which hold the tub 14 elastically in the upper housing region are used the tub 14 is carried by four dampers 24 26 28 30 in the lower housing region the dampers 24 26 28 30 can be passive or actively controllable and in the latter case of active control their damper characteristic can be changed the washing machine 10 also comprises a measuring device 32 to capture the position of the tub 14 relative to the housing 12 this measuring device 32 is shown enlarged in fig2 it comprises three pairs of light source and light receiver namely a first pair 34 36 a second pair 38 40 and a third pair 42 44 each of the light sources 34 38 42 emits a light beam 46 48 these light beams are scattered and reflected at the scattering reflecting surfaces 50 52 facing the pairs of light source and light receiver so that depending on the present distance between the scattering reflecting surface and the light receiver 36 40 44 at each light receiver 36 40 44 reflected scattered light can be captured with a definite intensity which represents the present distance the third scattering reflecting surface facing the pair 42 44 is not shown in the figure if the distance between light receiver 36 40 44 and associated scattering reflecting surface changes the light intensity which the light receiver 36 40 44 captures also changes with the measuring arrangement 32 any deflections of the tub 14 the scattering reflecting surfaces 50 52 and the third scattering reflecting surface not drawn which are permanently coupled to it.