Home Is Where the Gadget Is

Some day in the not-so-distant future, housewives may turn into ladies of leisure: they may have a trim, prefabricated power plant to do most of their house work. Dr. John J. Grebe, head physicist of Dow Chemical Co., has blueprinted a compact, 3,500-lb. unit which will cook, wash the dishes, wash, dry and iron clothes, freeze food and provide all bathroom facilities. The whole unit, says Grebe, is only a little bigger than an automobile and will sell for about the same price ($1,000).

Grebe's machine is a U-shaped room, 7 by 12 feet, which can be fitted some where into a house -- or, under its own roof, added on. Grebe suggests that a large house may have several units (guests might want to do their own laundry or pick up a snack in privacy). At the base of the U is a Swedish-type stove, burning smokeless coal, which supplies heat and power for the unit. Along one arm of the U is ranged a food-freezing compartment, a refrigerator, an ironing machine, warming ovens, a cooking range (using pressure cooking)--all topped by a long work counter. Along the other arm: a dishwasher, automatic clothes washer and drier, lavatory, bath, toilet. A door and big windows are at the open end of the U and, according to Grebe, there is space for a workshop and storage inside. A set of three concentric chimneys over the stove, using hot escaping gases to warm incoming air, provides heat and ventilation.

The whole contraption, made largely of magnesium, plastics and glass, will come complete with water pipes, ready for installation. Dr. Grebe believes that deliveries of his omnibus house machine will begin "soon."

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