CARPET SWEEPERS. Carpet sweepers of a crude pattern were made in England hun dreds of years ago, but not until 1876 was this device seriously considered as a time-saving, labor-saving household article. Several at tempts had been made in this country as early as 1856 to produce a satisfactory carpet sweeper, but all fell short of the requirement. To Mr. M. R. Bissell is due the credit of producing the first carpet sweeper that did its work properly and satisfied the user, and millions of Bissell carpet sweepers are now in use throughout the world. It consists of a brush enclosed in a wooden or metal dustpan carried on four wheels, which also cause the brush to revolve. A later type is fitted with an air pump and in this the dust is drawn into the dustpan by suc tion as in the vacuum cleaner.
It is justly claimed for the carpet sweeper that it is at once the modern sanitary device for sweeping carpets and rugs; that it performs the work in one-quarter the time the corn broom requires and with 95 per cent less effort; that it raises no dust, thus protecting the furniture, draperies, bric-a-brac, etc.; that it confines all
the dangerous germs within the pan receptacles, after which the contents can be burned or buried, thus promoting health and cleanliness at the same time.
The carpet sweeper has been constantly im proved until to-day it is a thing of beauty as well as utility, and its use is recommended by the leading physicians of the world. As dust is admittedly a carrier of disease, it is clearly apparent that the sweeper is invaluable as a health-promoting appliance in the home, con fining as it does all the dust and dangerous germs, to say nothing of its labor-saving, time saving qualities. Where power or electric cur rent is available the vacuum cleaner is fast dis placing the early type of mechanical sweeper. In the vacuum cleaner the dust is drawn into a receptacle by suction. See Vacuum CLEANER.