<P> A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, or washer) is a machine used to wash laundry, such as clothing and sheets . 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 . Laundry detergent is added to the wash water, and is sold in either powdered or liquid form . </P> <P> Laundering by dry hand involves soaking, beating, scrubbing, and rinsing dirty textiles . Before indoor plumbing, the washer, traditionally a woman or housewife also had to carry all the water used for washing, boiling, and rinsing the laundry; according to an 1886 calculation, women fetched water eight to ten times every day from a pump, well, or spring . Water for the laundry would be hand carried, heated on a fire for washing, then poured into the tub . That made the warm soapy water precious; it would be reused, first to wash the least soiled clothing, then to wash progressively dirtier laundry . </P>

What is the function of fully automatic washing machine