Feather duster

Feather dusters serve the same function as soft brooms or brushes, except that they are only meant to remove loose superficial dust from delicate surfaces (such as paintings and papercrafts) or around fragile items (such as porcelain and glassware).

In 1870 a farmer brought a bundle of turkey feathers into a broom factory in Jones County, Iowa, asking if they could be used to assemble a brush.

[4] After a hard-fought legal battle against her husband George, and the National Feather Duster Company in December 1881, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago ruled in favor of Beatrice giving her priority of invention of the feather duster.

South African ostrich feather dusters were developed in Johannesburg in 1903 by Harry S. Beckner, a missionary and broom factory manager.

He felt that ostrich feathers made a convenient tool for cleaning machines at the factory.

The first ostrich feather duster company in the United States was formed in 1913 by brothers Harry and George Beckner in Athol, Massachusetts and is now run by George's great granddaughter, Margret Fish Rempher.