Washing machine laundry drum

A washing machine laundry drum configured for removing water from wet laundry at a high rotational speed, the drum comprising:

• a rotating drum shell which is formed from a thin-walled material strip to form at least one of a cylinder and a flat truncated cone in a manner wherein first and second end sections of the material strip make contact along a connecting seam;
• a connection along the connecting seam that connects the end sections, the connection including
• a first tab formed at the first end section of the material strip, the first tab being curved such that the first tab follows a general curvature of the cylindrical or truncated cone shape of the drum shell;
• a second tab formed at the second end section of the material strip wherein the second tab is one of outwardly stepped an amount of about the wall thickness of the material strip and inwardly stepped an amount of about the wall thickness of the material strip;
• and
• a lifter that covers the connecting seam,
• wherein the tabs of the end sections overlap and are directly fixedly connected to one another where they overlap,
• the tabs are covered by the lifter on the inside of the drum shell where they overlap, and
• the connection is no thicker than the sum of a thickness of the first tab and a thickness of the second tab.

A method of connecting end sections of a washing machine laundry drum configured for removing water from wet laundry at a high rotational speed, the method comprising:

• forming a rotating drum shell from a thin-walled material strip to form at least one of a cylinder and a flat truncated cone in a manner wherein first and second end sections of the material strip make contact along a connecting seam;
• forming a connection along the connecting seam that connects the end sections, including
• forming a first tab formed at the first end section of the material strip, the first tab being curved such that the first tab follows a general curvature of the cylindrical or truncated cone shape of the drum shell;
• forming a second tab formed at the second end section of the material strip wherein the second tab is one of outwardly stepped an amount of about the wall thickness of the material strip and inwardly stepped an amount of about the wall thickness of the material strip;
• overlapping the tabs of the end sections and directly fixedly connecting the tabs to each other where they overlap;
• and
• covering the tabs with a lifter that covers the connecting seam on the inside of the drum shell,
• wherein the connection is no thicker than the sum of a thickness of the first tab and a thickness of the second tab.