Squeegee
The earliest written references to squeegees date from the mid-18th century and concern deck-cleaning tools, some with leather rather than rubber blades.
[3][4] The best-known of these tools is probably the hand-held window squeegee, used to remove the cleaning fluid or water from a glass surface.
Professional window washers began using the Chicago squeegee, a bulky tool with two heavy pink rubber blades.
Simple squeegees are made in various shapes for household use, including the cleaning of shower doors, bathroom tile, and garage floors.
[11][12] Professional squeegees are made from:[13] Tools can be equipped with swivel mechanisms - which is convenient if you need to reach the farthest part of the window or the surface has a rounded configuration.
Straight strokes, either horizontally or vertically, are normally much more efficient than “fanning” when using fixed handle squeegees; however, this method leads to more streaks and missed spots.
[22] Additionally, Richard Henry Dana's 1840 memoir Two Years Before the Mast mentions “squilgeeing” in Chapter XIV.
[24] In the early twentieth century some cities in Europe and North America used horse-drawn machinery with rotating rubber squeegee blades on rollers behind a water tank connected to sprinklers.
[26] By 1915, some streets in Paris, Washington DC, and Philadelphia were being cleaned by this kind of machine, while London still depended on men with hand brooms and squeegees.
The American Highway Engineers' Handbook of 1919 reveals that this method was used in order for the water: [...] to loosen up the dirt on the pavement without giving it time to evaporate.
A squeegee is also used in photography printing to dry the photographic paper after it is washed, preventing wrinkles or water spots.
The earliest reference to a squeegee used for drying in photography is an 1878 description[32] by chemist and photographer William Abney of squeezing excess water away.
The user should note that "the india-rubber of the squeegee must be brought to bear with considerable pressure on to the surface of the paper, and the strokes made with it should commence from the centre and finish towards the ends".
[34] Small, hand-held plastic and rubber wedges with an edge formed as a blade are used in signwriting for the application of vinyl sheeting to decrease the possibility of air pockets.
During the September 11 attacks in 2001, Polish window washer Jan Demczur used a squeegee to free himself and five others from an elevator shaft in the World Trade Center in New York City.
