Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-07
Frederic Haskin's Letter
MECHANICAL SERVANTS.

devising machine to do it.
DIR. Hood is not responsible for
that last Sweeping statement but it
can be pretty fairly inferred from
what he says. He points out how
much mechanical power has al
ready done for the home. 1t be-
gan with the introduction of cleo
tricity for lighting. Think how
much time they used to spend
T. in filling and trimming lamps, and
before that in making candles and
| rush lights.
Then came the vacuum sweeper,
which has reduced the labor of
cleaning a house by just how many
per cent any agent for vacuum
cleaner company will tell you. The
! washing machine was next. DR..
Hood admits that he does the wash
| ing in his family. He does it all
| by machinery in a very short time,
and machinery being bis profess
sion he does not consider it any loss
of dignity either. He further al
| leges that, If the truth were known,
i it would be found that thousands OF
dignified fathers and husbands are
doing the family laundry in the
same way.
There is just now a great and
growing demand for cleaners,
washing machines, ironing ma
chimes. and other such household
mechanical appliances. 1t grows
out Of the fact that people can no
longer afford to hire servants. And
this demand cannot fail to result in
a great development of such ap-
planes, and in their application to
many household tasks now done by
hand. For it isl the lack Of de-
mand rather than the lack OF me-
chanical ingenuity which has held
back the development Of household
engineering. Inventors had made
perfectly good washing machines
for example, many years ago. Long
before washing machines came into
general use, there were more pat
snts in the patent Office on wash
ing machines than on anything else
except corn cultivators. The trouble
was that people wanted washing
machine for about ten dollars. ASK
them to pay any more. and they
would explain that it was cheaper
to hire laundress.
That argument no longer holds
good. It is now generally cheaper
to buy a washing machine at a hun
bred dollars or more than it is te
hire anybody.
One of the very next applications
of mechanical power to the house
hold, according to DR.. Hood, will be
in the form of a mechanical fur.
mace stoker. The we'll known bps
mess of rising early on a cold
morning to go down in the cellar
and shake the crate and shovel Goa
will soon become obsolete, fol
which many will be thankful. There
is no mechanical stoker on the
market yet, so far as Do. Hood is
aware, but he knows four men witt
the knack for mechanics who have
rugged up workable mechanical
stokers in their own cellars. Eacl
of these stokers consists Of sort
Of feed pipe or chute running from
the coal bin to the furnace dowI
which the coal flows at rate tina
can be controlled, and of an cleo
,tric fan which provides a draft alst
under perfect control. You will
Immediately say that the cost O
the power to operate the chute ant
the fam will be prohibitive. Blu
this, DR.. Hood says, is not SO. TIT
mechanical stoker makes it pos
sible to burn the very low grade:
of anthracite, which are mucf
, cheaper. Thus one man who hat
burned chestnut coal before, wa!
able with his mechanical stoker tt
burn No. buckwheat coal at 81,
dollars ton less. The saving pai(
the electrical bill and then some.
Let the power do the work!