Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 October 1894 — A Railway Cushion Car Cleaner. [ARTICLE]

A Railway Cushion Car Cleaner.

The French have brought carpet cleaning machinery to a high state of efficiency. One of their latest machines not only beats the carpets of railway cars, but also brushes the cushions while drawing off the dust. With this machine, operated by one man, 350 carpets or cushions can be cleansed in an ordinary working day. The machine consists essentially of a strong frame containing an endless band, beaters, revolving brushes, exhaust fans and suction pipes. The carpets are attached to the endless band, the revolution of which brings them under the influence of the beaters. These consist of ten stout leather straps fixed on the iron arm of a horizontal revolving drum. Meanwhile the cushion is being cleaned by the backward motion of the table on which it is placed while in contact with cylindrical brushes. The dust raised by the beaters and brushes is drawn by the fans into the galvanized iron pipes and discharged by the current of air outside the building.— [New York Telegram.

In connection with the Chinese oath a story is told of a representative of the Middle Kingdom, who once appeared to give evidence at Bow Street. He w'as politely consulted as to the method in which he would prefer tb be sworn. “Oh,” said he, with a breadth of outlook not common in Sir John Bridge’s court, “Kill ’im cock, break ’im plate, smell 'im book, all sameyl”— [Westminster Gazette.