Patent attributes
An inventive electric washing machine is configured so that a gas to be used for performing a specific process (decontamination process) on laundry is prevented from leaking to the outside. In the electric washing machine, a packing (120) to be brought into intimate contact with a door (12) for sealing a gap defined between the door (12) and a peripheral edge of an outer tub opening (118) when the door (12) is closed is opposed to a housing opening (14) with a space (129) defined between a lower edge portion of the housing opening (14) and the packing (120). If the door (12) is closed with laundry protruding through the lower edge portion of the housing opening (14), the protruding laundry is caught between the door (12) and the packing (120), so that the packing (120) is not brought into intimate contact with the door (12). If ozone is supplied into an outer tub (21) in this state, the ozone flows toward the housing opening (14) through a gap between the door (12) and the packing (120) at which the laundry is caught. However, the ozone flows into the space (129) (as indicated by a broken-line arrow X) and is retained in a housing (11) to be thereby prevented from leaking to the outside.
