Changer, spin speed
C'villewasherbo, the changer is a kind of transmission used in early front-loaders. It drives the tub through a low gear ratio for tumble speed, and for spin a solenoid (electromagnet) pulls a lever to engage a clutch for the high (spin) speed. Unfortunately, the spin speed is only about 320 r.p.m. or so. Norgeman, it's not the horsepower that matters. These machines were driven by induction motors which only ran at one speed-1725 r.p.m. I've often wondered why they didn't use two-speed motors (1725 r.p.m. low, 3450 r.p.m. high). Combined with the transmission, this would give a spin speed of about 640 r.p.m., which would have made a big difference. Such motors existed then. Nowadays, most front-loaders use a 3-phase induction motor powered off a variable-frequency inverter. Since the speed of an induction motor is keyed to the frequency of the supply current, varying the frequency varies the speed. Controlled by microprocessors, the motor's speed can vary widely, usually from about 600 up to about 18,000 r.p.m. The mechanical complexity of transmissions has been replaced by the electronic complexity of control boards,
