9G 



Popular Science Monthly 



TheElectric Floor-Scrubber — It Saves 

 Human Energy 



IN a certain office building in Chicago, 

 where fifty-six thousand dollars a year 

 had been 

 spent for 

 floor cleaning 

 by the hand 

 method, the 

 electric floor 

 scrubber, il- 

 lustrated 

 here, has cut 

 the cost of 

 the work in 

 half. 



The elec- 

 tric scrubber 

 is divided in- 

 to two parts 

 — the scrub- 

 bing machine 

 proper and 

 the wheeled 

 mop and 

 wringer. 



The motor-driven scrubber washes the floor, while the mop 

 sucks up the dirty water and deposits it in the tank at the rear 



the drum mounted beside the motor. 

 The gear connecting this drum with its 

 motor lets out the cable in such a way 

 that no slack wires lie loose on the floor. 

 The mopping machine, which like the 



scrubber, is 

 the invention 

 of George W. 

 Meyers, a me- 

 chanical and 

 electrical en- 

 gineer of Chi- 

 cago, is even 

 simpler in 

 construction. 

 It is wheeled 

 along behind 

 the scrub- 

 bing machine 

 and by 

 means of a 

 duplex plun- 

 ger, it sucks 

 up the dirty 

 water and 

 powder. 



The operator of the machine plugs the 

 electric cable leading to the machine 

 motor into a socket on the wall. With 

 the turning of the controller near the 

 guide handles, the mo- 

 tor spins around, turn- 

 ing the eight weighted 

 brushes around with it. 

 Powdered soap and wa- 

 ter from special holders 

 are sprinkled in the de- 

 sired quantities just 

 ahead of the brushes. 



The scrubbing m.a- 

 chine is driven by its 

 own power. The motor 

 connects with the driv- 

 ing wheels by a worm 

 and wheel arrangement 

 under the carriage, so 

 that the machine scrubs 

 along at a pace of a 

 hundred and twenty 

 feet a minute. While 

 the brushes — ordinary 

 scrubbing brushes — 

 spin around, scraping 

 and washing all dirt 

 from the floor, the elec- 

 tric cable feeds from 



To make the old pole last 

 longer it is moored to a short 

 pole treated with creosote 



Mooring the Rotted Telephone 

 Pole to Prolong Its Usefulness 



THE ever increasing cost of lumber has 

 led to' the use of many devices to 

 save wood. One of the 

 most ingenious is the 

 method to save tele- 

 phone poles, which rot 

 at the base just above 

 and below the surface 

 of the ground. The 

 upper portion remains 

 sound for a longer time 

 than the base. 



A short pole, creo- 

 soted so as to withstand 

 decay, is placed in the 

 ground beside the old 

 pole and firmly fastened 

 to it. This adds sev- 

 eral years to the length 

 of time the pole will 

 serve. The arrange- 

 ment also serves as a 

 protection to pedes- 

 trians; for since the 

 part buried rots long 

 before the upper part, 

 the fall might occur 

 most unexpectedly. 



