Frances Gabe, Creator of the Only Self-Cleaning Home, Dies at 101

[whatsername]

"Equal parts quixotic dreamer and accomplished visionary, Ms. Gabe made the house do its own scrubbing."

There's a video, patents, animations, and more. Looks like the implementation was only ever partially realized but still--wow!

http://https//www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/frances-gabe-dead-inventor-of-self-cleaning-house.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

 

[jmm63]

Sweet woman but that's just stupid on so many different levels.

 

[cornutt]

I wonder if it plays Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" while it works...

 

[whatsername]

Vastly impractical to be sure but I love the amount of thought and effort that went into it.

 

[vacerator]

Can't fix stupid,

but, she had vision. Many initial concepts seem dumb, but who knows how they inspire other inventors and designers.
Doesn't the Honda Element have an all rubber interior so it can be hosed down to clean it?

Seems to be a lot of biggly stupidity goin' 'round these days.
Common sense is all we got. Never buy Texas form a cowboy, nor a bridge when you're in Brooklyn.

 

[tomturbomatic]

According to the NYT article in this morning's paper, she was not stupid and got a lot of her practical education from the builders that her father visited in his work. I think that she was pretty smart to design the features that made the house self cleaning. The house did work as planned for a while, but over the years, earthquakes and settling, as well as lack of funds for maintenance prevented things from functioning as they were designed to function.

 

She was very much into efficiency and stood up in school and told a teacher that she had taught the same thing the week before. She definitely was not into housework.

 

[mikael3]

“Perhaps it was her penchant, at least in her younger days, for doing her yard work in the nude.”

 

I didn’t see that one coming.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Worth all that trouble to implement & create?! I believe SO!

I can see just how someone who'd invented & innovated all that--and personally USED it--lived THAT long!

-- Dave