shown to be useful to use a material for the elastomeric component 20 or the coating 27 of the extension 15 which is of greater hardness than the folding bellows 7 this ensures greater structural stability and abrasion resistance and in turn a constant gap dimension s over the entire life of the washing machine in these embodiments a covering ring of chromium steel may be placed on the upper end 16 of the extension 15 not shown in the variant shown in fig3 the elastomeric component of the extension is molded onto the folding bellows this component is provided with a receiving slot 30 in which an angled support ring 17 see fig1 is supported it is thus possible after aligning the extension 15 to attach the extension 15 and the folding bellows with but one clamping ring 10 this requires accepting the disadvantage of the extension 15 also consisting of the material of lower hardness which must be used for manufacturing the folding bellows 7 fig4 depicts an embodiment in which the extension 15 a is unitary with the folding bellows 7 a the extension 15 a consisting of a hard material and the folding bellows 7 a consisting of a soft material e g of a soft elastomeric material it may be fabricated for instance in a two component injection molding process.