BRUSHES AND BROOMS, implements of vegetable fiber or hair of very early use, mentioned by Homer. Brushes are simple or compound. The simple kind consists of but one tuft, and are such as hair pencils and painters' brushes. The compound have more than a single tuft. Where they are placed side by side on flat boards they are called stock brushes. Those with single tufts, such as are used by artists, are made of the hair of the camel, goat, badger, and of hog's bristles. The hairs for pencils are arranged so as to form a point in the center, and are fixed in a quill or other small tube. Com pound brushes are of set or pan work, and of drawn work. The ordinary house broom is an example of pan work, into the stock of which holes are bored of the size desired. The bristles, hairs, or fibers needed to fill each hole are collected, the thick ends dipped into molten cement, usually pitch, bound with thread, dipped again, and with a quick twist set into the hole. In drawn brushes, those intended for shoes, teeth, nails, etc., and clothes, the holes are more carefully bored, and have smaller ones at the top com municating with the back of the brush, through which a loop of wire passes from the back of the stock. Half the number of hairs or fibers needed to fill the holes are passed around the wire, which is then smartly drawn up so as to double the hairs and force them as far as possible into the hole. The outside ends are made even with trimming, and the backs of the brushes are covered with veneer to conceal the wire-work. Bristles are imported from Poland, Russia, and other countries. In 1808, the manufacture of brushes from the fibers of whalebone, and in 1810, from twigs of broom, rushes, and other plants, was patented. In 1842, split quills were added, and in 1872, horn and other sub
stances. The great staple in the United States is broom-corn, a considerable amount being raised in the state of New York, and manufactured by the Shakers. Revolving brushes were patented in 1811; and in 1862, revolving hair brushes, for the use of bar bers, were introduced, but they have never become popular. As long ago as 1699, there was invented " a new engine for sweeping the streets of London, or of any city or town." But nothing of the kind was put in use until 1825, when revolving brooms were used. A great many improvements followed, and at the present time street-sweeping by such machines is common in large cities. The most important recent invention in brush making is of American origin, the Woodbury machine for bunching, wiring, and insert ing bristles in the stock. In this machine a metal comb of uniform thickness is filled with bristles, holding them by the middle, so that one half of the bristles appear above the surface of the comb, and the other half underneath. The comb thus charged moves in guideways, and discharges bristles from each division successively into a channel in which they are brought into a horizontal position and a proper quantity taken up to form a tuft. This tuft is moved along an incline against the end of a cylinder, when a plunger doubles the bristles into a loop, which is seized by wire, and in an instant securely fastened.