Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Minimugmowash

Never stand up for hot beverages again!
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I am faced...with a dilemma.

I have a kettle by my desk. I have coffee by my desk. I have a mug tree with numerous mugs by my desk. I have plastic stirrers acquired from various fast food chains at my desk.

But I cannot wash my mugs at my desk.

To solve this tedious conundrum I would need a small machine that would function exactly the same as a dishwasher but is small enough to fit on a desk. It would have to be big enough to fit in an average size mug with room to spare, to accomodate mugs of the larger calibre. A short blast of hot water should suffice to bring the offending article to a state of cleanliness acceptable to be used again. And so the cycle begins again.

It'd be nice if it could be USB powered but I doubt the charge would be enough.

harderthanjesus, Aug 27 2004

cup washer http://www.vintagec...r+(raised)-details/
here you go [FarmerJohn, Oct 05 2004]

[link]






       think yourself lucky you have a kettle...
po, Aug 27 2004
  

       Sounds like a cozy little desk. Oh, good idea, too.
Machiavelli, Aug 27 2004
  

       I'm sure this would sell. [admin: Could you come up with a title that's shorter? Like "mugwasher" or something like that? This is a stretching the layout a bit.]
jutta, Aug 27 2004
  

       You could obtain a kettle large enough to accomodate your entire mug - or this may already be the case. Place your mug in the kettle then run plain hot water and let it soak. Given your reluctance to visit the sink, you will eventually have to drink that hot water to dispose of it, but it should render your mugs clean. Perhaps some teabags could be used to flavor the washwater, and also remind you of why you drink coffee.
bungston, Aug 27 2004
  

       The typical office worker leaves his or her desk unoccupied between 5PM at the end of the working day and 9AM the following morning. I don't think power would be that much of an issue as the heating coils would have 16 hours to heat up the water. If the machine would only need to deal with one size coffee mug (no oversized smiling face coffee mugs folks) then it could be rather compact. A spinning sprayer could placed directly under the coffee mug which would be inside a small box with the coffee mug being upside down. Water could drain onto a container adjacent to the heating coils, evaporate and be condensed in another container where it would drain into a third container also adjacent to the heating coils that would supply the sprayer with water thus ensuring no dirty water is used to clean the mug. The condenser could also be used to chill beer for the annual Christmas party.   

       As I do not own a coffee mug I am suprised I care this much.
MrDaliLlama, Aug 28 2004
  

       [jutta] Title shortened a little.   

       [contracts] Cream! Sugar! Oh...that's perverse. It wasn't so much the dried on coffee that concerned me, rather the dried on dust, flies and miscellanea.   

       I had disposable polystyrene cups once. It was a golden age. However, the place I, er, acquired them from caught on and started locking their back doors.
harderthanjesus, Aug 28 2004
  

       [contracts], Having a dirty mug completely dismantles my picture of standard OCD behavior.
RayfordSteele, Aug 28 2004
  
      
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