Patent ID: 8047026

Claim:
A washing machine comprising: a housing having a laundry inlet hole formed at an upper part thereof; a rotating tub rotatably mounted in the interior of the housing, to receive laundry in the interior of the rotating tub, the rotating tub having an opening corresponding to the laundry inlet hole; and a door to open and close the laundry inlet hole, wherein the door includes front and rear door parts hingedly coupled with each other, the front door part and the rear door part each having front-to-rear lengths, L 1 and L 2 , respectively, satisfying a relation of L 1 /L 2 <0.3, only the rear door part of the front and rear door parts has a see-through portion covering at least ½ of an entire area of the laundry inlet hole, to make the interior of the rotating tub visible through the see-through portion of the rear door part in a closed state of the door, the front door part has a grip including a recessed portion and a handle portion extending over a front section of the recessed portion to accommodate human fingers when the palm of a user's hand is positioned facing the front door part, wherein the grip is provided at a top of the front door part to enable a user to open and close the door with the palm of the hand facing the front door part, the door is configured such that the interior of the rotating tub is visible through the rear door part but not visible through the front door part, the door is adapted to be opened by lifting the handle portion of the grip with fingers placed in the recessed portion and the palm of the hand facing the front door part such that a front edge of the front door part is initially raised above and separated from the housing by rotation movement of the door with respect to a first hinge located at a rear end of the rear door part and then the front door part is subsequently caused to be rotated with respect to a second hinge pivotally joining a rear end of the front door part and a front end of the rear door part until the front door part is folded to the rear door part while the rear door part is further rotated with respect to the first hinge to an opened position, and the front-to-rear length L 1 of the front door part is more than three times smaller than the front-to-rear length L 2 of the rear door part so as to make the door unsuitable for sliding of the front edge of the front door part against a top surface of the housing during opening of the door.