Meltdown, complete with an Allen key hurled into oblivion, came on Friday, when a box from John Lewis containing a seesaw claiming to be "easy to assemble" actually consisted of a brain-exploding puzzle of 80 bars, bolts, screws and washers of infinitesimally different sizes.
Kärcher is one of world's biggest cleaning-equipment manufacturers, with a range of handy appliances that includes steam cleaners, vacuum steamers, push sweepers, pressure washers and industrial cleaners.
Motorists were accosted at intersections by "window washers", at best a motley crew of low-level extortionists, and at worst potential carjackers.
In these, groups of workers make whole boatloads of washers, which come off the line at the rate of one a minute.
In time, the washers began to demand a decent wage and trade unions helped them organise to get it.
Meanwhile, households as a whole have been consuming water at an even faster rate, thanks to the housing boom and the widespread use of flushed toilets, dish washers, washing machines, swimming pools and garden sprinklers.
They may soon be outnumbered by domestic robots, such as self-navigating vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers and window washers, which are selling fast.
Headlamp wipers and washers followed in 1970 (to get rid of snow).
Cleaning involves the use of shakers, rotary reel cleaners, air blasters, water sprayers (as shown in Figure 2), or immersion washers.
In 1898 the washing machine industry began there with the manufacture of ratchet-slat washers.
In addition to the Bergmeister ("master miner"), the chief mine administrator, there was a hierarchy of clerical and technical personnel and a series of craftsmen and mechanics specializing in different phases of the mining operation: miners, shovelers, windlass operators, carriers, sorters, washers, and smelters.
