Thread Number: 80963  /  Tag: Vintage Dryers
article re: death of engineer who worked on whirlpool dryers
[Down to Last]

automaticwasher.org's exclusive eBay Watch:
scroll >>> for more items --- [As an eBay Partner, eBay may compensate automaticwasher.org if you make a purchase using any link to eBay on this page]
Post# 1049643   11/1/2019 at 16:53 (1,609 days old) by jbellafesta (Pittsburgh, PA)        

Link to an interesting article about the life of an engineer who worked on dryers and electric chairs!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO jbellafesta's LINK





Post# 1049673 , Reply# 1   11/2/2019 at 06:56 (1,608 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)        

frigilux's profile picture
Interesting story! Now I know who invented the dryer sensor—although Speed Queen must have gotten the bum one, LOL. Must have been a little weird, even for him, to have developed an electric chair. Yikes.

Post# 1049682 , Reply# 2   11/2/2019 at 10:28 (1,608 days old) by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT)        
given his wry comments...

firedome's profile picture
on testicles in regards to electrocution, it's a bit ironic that he purportedly died of testicular cancer, eh? Sounds like he was an interesting fellow.

Post# 1050205 , Reply# 3   11/7/2019 at 18:24 (1,603 days old) by Paulg (My sweet home... Chicago)        
Great article

paulg's profile picture
Great story. One that I can identify with.
I would ask that when one sits with a career engineer - ask about the totality of what they’ve done. Sometimes you’d be surprised...
As an example, my father was an engineer for Hotpoint. For reasons I don’t know he was asked to design the bathrooms for a major 1960’s high rise on Chicago’s lakefront.
I still joke that Chicago has the only toilets that wash, rinse and spin.


Post# 1050365 , Reply# 4   11/8/2019 at 22:33 (1,602 days old) by thomasortega (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula)        
Morbid but...



It's a very interesting article and right after reading it i stopped for a second to think.... regarding electric chair being "cruel", I don't know and honestly I don't care. I am sure a murder didn't think about that when he or she murdered his victims...
The voltage and amp is so high that in a fraction of second the nerves are literally destroyed. It's very difficult to imagine one can feel pain beyond that. However, at the same time, death doesn't happen instantly. it may take several minutes (sometimes up to 10 minutes) being fried like a hot dog in one of those vintage hot dog electrocuters from the 70's.

In some cases, some parts of the body can even glow like a pickle (if you ever electrocuted a pickle you understand what I mean)

I'm against electrocution because the body is literally cooked (again, like that hot dog thing) so organs and tissues couldn't be donated and the body couldn't be used for educational purposes.

People can call me too radical or opinionated but, again following the theory of executing somebody that murdered an innocent victim, I don't care if the executed is going to suffer or not. They could even use the body (or the person still alive) for educational or research purposes. As you're going to be executed anyway, so let's use you, for example, to crash-test cars. You'll suffer a lot when engineers make holes in your body to install sensors, but nothing can be more realistic than a living human body during a collision then the information collected could help engineers all over the world to design safer cars. And again, your pain is nothing compared to your innocent victim's pain.

Also, I'm totally against animal testing. Why don't test cosmetics, cleaning products, whatever in a murderer that is going to be executed anyway? It's a murderer! Why make an innocent cute bunny or monkey suffer? and again, the results could be 100% realistic as it is a human body.


Post# 1050381 , Reply# 5   11/9/2019 at 06:18 (1,601 days old) by gizmo (Victoria, Australia)        

This thread is in the Imperial forum:
"The forum for vintage Washers, Dryers and Dishwashers more than 20 years old."

Not the forum for revolting discussions of the workings of an electric chair, nor discussions of bizarre things to do with a person who has been found guilty of murder by a court system that has found "guilty" many other innocent people in the past.


Post# 1050413 , Reply# 6   11/9/2019 at 13:06 (1,601 days old) by thomasortega (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula)        

It's on the vintage forum because coincidentally, the POI in this subject was ALSO the inventor of the drying sensor.

And it has a very interesting view of one thing I never thought (and It was disturbing to me when i realized that.)

Exactly as described in the article. For decades I've designed appliances to be safe, to protect the user from a possible accident and, given the relation Elux had with an autoparts company (Chris) in Brazil, I worked in the same building where cars were tested and in one occasion i was designated to design a safety belt buckle and a steering wheel that is now used by VW in Brazil. (Gol, Voyage, Fox and Polo).

Every time I design a product, I strongly keep in my mind: "If I fail, the user can be injured or die. I need to make sure it won't fail and once the designed product or element reaches the market, there's no way back, so I have to do it right the first time, test prototypes, nitpick, look for any possible mistakes (even the tiniest), add error margins to be on the safe side."

In order to make a safe product, we need to understand how it works for causing injuries or even killing. I never though about using on of my designs or even using my knowledge to intentionally design something to kill, but reading the article i had a shocking discovery: OMG, I know how to make it. Just basically need use my prevention design backwards and make the design object do exactly what I always wanted to avoid. It was scary when I realized something that was right in front of my eyes all the time and I have never thought about it.

It may have been horrible for that designer to design something thinking "If I fail, the user won't die". but..... we're designers, we're engineers, we're architects and we're doctors. Luckily, most of the professionals in this industries will never have to deal with "designing an artifact to kill", but it can happen. Yesterday night was the first time I thought about that... OMG of course, an electric chair or a gas chamber also needed an engineer or an industrial designer to be designed and a good design has to perform its function successfully. They are killing machines, they must kill in order to work perfectly. How I could be so naive and never think about that?

I don't know, however, if I would be able to sleep again knowing that I intentionally designed something to kill. I personally would refuse a project like that, even resign, if needed.

In my resume I have 3 deaths caused my misuse (a woman electrocuted in a washing machine (she was using a damaged extension cord and stepped on it with bare feet, a child that was severely injured by a spin dryer that exploded due to improper load and later died and a man that murdered his stepson spinning him in a front load washer (he intentionally entered the diagnose mode to run the spin test). The three cases weren't "My fault", the products didn't fail, they were abused much beyond common sense limits. But even those cases made me feel miserable and spend months thinking what I could've done different to prevent that. This is a weight that I'll carry on my shoulders for the rest of my life. Designing a machine to kill, like an electric chair? nah, thanks... not for me. Even now knowing that I have the knowledge to do that. Reading the article I even made sketch in my mind in 2 seconds.

And... well.... now every time we use our vintage dryers and see that "more dry, less dry" on the dial we know it was designed by the same person that designed electric chairs. It's a fact. it's related to clothes dryers that are over 20 years old. so I believe the person that posted it posted in the right place.


Post# 1050473 , Reply# 7   11/9/2019 at 23:53 (1,601 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)        

To use a condemned person for crash testing would be cruel and unusual punishment-the executioners have to use hanging,electric chair,gas chamber,firing squad,and lethal injection.
At the place where I work there was an employee that died from electrocution in one of the transmitters.yes,his nervous system was fried -he died at the hospital.Moral here-DO NOT defeat transmitter safety devices,kill the main power,and USE the grounding sticks!!!!!



Forum Index:       Other Forums:                      



Comes to the Rescue!

The Discuss-o-Mat has stopped, buzzer is sounding!!!
If you would like to reply to this thread please log-in...

Discuss-O-MAT Log-In



New Members
Click Here To Sign Up.



                     


automaticwasher.org home
Discuss-o-Mat Forums
Vintage Brochures, Service and Owners Manuals
Fun Vintage Washer Ephemera
See It Wash!
Video Downloads
Audio Downloads
Picture of the Day
Patent of the Day
Photos of our Collections
The Old Aberdeen Farm
Vintage Service Manuals
Vintage washer/dryer/dishwasher to sell?
Technical/service questions?
Looking for Parts?
Website related questions?
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy
Our Privacy Policy