A Squeegee.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Sept., 1889-Accepted, 30th Nov., 1889
A Squeegee.
I, DAVID HARRY SHUTTLEWORTH-BROWN of Belle vue Villa, South Wimbledon,
in the County of Surrey, England, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
A modification of the tool popularly called a squeegee,-giving it such a form that
it will push the sludge before it.
$
This is effected by bending, or curving the blade, (which has hitherto been made
straight,) so as to form a sinus to prevent the sludge from being left in the rear, on
either one or the other, or both sides of the tool, and so as to drive the sludge before
the Squeegee.
Dated this 21st day of November 1888.
D. H. SHUTTLEWORTH-BROWN.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Squeegee.
J, DAVID HARRY SHUTTLEWORTH-BROWN of Belle vue Villa, South Wimbledon,
in the County of Surrey, England, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
The proper name of the Tool is not clear. "Squillagee,"
," "Squilgee," are defined
as nautical terms meaning ;-(a) A small swab made of untwisted yarn; (b) An
instrument in the form of a hoe, covered with leather, used to rub the decks after
washing An American writer on India-Rubber, some 40 years ago, described the
latter Tool as a
Squeal-gee," and this Invention is a modification of this Tool,
popularly called a Squeegee," giving it such a form that it will push the sludge
before it.
«
66
It is hardly necessary to enter into the somewhat complex laws which govern the
action of this Tool, further than to hazard the simple assumption.
First, that when the Squeegee moves in any direction, the slush, or water, before it,
runs down an inclined plane at right angles to its face, and if the Squeegee
were straight, and moving on a Billiard-board, this would be, in a measure, correct,-
practically, however, there are inequalities on the surface in its path, and these break
up the stream and make it run to right and to left-again, the Rubber, or. Leather,
or whatever the Squeegee is made of, does not present a rigidly flat face to its work,
hence, it is not really working only in the direction in which it is moving, but also
to the right, and to the left, obliquely to it. In effect, therefore, the Squeegee leaves
a trail at each side, and this is a radical imperfection, because it cannot make a clean
sweep of any section of the sludge.
Second, that for a given depth of sludge on the area covered the height of the
inclined plane varies as the speed with which the Squeegee moves.
From this it should follow, that the greater the speed the greater the flow in the
directions in which the currents have set in, viz., to the right, and to the left, hence,
the wider the trails, and therefore, the greater the speed, the less effective, relatively,
is the work-This is a radical defect in the Squeegee.
In practice it is sought to meet the first of the difficulties thus occasioned by
holding the Tool in such a manner that its face is oblique to the direction in which
it moves, and by this manoeuvre a clean sweep is made of a portion of a section―
whether it be the right or the left depends on what side of the line of motion the
Tool is held at an oblique angle to its course.

page_text: 1055
The first is, that the section of the area covered by the Tool is narrowed,-but
this may be neglected, because the quality of the work done improves as the
obliquity of the Tool increases, and as the width of, the section covered diminishes.
The second is, that the labour of propelling the Tool obliquely increases, for
the work done, in the rapid ratio represented by the variations in the relations
between the two sides of an angle in a semicircle subtended by the diameter, as
the line of motion and the measure of the force required to propel the Tool in that
line.
The third is an aggravation of the second, for, as the angle of obliquity required so
is is the width of the trail, so the height of the inclined plane, so the resistance
towards that side of the face of the Tool and to the force that moves it obliquely.
The width of the trail increases with the liquidity of the sludge, and the greater
this liquidity the less resistance does the height of the inclined plane present to the
face of the Tool-for this reason the third is merely an aggravation of the second
source of loss.
But, the trail of sludge from section No. 1 is added to that on the area in front
of the Tool on section No. 2, thus the mass of trail No. 2 would have twice the mass
of trail No. 1, and so on, but, again, the trail spreads as it lies, and each succeeding
section of the area swept diminishes in width, and therefore the work done bears a
less and less proportion to the area covered by the Tool.
And, moreover, the work can no where be interrupted because of the ever spreading
trail.
Without, either the possession of, or access to, such knowledge and experience as
may be available, in a subject which would seem to present almost as many
difficulties as "the way of a ship in the midst of the sea," 1 disclaim any pretence of
having ascertained the indisputability of these observations upon a Tool which no
one can have seen at work without admiring its utility-I have ventured upon a
few simple assumptions, and nothing more, with a view to stating the objects of this
Invention.
The first of these is to construct a Tool :-
-that will make a clean sweep of a limited area.
(b)-that will propell a considerable volume of slush or water before it and in such
a manner that, the greater the speed the more will this tend to the centre of the
Tool.
(c) that will not leave a trail till its capacity is over-flowed, and will then require
to be held at only a small angle of obliquity from its course.
(d) that, far from being effected either by the non-rigidity of its blade, or the
inequalities of the ground, will gather the sludge before it whilst either leaving both
sides of a " rise "
clean in its path, or cleaning out a depression in the area it has
covered that it is not open to all the supposititious objections raised, by the
assumptions above referred to, against the Squeegee hitherto in use.
; The second object of this Invention is to form the stock in such a manner that,
if it be made of wood, or of any other material, as moulded wood-pulp, or paper, its
mass may be so disposed as to be greatest where, and in the direction in which, it
needs to be strongest, and vice versa, with a view to the lightness of the Tool and the
saving of material.
The third object is, so to combine the stock (and lath) with the blade as to effect the
junction with the utmost firmness, and with the greatest economy of, and least
destruction to, the material of the blade.
°
The fourth object is to make the blade reversible, so as to economise its material-
so as to employ an iron stock; and an iron stock that shall not be dangerous in
careless hands, and to bend the shaft so that the same Tool may be used by persons
of different stature, or used obliquely with diminished loss of power.
These objects are severally effected by means of the simple devices hereunder.
described.
The first, by bending or curving the blade (in the stock which has hitherto been

page_text: made straight) so as to form a sinus to hold the sludge, and to prevent it from being
left in the rear, as a trail, on either one or the other, or both sides of the Tool and
so as to drive the sludge before the "Squeege Squige" (let it be called) until
the sinus is full and over-flows (a).
"
"
or
It may be either bent as an elbow, whether in the centre or at, or near, one or
both sides, or it may be curved, of the different curves that may be employed, a
section of the circle wd appear to be preferable to any other, because of its
tendency to concentrate the sludge in front of the middle of the face of the
Tool (6) and because of the greater capacity of the sinus thus formed by a given
width of face (c)-When passing over the numerous little inequalities that have,
with a straight Squeegee, a tendency to cause the sludge to flow to right and to left,
the horns of the curve will tend to drive it towards the centre, and the greater the
speed the greater this tendency (6)-and 1st the greater the capacity of the sinus,
and 2nd the less oblique may the Tool be held, to its course, when the sinus is
full (c) hence, the higher the speed of the work, the more effective the Tool (b) (c)-
when passing over a rising inequality on the ground, the shaft may be raised, and
the blade can thus, with a little skill, be made to scrape or wipe clean both sides of
the rise, when passing over a depression in the ground, the shaft may be lowered,
and the blade will wipe out the sludge (d).
The second object is effected by taking into consideration the angle which the shaft.
may most conveniently make with the ground, and so constructing the stock that its
greatest strength is in or parallel to the plane through which (the hypotenuse of)
this angle passes, the drawing, which explains itself, shews a series of composite
curves by means of which this object may be very variously and yet symmetrically
effected.
It should be stated that 30° is below an average height, and that for a stock,
formed of a segment of a circle, such that the arc equals the radius. (a very
convenient proportion) the edge of the blade, which sweeps the ground, may be
trimmed or paired away,
from the centre towards each end (side of the Tool) in about
the proportion of of an inch for each foot of its whole length, (which slightly
exceeds the width of the tool, as the arc does its chord).
Now, the depth of the sinus formed by the Tool-Versed sine of half the are
(formed by the Tool) and, the trimming (at each end of the blade)=Tangent of the
angle formed by the depth of the sinus, (versin arc of Tool), as a base, and the
trimmed edge (in projection) as hypotenuse.
This ratio (since it is referred to only the arc) is naturally twice that above
named, and represents the number of degrees by which the angle of the shaft is
raised above the the level of the ground by trimming the scraping edge of the blade
towards each end.
If the shaft be fixed in front of the Tool, instead of behind, it would of course be
to an equal degree lowered instead of raised.
From the above observations it might, except for the words "(in projection)," be
inferred that the trimmed edge of the blade is two straight lines meeting at an angle
in the middle, this is not so, however, what it really is would, practically, be less
useful than, theoretically, it wd be interesting to enquire into, because the
inequalities of the ground, the imperfect homogeneity of the substance of the blade,
and its elasticity, afford considerable latitude for inaccuracy in the determination,
which can, in any case, he easily arrived at practically, as by fixing the Tool at the
desired angle with the edge of the blade meeting the revolving surface of a steam-
stone-polishing-table.
Roughly, it may be taken that the trimmed edge is part of a circle of large
radius, the centre of which is found by bisecting each of the (inferred) "two straight
lines meeting at an angle in the middle" (of the scraping edge of the blade) as shewn
in the diagrammatically exaggerated figure in the drawing.
The nature of this curve might be predetermined experimentally by means of a
glass cylinder, containing coloured water. Let the circumference of the cylinder
represent the circle of which the tool forms an arc, and a bit of tracing paper, in the

page_text: form of a (loose) rectangular label which is, and the sides of which are proportional
to the blade before it is trimmed, place the label against the cylinder, canting the
latter, and moving the label, or adding or withdrawing water, until the top edge of
the water, meets the middle of the bottom edge of the label and cuts the label at
each side at such a height as to mark off the amount of the blade to be trimmed
away, a pencil mark will now fix the water line, and now, when the label is
removed from the cylinder and laid flat, the curve has been described.
Such a determination would not be as accurate as a mathematical one, but curves
cannot be drawn as accurately as they can be determined, and, as has been observed,
greater accuracy than that represented by the circle is not needed.
.
The trimming of the edge of the blade may easily be made to effect an economy
of the material, besides it strengthens the blade, towards the ends, where it most needs
to be strong.
The third object of this Invention is attained by means of the zigzags, of ridges
and grooves, cut in the stock, and in the lath, as shewn in the drawing, these ridges
bite the blade on being tightened up by screws, and with them, the stock and lath
require less tightening up, and have a firmer grip with less width of hold than flat
surfaces. The relative heights of the ridges and widths of the grooves,
the sliding
face on the stock (hiding the joint) for the lath, the position of the screws, the relative
depth of hold on the blade, of the lath and of the stock respectively may each and
all be observed with advantage in the construction of the Tool.
The fourth object of this Invention is effected by:
(a)-trimming both edges of the blade,--the stock and lath are in this case made
in iron, preferably malleable cast iron, or brass, and from a pattern not easy to
construct, as the grooves and ridges and the surfaces that meet each other, in the
stock and lath, will have to follow, in shape, the trimmed edge of the blade instead of
a right line.
(b)-or the blade can be trimmed at both edges, as above, and can be made
wider, so that it can be pinched by the stock and lath along its middle, in this case,
the sliding face on the stock is done away with, as the blade passes through, between
the stock and lath, and the grooves and ridges are made to bite the blade both ways,
up and down, instead of the one way only, shewn in the drawing.
The screws or bolts pass through a line along the middle of the blade, and the
shaft, which is square towards this end, passes through the stock & lath, through the
centre of this line, and ending with a screwed thread is secured by a nut, the square
portion of the shaft (finishing as a screw-holt and nut) is of course at right angles
to the blade, but before it enters the stock, it has, behind the necessary collar, an
angle of say 30°, it may thence be, either a straight shaft, or bent, after the manner
of the stock of a scythe (without the twist) to accommodate it to persons of different.
stature, who can reverse the shaft in the Tool (as well as the Tool itself). The
shaft may likewise be bent for the purpose of using the Tool obliquely-The holes in
the blade (for screws or bolts) may be slots, so that less of the blade may be above
than below the stock and lath.
The lath may be sheet iron corrugated.
It is obvious, as the blade projects beyond the stock all round, i.e., at both ends,.
as well as at top and bottom, that this Tool would not be dangerous in the hands of
(merely) careless persons if the stock and lath were both made even of iron, and the
shaft, an iron tube ending in a screw-bolt through the stock and lath.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
وز
Fig. 1, Plan, in which cord=radius, nearly, the "dot-and-dash
are indicates the
line of contact between the lath and stock, the "solid" are, terminating at each
end in the chord of the former, passes through the terminal point of the first quadrant
of sectional curves, (shewn in Fig. 2), the "dash" radii indicate cross-sections of
the stock, co-incident with sectional curves..
Fig 2. Croge santions of the Sinak
L
1 1+

page_text: at, e.g., 30° from the horizontal,-it is obvious that the weight of material in the stock
is thrown into parallelism with the shaft or handle at this angle, the first portion
of each curve is a quadrant, beginning at the front of the stock, (and ending at the
"solid" arc in Fig. 1),-the second portion is a quadrant begun and terminated by radii
which meet in the solid, or key, line and form angles with it, of 60° and 30°
respectively, the remaining portion of each curve requires to end. at the back of
the blade, and the radius terminating the second quadrant is accordingly produced
beyond the centre, (in the key line), to the distance necessary to effect this.
Fig. 3, shews the grip of the Lath, on the Blade-corresponding with the grip
of the stock-and indicates other points to which attention is directed in the
specification.
Fig. 4a, shews a reversible blade, suitable for a stock sectionally similar to
Fig. 2, excepting that the horizontal line of centres for the first quadrants would be
depressed to below an angle of 50° with the solid (key) line,-the "dotted
curve
in this Fig. 4a, indicates the position of the bottom edge of the lath. The
exaggerated diagram shows how, roughly, to describe the curve for the edge of the
blade.
Fig. 4b, shews a reversible blade, which projects beyond the stock all round,-to
the right of it is shewn a cross-section of this blade with a metallic stock, lath, and
reversible shaft.
Fig. 4c, shews a narrower blade, similarly reversible, in which the material is
economised by slotting the holes for the shaft and bolts.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
A Squeegee, bent, curved, or made reversible, wholly or in part only, and otherwise
constructed, and held together, substantially as described for the purpose of effecting
the several objects set out.
Dated this 31st day of August A.D. 1889.
D. H. SHUTTLEWORTH-BROWN.