Tag Archives: Tool

Windows will be squeaky clean with the squeegee.

• Squeegees are a flat tool that are typically used to assist in the cleaning of large, smooth surfaces.
• ‘Squeegees’ are also known as ‘squimjims’ and ‘squilgees’, and they are commonly used to clean windows.
• Most squeegees have the appearance of an uppercase letter ‘T’, consisting of a long bar with rubber strip, or ‘blade’ as it is called, and a handle that depending on its use, can be quite short or very long.
• A squeegee is typically used by placing the blade on the wet surface to be cleaned, and pulling the tool across the surface, applying pressure to the blade towards the direction the tool is moving, and in so doing, ensuring liquid and grime are not missed.
• Squeegees are manufactured with either a plastic or lightweight metal body, and along with the rubber strip, they sometimes include a sponge or textile strip that allows the user to scrub or wash a surface before using the blade that removes the liquid.

• The usefulness of the squeegee comes in its ability to move or remove large quantities of liquids, including cleaning solutions and dirt in a short time.
• Water was removed from ship decks by squeegees (‘squilgees’ they were called at the time) as early as the mid 19th century, and later they were utilised to clean streets and floors and used in the photography industry, before the invention’s eventual application for windows.
• In addition to cleaning surfaces of liquids and dirt, the squeegee has been applied to clean chalkboards and whiteboards, re-ice rinks, used in the screen-printing industry to apply ink, as well as enabling six people to be freed from a failed elevator during the 2001 September 11 attacks in the United States city of New York.
• While the invention of the modern style squeegee intended for windows has been widely attributed to the 1936 tool produced by Italian window cleaner Ettore Steccone, earlier models were already in existence, a notable one of which is that invented by Wilbur Cornelius in 1883 in Indiana in the United States, which had two rubber blades, a similar form to modern style ones, and was specifically designed for use on floors and windows.
• The term ‘squeegee’ is likely to be a derivation of the term ‘squeege’ meaning ‘to press’ or ‘to squeeze’.

Bibliography:
Cornelius W (1884), Scrubber, US300447. Accessed at: https://www.google.com.na/patents/US300447?dq=Squilgee,+OR+squeegee&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX_JPWvtvPAhUL2mMKHbMOBFgQ6AEIPzAF

Hester A, The History of the Modern Squeegee, n.d, http://www.ecleanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/history-squeegee.pdf

Rosenberg A, Ettore Steccone: Inventor of Modern Squeegee, 2014, Oakland Tribune Online, http://www.italystl.com/ra/1333.htm

Squeegee, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeegee

Warren B, The Man Who Gave Us The Squeegee to Clean Windows, 2013, The Clean Team, http://www.thecleanteam.ae/2013/12/25/man-gave-squeegee-clean-windows/

Amazon:       

Strike a flame with a match.

• Matches are disposable items useful for the convenient and inexpensive ability to quickly light a flame.
• Typically matches are a wooden or cardboard stick with an end cap, called a ‘head’, that ignites under friction.
• Heads of matches are commonly made of phosphorus sesquisulfide, potassium chlorate, or antimony (III) sulphide.
• The term ‘match’ comes from the word ‘meiche’, meaning ‘candle wick’ in Old French.
• There are two main variants of matches, ‘safety’ variants, which generally cannot alight unless stricken upon a specially made material; and those that can ignite using friction on a dry, rough surface, known as ‘strike-anywhere’ variants.

• Simple matches originated from as early as the mid 950s in China as sulphur-dipped wooden sticks, although they were possibly used a few hundred years earlier.
• A variety of matches were invented in the early 1800s, including the chemical match in 1805, by Jean Chancel of Paris, France, although most were not safe or economical.
• The first practical match to light through friction was invented by the Englishman John Walker, a chemist, in 1826, and improvements were made to it in 1830, by Charles Sauria of France.
• A striking surface especially made for matches originated in Sweden, invented by Gustaf Pasch in 1844, notably using red phosphorus, as opposed to the previously used white phosphorus heads, and this was the beginning of the ‘safety’ version.
• Surfaces made for match striking typically contain red phosphorus, glass crystals, carbon black, a binder and a neutraliser.

Bibliography:
The Chemistry of Matches, 2015, Compound Interest, http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/11/20/matches/

A History of the Match, n.d, The Museum of Everyday Life, http://museumofeverydaylife.org/exhibitions-collections/current-exhibitions/history-of-the-match

Match, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match