduced the first domestic automatic washing machine in 1937, having applied for a patent in the same year. Avco had licensed the name from Bendix Corporation, an otherwise unrelated company. In appearance and mechanical detail, this first machine was not unlike the front-loading automatic washers produced today.

Although it included many of today's basic features, the machine lacked any drum suspension and therefore had to be anchored to the floor to prevent "walking". Because of the components required, the machine was also expensive. For instance, the Bendix Home Laundry Service Manual (published November 1, 1946) shows that the drum speed change was facilitated by a 2-speed gearbox built to a heavy-duty standard (not unlike a car automatic gearbox, albeit smaller in size). The timer was also probably costly because miniature electric motors were expensive to produce.

Early automatic washing machines were usually connected to a water supply via temporary slip-on connectors to sink taps. Later, permanent connections to both the hot and cold water supplies became the norm, as dedicated laundry water hookups became common. Most modern front-loading European machines now only have a cold water connection (called "cold fill") and rely completely on internal electric heaters to raise the water temperature.

Many of the early automatic machines had coin-in-the-slot facilities and were installed in the basement laundry rooms of apartment houses.

World War II and after
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, US domestic washer production was suspended for the duration of World War II in favor of manufacturing war material. However, numerous US appliance manufacturers were permitted to undertake the research and development of washers during the war years. Many took the opportunity to develop automatic machines, realizing that these represented the future of the industry.

A large number of US manufacturers introduced competing automatic machines (mainly of the top-loading type) in the late 1940s and early 1950s. General Electric also introduced its first top-loading automatic model in 1947. This machine had many of the features that are incorporated into modern machines. Another early form of automatic washing machine manufactured by The Hoover Company used cartridges to program different wash cycles. This system, called the "Keymatic", used plastic cartridges with key-like slots and ridges around the edges. The cartridge was inserted into a slot on the machine and a mechanical reader operated the machine accordingly.

Several manufacturers produced semi-automatic machines, requiring the user to intervene at one or two points in the wash cycle. A common semi-automatic type (available from Hoover in the UK until at least the 1970s) included two tubs: one with an agitator or impeller for washing, plus another smaller tub for water extraction or centrifugal rinsing. These machines are still available in some countries such as India. Since their introduction, automatic washing machines have relied on electromechanical timers to sequence the washing and extraction process. Electromechanical timers consist of a series of cams on a common shaft driven by a small electric motor via a reduction gearbox. At the appropriate time in the wash cycle, each cam actuates a switch to engage or disengage a particular part of the machinery (for example, the drain pump motor). One of the first was invented in 1957 by Winston L. Shelton and Gresham N. Jennings, then both General Electric engineers. The device was granted US Patent 2870278.

On the early electromechanical timers, the motor ran at a constant speed throughout the wash cycle, although the user could truncate parts of the program by manually advancing the control dial. However, by the 1950s demand for greater flexibility in the wash cycle led to the introduction of more sophisticated electrical timers to supplement the electromechanical timer. These newer timers enabled greater variation in functions such as the wash time. With this arrangement, the electric timer motor is periodically switched off to permit the clothing to soak and is only re-energized just before a micro-switch being engaged or disengaged for the next stage of the process. Fully electronic timers did not become widespread until decades later.

Despite the high cost of automatic washers, manufacturers had difficulty meeting the demand. Although there were material shortages during the Korean War, by 1953 automatic washing machine sales in the US exceeded those of wringer-type electric machines.

In the UK and most of Europe, electric washing machines did not become popular until the 1950s. This was largely because of the economic impact of World War II on the consumer market, which did not properly recover until the late 1950s. The early electric washers were single-tub, wringer-type machines, as fully automatic washing machines, were expensive.

During the 1960s, twin tub machines briefly became popular, helped by the low price of the Rolls Razor washers. Twin tub washing machines have two tubs, one larger than the other. The smaller tub in reality is a spinning drum for centrifugal drying while the larger tub only has an agitator in its bottom. Some machines could pump used wash water into a separate tub for temporary storage and to later pump it back for re-use. This was done not to save water or soap, but because heated water was expensive and time-consuming to produce. Automatic washing machines did not become dominant in the UK until well into the 1970s and by then were almost exclusively of the front-loader design.

In early automatic washing machines, any changes in impeller/drum speed were achieved by mechanical means or by a rheostat on the motor power supply. However, since the 1970s electronic control of motor speed has become a common feature on the more expensive models.

Cost-cutting and contemporary development
Over time manufacturers of automatic washers have gone to great lengths to reduce costs. For instance, expensive gearboxes are no longer required, since motor speed can be controlled electronically. Some models can be controlled via WiFi, and have angled/tilted drums to facilitate loading.

Even on some expensive washers, the outer drum of front-loading machines is often (but not always) made of plastic (it can also be made out of metal, but this is expensive). This makes changing the main bearings difficult, as the plastic drum usually cannot be separated into two halves to enable the inner drum to be removed to gain access to the bearing.

Many residential front-loading washing machines typically have a 25 kg concrete block to dampen vibration. Alternatives include a plastic counterweight that can be filled with water after delivery, reducing or controlling motor speeds, using hydraulic suspensions instead of spring suspensions, and having freely moving steel balls or liquid contained inside a ring mounted on both the top and bottom of the drum to counter the weight of the clothes and reduce vibration.

Most newer front-load machines now use a brushless DC (BLDC) motor directly connected to the basket (direct drive), where the stator assembly is attached to the rear of the outer plastic drum assembly, whilst the co-axial rotor is mounted on the shaft of the inner drum. The direct drive motor eliminates the need for a pulley, belt, and belt tensioner. It was first introduced to washing machines by Fisher and Paykel in 1991. Since then, other manufacturers have followed suit. Some washing machines with this type of motor now come with 10-year or 20-year warranties. The motor type used is an outrunner, due to its slim design with variable speed and high torque. The rotor is connected to the inner tub through its center. It can be made of metal or plastic. Some direct drive washers use induction motors instead of BLDC motors.

Additional features
The modern washing machine market has seen several innovations and features, examples including: In the early 1990s, upmarket machines incorporated microcontrollers for the timing process. These proved reliable and cost-effective, so many cheaper machines now also incorporate microcontrollers rather than electromechanical timers. Since the 2010s, some machines have had touchscreen displays, full-color or color displays, or touch-sensitive control panels.
 * Washing machines including water jets (also known as water sprays, jet sprays and water showers) and steam nozzles that claim to sanitize clothes, help reduce washing times, and remove soil from the clothes. Water jets get their water from the bottom of the drum, thus recirculating the water in the washer.
 * Others have special drums with holes that will fill with water from the bottom of the tub and redeposit the water on top of the clothes. Some drums have elements with the shape of waves, pyramids, hexagons, domes, or diamonds.
 * Some include titanium or ceramic heating elements that claim to eliminate calcium buildup in the element. They can heat water up to 95 C.
 * Some high-end models have lights built into the washer itself to light the drum,
 * Others have soap dispensers where the user fills a tank with detergent and softener and the washing machine automatically doses the detergent and softener and, in some cases, chooses the most appropriate wash cycle. In some models, the tanks come pre-filled and are installed and replaced with new tanks, also pre-filled or refilled by the user, in a dedicated compartment on the bottom of the machine.
 * Some have support for single-use capsules containing enough laundry additives for one load. The capsules are installed in the detergent compartment.
 * Many dilute the detergent before it comes in contact with the clothes,   some by means of mixing the soap and water with air to make foam, which is then introduced into the drum and improves cleaning performance.    Alternatively micro bubbles may be used instead.
 * Some have pulsators that are mounted on a plate on the bottom of the drum instead of an agitator.  The plate spins, and the pulsators generate waves that help shake the soil out of the clothes. Many also include mechanisms to prevent or remove undissolved detergent residue on the detergent dispenser.
 * It is possible to incorporate a blower and a nozzle to smooth wrinkles in clothes without removing them from the washer.
 * Some manufacturers like LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have introduced functions on their washers that allow users to troubleshoot common problems with their washers without having to contact technical support. LG's approach involves a phone receiving signals through sound tones, while Samsung's approach involves having the user take a photo of the washer's time display with a phone. In both methods, the problem and steps to resolve it are displayed on the phone itself. Some models are also NFC enabled. Some implementations are patented under US Patent US20050268669A1 and US Patent US20050097927A1.

In 1994, Staber Industries released the System 2000 washing machine, which is the only top-loading, horizontal-axis washer to be manufactured in the United States. The hexagonal tub spins like a front-loading machine, using only about one-third as much water as conventional top-loaders. This factor has led to an Energy Star rating for its high efficiency. This type of horizontal-axis washer and dryer (with a circular drum) is often used in Europe, where space is limited, as they can be as thin as 41 cm in width.

In 1998, New Zealand-based company Fisher & Paykel introduced its SmartDrive washing machine line in the US. This washing machine uses a computer-controlled system to determine factors such as load size and adjusts the wash cycle to match. It also used a mixed system of washing, first with the "Eco-Active" wash, using a low level of recirculated water being sprayed on the load followed by a more traditional style wash. The SmartDrive also included a direct drive brushless DC electric motor, which simplified the bowl and agitator drive by eliminating the gearbox system.

In 2000, the British inventor James Dyson launched the CR01 ContraRotator, a type of washing machine with two cylinders rotating in opposite directions. It was claimed that this design reduced the wash time and produced cleaner washing than a single-cylinder machine. In 2004 the launch of the CR02, was the first washing machine to gain the British Allergy Foundation Seal of Approval. However, neither of the ContraRotator machines is now in production as they were expensive to manufacture. They were discontinued in 2005. It is patented under U.S. Patent US7750531B2, U.S. Patent US6311527, U.S. Patent US20010023513, U.S. Patent US6311527B1, U.S. Patent USD450164.

In 2001, Whirlpool Corporation introduced the Calypso, the first vertical-axis high-efficiency washing machine to be top-loading. A washplate in the bottom of the tub nutated (a special wobbling motion) to bounce, shake, and toss the laundry. Simultaneously, water containing detergent was sprayed onto the laundry. The machine proved to be good at cleaning but gained a bad reputation due to frequent breakdowns and destruction of laundry. The washer was recalled with a class-action lawsuit and pulled off the market.

In 2003, Maytag introduced their top-loading Neptune TL FAV6800A and TL FAV9800A washers. Instead of an agitator, the machine had two washplates, perpendicular to each other and at a 45-degree angle from the bottom of the tub. The machine would fill with only a small amount of water and the two wash plates would spin, tumbling the load within it, mimicking the action of a front-loading washer in a vertical-axis design.

In 2006, Sanyo introduced the "world-first" (as of February 2, 2006, with regards to home use drum-type washer/dryer) drum-type washing machine with "Air Wash" function (i.e.: using ozone as a disinfectant). It also reused and disinfected rinse water. This washing machine uses only 50 L of water in the recycle mode.

Approximately in 2012, eco-indicators were introduced, capable of predicting the energy demand based on the customer settings in terms of program and temperature.

Features available in most modern consumer washing machines:
 * Delayed execution: a timer to delay the start of the laundry cycle
 * Predefined programs for different laundry types
 * Rotation speed settings
 * Variable temperatures, including cold wash

Additionally, some modern machines feature:
 * Child lock
 * Steam
 * Time remaining indication
 * Extra water/rinse.
 * UV disinfection.

Around 2015 and 2017, some manufacturers  (namely Samsung and LG Electronics) offered washers and dryers that either have a top-loading washer and dryer built on top of a front-loading washer and dryer respectively (in Samsung washers and dryers) or offer users an optional top-loading washer that can be installed under a washer or dryer (for LG washers and dryers) Both manufacturers have also introduced front-loading washers allowing users to add items after a wash cycle has started,  and Samsung has also introduced top-loading washers with a built-in sink and a detergent dispenser that claims to leave no residue on the dispenser itself. In IFA 2017, Samsung released the QuickDrive, a front-loading washer similar to the Dyson ContraRotator but instead of two counter-rotating drums, the QuickDrive has a single drum with a counter-rotating impeller mounted on the back of the drum. Samsung claims this technique reduces cycle times by half and energy consumption by 20%. The US has introduced standards for washing machines that improve their energy efficiency and reduce their water consumption.

Top-loading

The top-loading, vertical-axis washer has been the dominant design in the United States and Canada. This design places the clothes in a vertically mounted perforated basket that is contained within a water-retaining tub, with a finned water-pumping agitator in the center of the bottom of the basket. Clothes are loaded through the top of the machine, which is usually but not always covered with a hinged door. The drum of a top loading washing machine can include a lint trap.

Agitation
During the wash cycle, the outer tub is filled with water sufficient to fully immerse and suspend the clothing freely in the basket. The movement of the agitator pushes water outward between the paddles towards the edge of the tub. The water then moves outward, up the sides of the basket, towards the center, and then down towards the agitator to repeat the process, in a circulation pattern similar to the shape of a torus. The agitator direction is periodically reversed because continuous motion in one direction would just lead to the water spinning around the basket with the agitator rather than the water being pumped in the torus-shaped motion. Some washers supplement the water-pumping action of the agitator with a large rotating screw on the shaft above the agitator, to help move water downwards in the center of the basket. A washing machine can have an impeller, also called a wash plate, instead of an agitator, which serves the same purpose but does not have a vertical cylinder extending from its base.

Since the agitator and the drum are separate and distinct in a top-loading washing machine, the mechanism of a top-loader is inherently more complicated than a front-loading machine. Manufacturers have devised several ways to control the motion of the agitator during the wash and rinse separately from the high-speed rotation of the drum required for the spin cycle. While a top-loading washing machine could use a universal motor or DC brushless motor, it is conventional for top-loading washing machines to use more expensive, heavy, and potentially more electrically efficient and reliable induction motors.

An alternative to this oscillating agitator design is the impeller-type washtub pioneered by Hoover on its long-running Hoovermatic series of top-loading machines. Here, an impeller (trademarked by Hoover as a "Pulsator") mounted on the side of the tub spins in a constant direction and creates a fast-moving current of water in the tub which drags the clothes through the water along a toroidal path. This design was used in the Hoover 0307 washer. The impeller design has the advantage of mechanical simplicity – a single-speed motor with belt drive is all that is required to drive the Pulsator with no need for gearboxes or complex electrical controls, but has the disadvantage of lower load capacity in relation to tub size. Hoovermatic machines were made mostly in twin-tub format for the European market (where they competed with Hotpoint's Supermatic line which used the oscillating agitator design) until the early 1990s. Some industrial garment testing machines still use the Hoover wash action. Another alternative involves 'pulsating' the agitator, in other words having an agitator with a reciprocating motion along its vertical axis. Some washing machines have agitators that move in an orbiting motion  or agitators that nutate at the bottom. Special top loading washing machines designed for washing sneakers can incorporate bristles in their agitators. Alternatively the inner tub itself can nutate inside the outer tub.

The many different ways manufacturers have solved the same problem over the years is a good example of many different ways to solve the same engineering problem with different goals, different manufacturing capabilities and expertise, and different patent encumbrances.

Reversible motor
In many current top-loading washers, if the motor spins in one direction, the gearbox drives the agitator; if the motor spins the other way, the gearbox locks the agitator and spins the basket and agitator together. Similarly, if the pump motor rotates one way it recirculates the sudsy water; in the other direction it pumps water from the machine during the spin cycle. Mechanically, this system is very simple.

Mode-changing transmission
In some top-loaders, the motor runs only in one direction. During agitation, the transmission converts the rotation into the alternating motion driving the agitator. During the spin cycle, the timer turns on a solenoid which engages a clutch locking the motor's rotation to the wash basket, providing a spin cycle. General Electric's very popular line of Filter-Flo (seen to the right) used a variant of this design where the motor reversed only to pump water out of the machine. The same clutch which allows the heavy tub full of wet clothes to "slip" as it comes up to the motor's speed, is also allowed to "slip" during agitation to engage a Gentle Cycle for delicate clothes.

Whirlpool (Kenmore) created a popular design demonstrating the complex mechanisms which could be used to produce different motions from a single motor with the so-called "wig wag" mechanism, which was used for decades until modern controls rendered it obsolete. In the Whirlpool mechanism, a protruding moving piece oscillates in time with the agitation motion. Two solenoids are mounted to this protruding moving piece, with wires attaching them to the timer. During the cycle, the motor operates continuously, and the solenoids on the "wig wag" engage in agitation or spin. Despite the wires controlling the solenoids being subject to abrasion and broken connections due to their constant motion and the solenoids operating in a damp environment where corrosion could damage them, these machines were surprisingly reliable.

Reversible motor with mode-changing transmission
Some top-loaders, especially compact apartment-sized washers, use a hybrid mechanism. The motor reverses direction every few seconds, often with a pause between direction changes, to perform the agitation. The spin cycle is accomplished by engaging a clutch in the transmission. A separate motorized pump is generally used to drain this style of machine. These machines could easily be implemented with universal motors or more modern DC brushless motors, but older ones tend to use a capacitor-start induction motor with a pause between reversals of agitation.

Front-loading
The front-loading or horizontal-axis clothes washer is the dominant design in Europe and in most parts of the world. In the United States and Canada, most "high-end" washing machines are of this type. In addition, most commercial and industrial clothes washers around the world are of the horizontal-axis design.

This layout mounts the inner drum and outer drum horizontally, and loading is through a door at the front of the machine. The door often but not always contains a transparent window. Agitation is supplied by the back-and-forth rotation of the cylinder and by gravity. The clothes are lifted by paddles on the inside wall of the drum and then dropped. This motion flexes the weave of the fabric and forces water and detergent solution through the clothes load. Because the wash action does not require the clothing to be freely suspended in water, only enough water is needed to moisten the fabric. Because less water is required, front-loaders typically use less soap, and the repeated dropping and folding action of the tumbling can easily produce large amounts of foam or suds.

Front-loaders control water usage through the surface tension of water, and the capillary wicking action this creates in the fabric weave. A front-loader washer always fills to the same low water level, but a large pile of dry clothing standing in water will soak up the moisture, causing the water level to drop. The washer then refills to maintain the original water level. Because it takes time for this water absorption to occur with a motionless pile of fabric, nearly all front-loaders begin the washing process by slowly tumbling the clothing under the stream of water entering and filling the drum, to rapidly saturate the clothes with water.

Compared to top-loading washers, clothing can be packed more tightly in a front loader, up to the full drum volume if using a cotton wash cycle. This is because wet cloth usually fits into a smaller space than dry cloth, and front-loaders can self-regulate the water needed to achieve correct washing and rinsing. However, extreme overloading of front-loading washers pushes fabrics towards the small gap between the loading door and the front of the wash basket, potentially resulting in fabrics lost between the basket and outer tub, and in severe cases, tearing of clothing and jamming the motion of the basket.

Mechanical aspects
Front-loading washers are mechanically simple compared to top-loaders, with the main motor (a universal motor or variable-frequency drive motor) normally being connected to the drum via a grooved pulley belt and large pulley wheel, without the need for a gearbox, clutch or crank. The action of a front-loading washing machine is better suited to a motor capable of reversing direction with every reversal of the wash drum; a universal motor is noisier, less efficient, and does not last as long, but is better suited to the task of reversing direction every few seconds. Some models, such as those by LG, use a motor directly connected to the drum, eliminating the need for a belt and pulley.

But front-load washers suffer from their own technical challenges, due to the drum lying sideways. For example, a top-loading washer keeps water inside the tub merely through the force of gravity pulling down on the water, while a front-loader must tightly seal the door with a gasket to prevent water dripping onto the floor during the wash cycle. This access door is locked shut with an interlocking device during the entire wash cycle since opening the door with the machine in use could result in water gushing onto the floor. If this interlock is broken for any reason, such a machine stops operation, even if this failure happened mid-cycle. In most machines, the interlock is usually doubly redundant to prevent either opening with the drum full of water or being opened during the spin cycle. For front-loaders without viewing windows on the door, it is possible to accidentally pinch the fabric between the door and the drum, resulting in tearing and damage to the pinched clothing during tumbling and spinning.

Nearly all front-loader washers for the consumer market also use a folded flexible bellows assembly around the door opening, to keep clothing contained inside the drum during the tumbling wash cycle. If this bellows assembly were not used, small articles of clothing such as socks could slip out of the wash drum near the door, and fall down the narrow slot between the outer and inner drums, plugging the drain and possibly jamming rotation of the inner drum. Retrieving lost items from between the outer drum and inner drum can require complete disassembly of the front of the washer and pulling out the entire inner wash drum. Commercial and industrial front-loaders used by businesses (described below) usually do not use the bellows, and instead, require all small objects to be placed in a mesh bag to prevent loss near the drum opening.

Variant and hybrid designs

There are many variations of the two general designs. Top-loading machines in Asia use impellers instead of agitators. Impellers are similar to agitators except that they do not have the center post extending up in the middle of the washtub basket.

Horizontal-axis top-loader
Some machines which load from the top are otherwise much more similar to front-loading horizontal-axis drum machines. They have a drum rotating around a horizontal axis, as a front-loader, but there is no front door; instead, there is a liftable lid that provides access to the drum, which has a hatch that can be latched shut. Clothes are loaded, the hatch and lid are closed, and the machine operates and spins just like a front loader. These machines are narrower but usually taller than front-loaders, usually have a lower capacity, and are intended for use where only a narrow space is available, as is sometimes the case in Europe. They have incidental advantages: they can be loaded while standing (but force the user to bend down instead of crouching down or sitting to unload); they do not require a perishable rubber bellows seal; and instead of the drum having a single bearing on one side, it has a pair of symmetrical bearings, one on each side, avoiding asymmetrical bearing loading and potentially increasing life.

Combo washer dryer
There are also combo washer dryer machines that combine washing cycles and a full drying cycle in the same drum, eliminating the need to transfer wet clothes from a washer to a dryer machine. In principle, these machines are convenient for overnight cleaning (the combined cycle is considerably longer), but the effective capacity for cleaning larger batches of laundry is drastically reduced. The drying process tends to use much more energy than using two separate devices, because a combo washer dryer not only must dry the clothing but also needs to dry out the wash chamber itself.

These machines are used more where space is at a premium, such as areas of Europe and Japan because they can be fit into small spaces, perform both washing and drying, and many can be operated without dedicated utility connections. In these machines, the washer and dryer functions often have different capacities, with the dryer usually having the lowest capacity.

These combo machines should not be confused with a dryer on top of a washer installation, or with a laundry center, which is a one-piece appliance offering a compromise between a washer-dryer combo and a full washer to the side of the dryer installation or a dryer on top of a washer installation. Laundry centers usually have the dryer on top of the washer, with the controls for both machines being on a single control panel. Often, the controls are simpler than the controls on a washer-dryer combo or a dedicated washer and dryer. Some implementations are patented under US Patent US6343492B1 and US Patent US 6363756B1.

Comparison
True front-loading machines, top-loading machines with horizontal-axis drums, and true top-loading vertical-axis machines can be compared on several aspects:

 * Efficient cleaning: Front loaders usually use less energy, water, and detergent compared to the best top-loaders. High-efficiency washers use 20% to 60% of the detergent, water, and energy of "standard" commonly-used top-loader washers. They usually take somewhat longer (20–110 minutes) to wash a load, but are often computer controlled with additional sensors, to adapt the wash cycle to the needs of each load.
 * Water usage: Front-loaders usually use less water than top-loading residential clothes washers. Estimates are that front-loaders use from one-third to one half as much water as top-loaders.
 * Spin-dry effectiveness: Front-loaders (and European horizontal-axis top-loaders and some front-loaders) offer much higher maximum spin speeds of up to 2000 RPM, although home machines tend to be in the 1000 to 1400 RPM range, while top-loaders (with agitators) do not exceed 1140 RPM. High-efficiency top-loaders with a wash plate (instead of an agitator) can spin up to 1100 RPM, as their center of gravity is lower. Higher spin speeds, along with the diameter of the drum, determine the g-force, and a higher g-force removes more residual water, making clothes dry faster. This also reduces energy consumption if clothes are dried in a clothes dryer.
 * Cycle length: Top-loaders have tended to have shorter cycle times, in part because their design has traditionally emphasized simplicity and speed of operation more than resource conservation. It is observed that top-loaders wash the clothes in half the time as compared to a front-load washing machine.
 * Wear and abrasion: Top-loaders require an agitator or impeller mechanism to force enough water through clothes to clean them effectively, which greatly increases mechanical wear and tear on fabrics. Front-loaders use paddles in the drum to repeatedly pick up and drop clothes into the water for cleaning; this gentler action causes less wear and tear. The rate of clothes wear can be roughly gauged by the amount of accumulation in a clothes dryer lint filter, since the lint largely consists of stray fibers detached from textiles during washing and drying.
 * Difficult items: Top-loaders may have trouble cleaning large items, such as sleeping bags or pillows, which tend to float on top of the wash water rather than circulate within it. In addition, vigorous top-loader agitator motions may damage delicate fabrics. Whereas in a front-load washing machine, one can easily wash pillows, shoes, soft toys, and other difficult-to-wash items.
 * Noise: Front-loaders tend to operate more quietly than top-loaders because the door seal helps contain noise, and because there is less of a tendency towards imbalance. Top loaders usually need a mechanical transmission (due to agitators, see above), which can generate more noise than the rubber belt or direct drive found in most front-loaders.
 * Compactness: True front-loading machines may be installed underneath counter-height work surfaces. A front-loading washing machine, in a fully fitted kitchen, may even be disguised as a kitchen cabinet. These models can also be convenient in homes with limited floor area, since the clothes dryer may be installed directly above the washer ("stacked" configuration).
 * Water leakage: Top-loading machines are less prone to leakage because simple gravity reliably keeps water from spilling out the loading door on top. True front-loading machines require a flexible seal or gasket on the front door, and the front door must be locked during operation to prevent opening, lest large amounts of water spill out. This seal may leak and require replacement. However, many current front-loaders use so little water that they can be stopped mid-cycle for the addition or removal of laundry, while keeping the water level in the horizontal tub below the door level. Best practice installations of either type of machine will include a floor drain or an overflow catch tray with a drain connection, since neither design is immune to leakage or a solenoid valve getting stuck in the open position.
 * Maintenance and reliability: Top-loading washers are more tolerant of maintenance neglect, and may not need a regular "freshening" cycle to clean door seals and bellows. During the spin cycle, a top-loading tub is free to move about inside the cabinet of the machine, using only a lip around the top of the inner basket and outer tub to keep the spinning water and clothing from spraying out over the edge. Therefore, the potentially problematic door-sealing and door-locking mechanisms used by true front-loaders are not needed. On the other hand, top-loaders use mechanical gearboxes that are more vulnerable to wear than simpler front-load motor drives.
 * Accessibility and ergonomics: Front-loaders are more convenient for shorter people and those with paraplegia, as the controls are front-mounted and the horizontal drum eliminates the need for standing or climbing. Risers, also referred to as pedestals, often with storage drawers underneath, can be used to raise the door of a true front-loader closer to the user's level. However, if stacked, the dryer controls, if at the top of the dryer, may be too tall for shorter people to conveniently access.
 * Initial cost: In countries where top-loaders are popular, front-loaders tend to be more expensive to buy than top-loaders, though their lower operating costs can lead to lower total cost of ownership, especially if energy, detergent, or water are expensive. On the other hand, in countries with a large front-loader user base, top-loaders are usually seen as alternatives and more expensive than basic off-brand front-loaders, although without many differences in total cost of ownership apart from design-originated ones. In addition, manufacturers have tended to include more advanced features such as internal water heating, automatic dirt sensors, and high-speed emptying on front loaders, although some of these features could be implemented on top loaders.

Wash cycles
The earliest washing machines simply carried out a washing action when loaded with clothes and soap, filled with hot water, and started. Over time machines became more and more automated, first with complex electromechanical controllers, then fully electronic controllers; users put clothes into the machine, select a suitable program via a switch, start the machine, and come back to remove clean and slightly damp clothes at the end of the cycle. The controller starts and stops many different processes including pumps and valves to fill and empty the drum with water, heating, and rotating at different speeds, with different combinations of settings for different fabrics.

Longer wash cycles can allow greater water and energy efficiency (with less water to heat up). For a 3.5 kg load, from 2011 to 2021, the average Australian washing machine cycle (including rinsing and spinning) has lengthened from 99 to 144 minutes for front-loaders, and 55 to 59 minutes for top-loaders.

Washing
Many front-loading machines have internal electrical heating elements to heat the wash water, to near boiling if desired. The rate of the chemical cleaning action of the detergent and other laundry chemicals increases greatly with temperature, by the Arrhenius equation. Washing machines with internal heaters can use special detergents formulated to release different chemical ingredients at different temperatures, allowing different types of stains and soils to be cleaned from the clothes as the wash water is heated by the electrical heater.

However, higher-temperature washing uses more energy, and many fabrics and elastics are damaged at higher temperatures. Temperatures exceeding 40 °C have the undesirable effect of deactivating the enzymes when using biological detergent.

Many machines are cold-fill, connected to cold water only, which they internally heat to operating temperature. Where water can be heated more cheaply or with less carbon dioxide emission than by electricity, a cold-fill operation is inefficient.

Front-loaders need to use low-sudsing detergents because the tumbling action of the drum entrains air into the clothes load, which can cause excessive foamy suds and overflows. However, due to the efficient use of water and detergent, the suds issue with front-loaders can be controlled by simply using less detergent, without lessening the cleaning action.

Rinsing
Washing machines perform several rinses after the main wash to remove most of the detergent. Modern washing machines use less hot water due to environmental concerns; however, this has led to the problem of poor rinsing on many washing machines on the market, which can be a problem to people who are sensitive to detergents. The Allergy UK website suggests re-running the rinse cycle, or rerunning the entire wash cycle without detergent.

In response to complaints, many washing machines allow the user to select additional rinse cycles, at the expense of higher water usage and longer cycle time. Bosch, for example, in its allergy wash program, incorporates an additional three-minute rinse cycle with water of at least 60 C to rinse off detergent residues and any allergens.

Spin
Front-loading machines spin in multiple stages of their cycle: after main wash, after individual rinses, and the final high-speed spin. Some of those spins may be absent depending on the particular cycle.

Higher spin speeds, along with larger tub diameters, remove more water, leading to faster drying. On the other hand, the need for ironing can be reduced by not using the spin cycle in the washing machine.

If a heated clothes dryer is used after the wash and spin, energy use is reduced if more water has been removed from clothes. However, faster spinning can crease clothes more. Also, mechanical wear on bearings increases rapidly with rotational speed, reducing life. Early machines would spin at 300 rpm and, because of lack of any mechanical suspension, would often shake and vibrate.

In 1976, most front-loading washing machines spun at around 700 RPM, or less. Today, most machines spin at 1000–1600 RPM. Most machines have variable speeds, ranging 300–2000 RPM depending on the machine.

Separate spin-driers, without washing functionality, are available for specialized applications. For example, a small high-speed centrifuge machine may be provided in locker rooms of communal swimming pools to allow wet swimsuits to be substantially dried to a slightly damp condition after daily use.

Washing machines often incorporate balance rings filled with a liquid such as a calcium chloride salt water solution, that are designed to balance the inner drum of the washer during spin cycles. The balance ring may be filled with oil and contain balls on races, somewhat similarly to a ball bearing, to achieve the same effect The Bendix Economat used a flexible rubber inner tub that would squeeze the clothes towards the agitator located in the center of the inner tub in order to remove water from the clothes, instead of spinning the inner tub. This was performed by exerting a vacuum on the inner tub.

Maintenance wash
Many home washing machines use a plastic, rather than metal, outer shell to contain the wash water; residue can build up on the plastic tub over time. Some manufacturers advise users to perform a regular maintenance or "freshening" wash to clean the inside of the washing machine of any mold, bacteria, encrusted detergent, and unspecified dirt more effectively than with a normal wash.

A maintenance wash is performed without any laundry, on the hottest wash program, adding substances such as white vinegar, 100 grams of citric acid, a detergent with bleaching properties, or a proprietary washing machine cleaner. The first injection of water goes into the sump so the machine can be allowed to fill for about 30 seconds before adding cleaning substances.

Installation and flood prevention
Flexible rubber hoses are typically used to connect from a building water supply to a washing machine. These hoses are often exposed to full water pressure on a continuing basis and can deteriorate over time, developing bulges or weak spots that eventually cause leaks or catastrophic bursting and flooding. Since the hoses are often hidden from view, they may be difficult to inspect and easily forgotten until a problem occurs. If a hose burst occurs when nobody is present to notice the problem, a huge volume of water can be delivered over a short time, causing extensive interior flooding damage or even structural damage. It has been estimated that a burst supply hose can deliver two tons of water in an hour.

To reduce these risks, it is a common recommendation to use flexible hoses which have been jacketed with a braided stainless steel mesh. This jacketing cannot prevent leaks from developing, but it can slow the development of large bulges or "aneurysms" which can burst suddenly without warning. However, even braided metal jackets often cannot withstand the enormous pressures generated by water freezing within an enclosed volume.

An additional precaution is to install a washing machine inside a shallow metal or plastic pan, which can collect minor leakage and divert the water to a nearby drain, or to the outside of a building. Drain pans can also divert water released by other problems, such as a jammed solenoid valve in a washing machine. A serious limitation of drain pans is that they typically cannot handle the large volumes of pressurized water released by a burst supply hose, so a drain pan is no substitute for hose burst precautions. In the absence of a drain, a pan may still be useful to confine leakage temporarily, while a local or remote water alarm is triggered.

In addition or instead of an alarm, a water detector may signal the main water shutoff valve to the building to be automatically closed to prevent flooding.

A very effective precaution is to install a shutoff or isolation valve which stops any water from being supplied, except when a washing machine is actually operating. The simplest method is to manually open and close the hot and cold water shutoff valves (traditionally globe valves) behind the washing machine, each time it is used. This method relies on the washing machine user conscientiously operating the two valves each time laundry is done, in spite of the awkward location of the valves and the tedious process of turning the handles through multiple rotations.

An improvement over the traditional setup is to install a specialized laundry shutoff valve. Typically, it consists of two ball valves connected to a single handle, so they can be operated by a horizontal or vertical lever moved by 90 degrees. This makes the operation of the valves a quick procedure, but the washing machine user must still remember to turn off the water, even though the failure to do this produces no immediately obvious problems.

To close this risk exposure, some shutoff valves have a spring-energized mechanical timer which is started when the user pushes a lever to open the valves. After a preset time of several hours elapses, the spring-powered mechanism automatically closes the valve without further user intervention. A variant of this setup requires the user to press a button to open the valves for an electrically-timed interval.

Other automatic valve operating mechanisms electronically detect when a washing machine draws electrical power as it starts, and then open the water supply valves. Typically, the power plug for the washing machine is connected to a special detector receptacle or cable, to allowing monitoring of the power draw.

Although pressurized water supply leaks can cause the most damage in the least amount of time, water drainage can also cause problems if not handled properly. Washing machine drainage hoses should be secured properly to prevent accidental dislodgement, and drains should be inspected and cleared periodically to prevent buildup of laundry lint, mold, and other deposits.

Efficiency and standards
Capacity and cost are both considerations when purchasing a washing machine. All else being equal, a machine of higher capacity will cost more to buy, but will be more convenient if large amounts of laundry must be cleaned. Fewer runs of a machine of larger capacity may have lower running costs and better energy and water efficiency than frequent use of a smaller machine, particularly for large families. However, running a large machine with small loads is typically inefficient and wasteful, unless the machine has been designed to handle such situations.

For many years energy and water efficiency were not regulated, and little attention was paid to them. From the last part of the 20th century, increasing attention was paid to efficiency, with regulations enforcing some standards. Efficiency became a selling point, both to save on running costs and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy generation, and waste of water.

As energy and water efficiency became regulated, they became a selling point for buyers; however, the effectiveness of rinsing was not specified, and it did not directly attract the attention of buyers. Therefore, manufacturers tended to reduce the degree of rinsing after washing, saving water and electrical energy. This had the side-effect of leaving more detergent residue in clothes, which can affect people with allergies or sensitivity. In response to complaints, some manufacturers have now designed their machines with a user-selectable option for additional rinsing.

Europe
Washing machines display an EU Energy Label with grades for energy efficiency, washing performance, and spin efficiency. Grades for energy efficiency run from A+++ to D (best to worst), providing a simple method for judging running costs. Washing performance and spin efficiency are graded in the range A to G. However, all machines for sale must have washing performance A, so that manufacturers cannot compromise washing performance in order to improve the energy efficiency. This labeling has had the desired effect of driving customers toward more efficient washing machines and away from less efficient ones.

According to regulations, each washing machine is equipped with a wastewater filter. This ensures that no hazardous chemical substances are disposed of improperly through the sewage system; on the other hand, it also ensures that if there is backflow in the plumbing system, sewage cannot enter the washing machine.

United States
Top-loading and front-loading clothes washers are covered by a single national standard regulating energy consumption. The old federal standards applicable before January 2011 did not restrict water consumption; there was no limit on how much unheated rinse water could be used. Energy consumption for clothes washers is quantified using the energy factor.

After new mandatory federal standards were introduced, many US washers were manufactured to be more energy- and water-efficient than required by the federal standard, or even than required by the more-stringent Energy Star standard. Manufacturers were further motivated to exceed mandatory standards by a program of direct-to-manufacturer tax credits.

In North America, the Energy Star program compares and lists energy-efficient clothes washers. Certified Energy Star units can be compared by their Modified Energy Factor (MEF) and Water Factor (WF) coefficients. The MEF figure of merit states how many cubic feet (about 28.3 liters) of clothes are washed per kWh (kilowatt hour). The coefficient is influenced by factors including the configuration of the washer (top-loading, front-loading), its spin speed, and the temperatures and the amount of water used in the rinse and wash cycles.

Energy Star residential clothes washers must have an MEF of at least 2.0 (the higher the better); the best machines may reach 3.5. Energy Star washers must also have a WF of less than 6.0 (the lower the better).

Commercial use
A commercial washing machine is intended for more intensive use than a consumer washing machine. Durability and functionality is more important than style; most commercial washers are bulky and heavy, often with more expensive stainless steel construction to minimize corrosion in a constantly-moist environment. They are built with large easy-to-open service covers, and washers are designed not to require access from the underside for service. Commercial washers are often installed in long rows, with a wide access passageway behind all the machines to allow maintenance without moving the heavy machinery.

Laundromat machines
Many commercial washers are built for use by the general public, and are installed in publicly accessible laundromats or laundrettes. Originally, they were operated by coins (similar to older vending machines), but today they are activated by money accepting devices or card readers. The features of a commercial laundromat washer are usually more limited than those of a consumer washer, usually offering just two or three basic wash programs and an option to choose wash cycle temperatures. Some more-advanced models allow extra-cost options such as an additional wash or rinse cycle, at the choice of the user.

The typical front-loading commercial washing machine also differs from consumer models in its discharge of spent wash and rinse water. While the consumer models pump used washer water out, allowing the waste drainage pipe to be located above the floor level, front-loading commercial machines generally use only gravity to expel used water. A drain valve at the bottom rear of the machine opens at the appointed time during the cycle, allowing water to flow out. This requires a special drainage trough equipped with a filter and drain, and routed behind each machine. The trough is usually part of a cement platform built for the purpose of raising the machines to a convenient height, and can be seen behind washers at most laundromats.

Most laundromat machines are horizontal-axis front-loading models, because of their lower operating costs (notably, lower consumption of expensive hot water).

Industrial washers
By contrast, commercial washers for internal business operations (which are often referred to as "washer/extractor" machines) may include features absent from domestic machines. Many commercial washers offer an option for automatic injection of five or more different chemical types, so that the operator does not have to deal with constantly measuring out soap products and fabric softeners for each load by hand. Instead, a precise metering system draws the detergents and wash additives directly from large liquid-chemical storage barrels, and injects them as needed into the various wash and rinse cycles. Some computer-controlled commercial washers offer the operator detailed control over the various wash and rinse cycles, allowing the operator to program custom washing cycles.

Most large-scale industrial washers are horizontal-axis machines, but they may have front-, side-, or top-load doors. Some industrial clothes washers can batch-process up to 800 lb of textiles at once, and can be used for extremely machine-abusive washing tasks such as stone washing or fabric bleaching and dyeing.

An industrial washer can be mounted on heavy-duty shock absorbers and attached to a concrete floor, so that it can extract water from even the most severely out-of-balance and heavy wash loads. Noise and vibration are not as unacceptable as in a domestic machine. The machine may be mounted on hydraulic cylinders, permitting the entire washer to be lifted and tilted so that fabrics can be automatically dumped from the wash drum onto a conveyor belt once the cycle is complete. One special type of continuous-processing washer is known as the tunnel washer. This specialized high-capacity machine does not have a drum where everything being washed undergoes distinct wash and rinse cycles. Instead, the laundry progresses slowly and continuously through a long, large-diameter horizontal-axis rotating tube in the manner of an assembly line, with different processes at different positions.

Social impact
The historically laborious process of washing clothes (a task which often consumed a whole day) was at times described as "women's work". The spread of the washing machine has been seen to be a force behind the improvement of women's position in society.

Before the advent of the washing machine, laundry was done first at watercourses, and later in public wash-houses known as lavoirs. Camille Paglia and others argue that the washing machine led to a type of social isolation of women, as a previously communal activity became a solitary one.

In 2009 the Italian newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reprinted a Playboy magazine article on International Women's Day arguing that the washing machine had done more for the liberation of women than the contraceptive pill and abortion rights. A study from Université de Montréal, Canada presented a similar point of view, and added refrigerators. The following year, Swedish statistician Hans Rosling suggested that the positive effect the washing machine had on the liberation of women makes it "the greatest invention of the industrial revolution". It has been argued that washing machines are an example of labor-saving technology which does not decrease employment, because households can internalize the gains of the innovation.

Historian Frances Finnegan credits the rise of domestic laundry technology in helping to undercut the economic viability of the Magdalene asylums in Ireland (later revealed to be inhumanly abusive prisons for women), by supplanting their laundry businesses and prompting the eventual closure of the institutions as a whole. Irish feminist Mary Frances McDonald has described washing machines as the single most life-changing invention for women.

In India, dhobis, a caste group specialized in washing clothes, are slowly adapting to modern technology, but even with access to washing machines, many still handwash garments as well. Since most modern homes are equipped with a washing machine, many Indians have dispensed with the services of the dhobiwallahs.

Environmental impact
Due to the increasing cost of repairs relative to the price of a washing machine, there has been a major increase in the yearly number of defective washing machines being discarded, to the detriment of the environment. The cost of repair and the expected life of a machine may make the purchase of a new machine seem like the better option.

Different washing machine models vary widely in their use of water, detergent, and energy. The energy required for heating is large compared to that used by lighting, electric motors, and electronic devices. Because of their use of hot water, washing machines are among the largest overall consumers of energy in a typical modern home.

Washing machine can typically release around 62 million tonnes of CO-2 gasses, however, with the modern improvement made aiming to lower these numbers it depends on the user's choice to fully determine their environmental impact.

title: Washing machine


text:
Juan O'Gorman

Juan O'Gorman (6 July 1905 – 17 January 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect.

Early life and family
Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the city, to an Irish immigrant father, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman and Encarnación O'Gorman Moreno. His parents were distant cousins. He had three younger siblings, Edmundo, Margarita and Tomás. Despite his father's influence, O'Gorman chose to focus on architecture early in his career. In 1927, he graduated from Academy of San Carlos, the Art and Architecture school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

His first marriage was to Nina Wright, Russian-American architect. He later married Helen Fowler, an American artist with whom he had an adopted daughter.

San Ángel houses
In 1929, O'Gorman purchased a plot containing two tennis courts in Mexico City's San Ángel colonia. On the plot, O'Gorman constructed a small house and studio intended for use by his father, now known as the Cecil O'Gorman House. The building's forms were strongly influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, whose theories of architecture O'Gorman studied. O'Gorman dubbed the house the first functionalist structure in Latin America.

Diego Rivera, a contemporary of O'Gorman, impressed with the design of the Cecil O'Gorman House, commissioned the architect to design a home for him and Frida Kahlo on an adjacent plot. The house was built in a similar functionalist style from 1931 to 1932. The Rivera-Kahlo house was two houses connected by a bridge. Both houses were purchased to be restored and opened to the public with the Rivera-Kahlo house operating as a museum.

Schools
In 1932, Narciso Bassols, then Secretary of Education, appointed O'Gorman to the position of Head of Architectural Office of the Ministry of Public Education, where he went on to design and build 26 elementary schools in Mexico City. The schools were built with the philosophy of "eliminating all architectural style and executing constructions technically."

After 6 years of functionalist projects, O'Gorman turned away from strict functionalism later in life and worked to develop an organic architecture, combining the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright with traditional Mexican constructions.

Central Library at Ciudad Universitaria (UNAM)
Juan O'Gorman's most celebrated work due to its creativity, construction technique, and dimensions, are the four thousand square meters murals covering the four faces of the building of the Central Library at Ciudad Universitaria at UNAM. These murals are mosaics made from millions of colored stones that he gathered all around Mexico in order to be able to obtain the different colors he needed. The north side pictures Mexico's pre-Hispanic past and the south facade its colonial one, while the east wall depicts the contemporary world, and the west shows the university and contemporary Mexico.

"From the beginning, I had the idea of making mosaics of colored stones in the walls of the collections, with a technique in which I was already well experienced. With these mosaics the library would be different from the other buildings of Ciudad Universitaria, and it would be given a particular Mexican character."

Later work
O'Gorman built and designed his own house in the suburb of Pedregal, which was part built structure part natural cave, which is known as "The Cave House" from 1953 to 1956. It was decorated with mosaics throughout. It was demolished in 1969.

His paintings often treated Mexican history, landscape, and legends. A mural commission in Pátzcuaro, Michoacan resulted in the huge "La historia de Michoacán" in the Biblioteca Pública Gertrudis Bocanegra in a former church. He painted the murals in the Independence Room in Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle, and the huge murals of his own 1952 Central Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, designed with Gustavo Saavedra and Juan Martínez de Velasco.

In 1959, together with fellow artists, Raúl Anguiano, Jesús Guerrero Galván, and Carlos Orozco Romero, O'Gorman founded the militant Unión de Pintores y Grabadores de México (Mexican Painters and Engravers Union).

Death
He died on 17 January 1982, as a result of suicide. Authorities believe the artist grew despondent after being diagnosed with a heart ailment which curtailed his work. O'Gorman was found dead at his home.

Awards

 * National Prize for Arts and Sciences of "fine arts", 1972.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Juan O'Gorman


text:
Weather Report

Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer Alphonse Mouzon as well as American percussionists Don Alias and Barbara Burton. The band was initially co-led by co-frontmen Zawinul and Shorter but, subsequently as the 1970s progressed, Zawinul largely became the sole musical leader of the group. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.

The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and he took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.

Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.

Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various types of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.

From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").

Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.

Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.

Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).

With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.

1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.

Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").

There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.

To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in McCoy Tyner's former drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.

1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".

In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Eric Gravatt, and Dom Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.

I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.

1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.

Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and former drummer Herschel Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.

At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. For his part, Zawinul would later recall Vitouš planning to concentrate on more bowed solos and getting the group to hire a second bassist to play the standard basslines, to which Zawinul's response was "why don't we get one bassist who can do all of that?" Zawinul claimed that "there was nothing disrespectful about it... we had to make this move. And history has proved us to have been right."

When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to a solo career as composer and band leader. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul). Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.

1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.

According to Zawinul, new drummer Ishmael Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.

For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.

The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.

During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin' won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.

1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.

However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).

Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years and who came in to play on "Cannonball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that new drummer Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson and, for the second set of sessions, they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.

Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.

1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.

The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It included the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather continued Weather Report's record of awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.

During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).

During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).

The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White. The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were uncompromising in their contributions to the interview, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.

By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.

The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul later described this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"

Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.

1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).

By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul lost patience with Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.

Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) (their second eponymous release, following their 1971 debut) was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Increasingly, the band's music was written out rather than improvised. At the same time, Pastorius was spending more of his creative attention on his Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album was his contribution to a single group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one composition to the 1982 album, beyond group-written work) was already taking a less active approach. He later commented, philosophically, "For a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."

Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and his summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that his part also needed to be replaced; at the same time, Robert Thomas Jr. left the band. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.

1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.

The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.

Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.

Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.

1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.

In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.

1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).

Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continued until his death on March 2, 2023.

In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-1990s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.

Six of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016, from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79. Wayne Shorter died on March 2, 2023, at the age of 89.

Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.

!1972 !1979 !1981 !1982 !1983 !1985
 * "I Sing The Body Electric"
 * Best Jazz Performance by a Group
 * Nominated
 * "8:30"
 * Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
 * Won
 * "Night Passage"
 * Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
 * Nominated
 * "Weather Report"
 * Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
 * Nominated
 * "Procession"
 * Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
 * Nominated
 * "Sportin' Life"
 * Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
 * Nominated

Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.

In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.

title: Weather Report