NEW HOUSEHOLD DEVICES
New Household Devices (A Reading Course in Domestic Science.—Lesson xvii.) AFEW days ago I had a chance to help a friend who was experimenting with a hand-power pneumatic cleaner, and I was...
...With these new devices and by the use of one of the cold water soaps the work of washing and ironing is greatly reduced...
...Our readers may remember that in our issue of May 1, 1909, we gave a picture of "Ten Dollars Worth of Brushes," exhibited in the Experimental House of the Household Science Department of the University of Illinois...
...Or the agitator alone may be bought and attached to a stationary tub...
...This may be bought attached to a metallic tub in which the water may be heated by gas or gasoline...
...No description of the newer household devices could be in any way complete without reference to the great increase that has been made of late in the variety of brushes...
...The first two are aids to the serving of hot meals in cool places—on the porch, for example or on the lawn...
...Flat strips of sheet iron instead of pans for baking cookies economize space in oven and cupboard...
...A serving wagon on wheels with rubber tires is also helpful for those who have no servants...
...It is recommended particularly for use on the breakfast table in times of great political excitement when the man of the family is too much absorbed in his paper to hear when he is requested to pass the butter or the cream...
...The fire-less cooker, the casserole (a heavy covered dish in which meats may be cooked and also served) and the small oven which can be set on top of an oil or gas stove, are all particularly useful in hot weather...
...Then my friend and I compared notes and we agreed that although we had cleaned walls and floors there was no sensation of having taken dust either into the nose or the throat...
...This house, which is always open to visitors) is one of the best aids I know of to finding out what is in the market and for what price a house may be equipped...
...This completed my conversion, although I must admit that to appreciate fully the advantage of the pneumatic hand cleaner one must understand the dangers of flying dust and must care more for doing the work thoroughly than for merely getting it done quickly and easily...
...At first it seemed to me so laborious to drag the heavy rubber tube about that I longed for an old-fashioned broom...
...It was evident that the lint which clung after such powerful suction was in no danger of flying out into the air...
...The cake mixer may be too much trouble for small amounts of material but is very helpful when two or three times an ordinary receipt is to be made or for the making of pound cake...
...Of dusters wihch having picked up dust, hold it and do not allow it to escape, we have already spoken in thisMepartment...
...Electric irons have proved themselves practicable and where electricity is cheap the cost of operating is not great...
...But when we turned the "rug over we saw streaks on the under side which indicated that not only dust had been token from the rug but that the dust also in the cracks in the floor had been drawn up through the rug...
...Then too there was one rug, a thick velvet one, which absolutely refused to give up the lint that had stuck to it and to take upon itself the fresh and bright appearance which we associate with the newly-cleaned...
...In the realm of cookery, I think that the bread mixer has come to stay...
...Among washing machines the latest thing I have seen is a device for agitating the clothes by suction...
...The same principle has now been extended to floor cloths and broom covers...
...For invalids there are now on the market plates which can be kept warm by hot water...
...The "Butler's Assistant," or as it is known also, the "Helpful Sally," is a revolving stand which may be set in the middle of the dining room table...
...There are now on the market, too, irons heated by alcohol...
...This kind of dust must obviously be thrown into the air by ordinary kinds of cleaning...
...The conversion did not take place immediately, however...
...The price of this combinination is about eight dollars...
...AFEW days ago I had a chance to help a friend who was experimenting with a hand-power pneumatic cleaner, and I was converted to the hand cleaner, not in preference to an electric one, but as a valuable household utensil for use when the more expensive kind is not available...
...There are brushes for milk bottles, brushes for refrigerator tubes and brushes for coffee spouts...
...The device is simply a receptacle for hot water with the top enamelled and decorated so as to look like a plate...
...Cake boxes with roller tops bid fair to be very convenient...
...That was the first stage of conversion...
...Later we opened the bag containing the dust and we found among other things a lot of dust as fine as the finest flour, the like of which I had never seen in a dust-pan...
...It may be further reduced by substituting doylies for table cloths, by using dimity bed spreads and cotton crepe shirt waists and underwear that need no ironing, by contenting ones-self with sun dried sheets and by using paper towels...
...An ordinary broiled steak may cool off on being carried out of doors but a casserole roast retains its heat an almost inconveniently long time...
Vol. 2 • April 1910 • No. 13
