Squeegee facts for kids
A squeegee is a simple yet extremely useful tool designed to control, move, or remove liquid from a flat surface. It typically features a smooth, flexible rubber blade attached to a handle made of plastic, wood, or metal. When pressed against a smooth surface like glass, tile, or stone, the rubber blade creates a tight seal. This seal wipes away water, soap, or cleaning chemicals without leaving streaks or droplets behind.
While most people recognize the squeegee as a basic household tool for washing windows and shower stalls, squeegees have played vital roles throughout history. They have been used to scrub naval warships, clean city roads, create screen-printed artwork, dry sports courts, and assemble modern electronic circuit boards.
Contents
- History and Etymology of the Squeegee
- How Window Cleaning Squeegees Work
- Floor Squeegees for Sanitation and Safety
- Historical Street Cleaning Machines
- Squeegees in Screen Printing and Photography
- Specialized Uses in Sports, Construction, and Technology
- Summary of Squeegee Types
- See Also
History and Etymology of the Squeegee
The word "squeegee" comes from the older English word "squeege," which means to press or squeeze tightly. The earliest written records of the word appear in the late 18th century. For example, the term "squeedging" was used in 1782 in London during a comedic theatre performance titled Which is the Man? by playwright Hannah Cowley. By 1783, the word "squeege" appeared in print as a general term for squeezing.
Early Maritime Uses on Ships
Before squeegees cleaned skyscraper windows, sailors relied on them to maintain ocean vessels. Wooden ship decks were constantly wet from ocean spray, rain, and routine washing. Standing saltwater could damage timber and cause slippery conditions for the crew.
Sailors built early squeegees—often called "squilgees" or "squillagees"—using heavy wooden bars fitted with stiff leather strips instead of modern rubber. In 1840, American author Richard Henry Dana Jr. mentioned "squilgeeing" the deck in his famous maritime memoir, Two Years Before the Mast. Author Herman Melville also described a "leathern squilgee" in his classic 1851 novel, Moby-Dick. By the late 19th century, naval officers in Britain, Canada, and the United States recognized the squeegee as essential shipboard equipment.
How Window Cleaning Squeegees Work
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The most recognizable type of squeegee is the window cleaner. It combines basic physics with clever mechanical design to clean glass quickly and clearly.
The Science of Surface Tension and Cleaning
When water sits on glass, it naturally forms small droplets due to surface tension. Dust, soot, and mineral particles stick to these droplets. If the water simply evaporates in the sun, it leaves the mineral particles behind, creating unsightly spots and blurry streaks.
To clean the window properly, workers apply a mixture of water and mild detergent. The soap acts as a surfactant, reducing the water's surface tension and loosening dirt particles. Once the grime floats suspended in the soapy film, the rubber squeegee glides over the smooth glass. The flexible edge forms an airtight, watertight barrier, pushing the dirty liquid ahead of it and leaving a dry, spot-free surface behind.
The Evolution of Window Cleaning Tools
As cities grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, architects designed massive multi-story buildings and skyscrapers. These new towers featured thousands of glass panes that required regular washing.
The Heavy Chicago Squeegee
Early professional window cleaners in cities like Chicago used a heavy tool known as the "Chicago squeegee." This device featured two thick, stiff pink rubber strips clamped into a heavy steel frame. To adjust or change the worn rubber, a cleaner had to loosen twelve individual screws with a screwdriver. The tool was heavy, clumsy, and tiring to use during long work shifts on tall ladders or hanging scaffolds.
Ettore Steccone and the Modern Squeegee
In 1936, an Italian-American window washer named Ettore Steccone invented a revolutionary single-blade squeegee in Oakland, California. Steccone realized that window cleaners did not need heavy double blades; they needed a single, razor-sharp, highly flexible rubber edge set inside a lightweight channel.
Steccone built his tool out of lightweight brass and called it the "New Deal," inspired by government programs during the Great Depression. His design allowed window cleaners to replace rubber blades instantly using a simple spring clip. Steccone began manufacturing the tools in his small garage. His design worked so well that professional cleaners around the world adopted it, and the company he founded remains one of the world's leading squeegee manufacturers today.
Modern Window Cleaning Materials and Mechanisms
Today, squeegees are built using durable modern materials:
- Handles and Channels: Made from lightweight aluminum, stainless steel, brass, or molded plastic. Many feature rubber ergonomic grips to prevent slipping in wet hands.
- Swivel Mechanisms: Advanced handles can pivot smoothly, allowing cleaners to steer the blade around obstacles, awkward corners, and arched window frames.
- Telescoping Extension Poles: Long fiberglass or carbon-fiber poles allow cleaners to reach high second- and third-story windows safely from the ground without ladders.
- Combination Tools: Some models include a soft microfiber washing pad on one side to scrub the glass and a rubber blade on the reverse side to clear the liquid.
Professional Window Cleaning Techniques
Professional window washers use specific physical techniques to work rapidly while avoiding streaks and water drops.
The Straight-Stroke Method
In the straight-stroke method, the cleaner pulls the blade in continuous straight paths, moving either horizontally across the glass or vertically from top to bottom. After each stroke, the worker wipes the rubber blade with a clean microfiber towel. While easy for beginners, this method can sometimes leave thin lines if liquid creeps around the edge of the blade.
The Swivel or Fan Method
Professional window cleaners prefer the "swivel method" (also called the "fan" or "snake" technique). By rotating the squeegee handle smoothly in an unbroken "S" pattern, the worker keeps dirty water on the leading edge of the blade at all times. This method sweeps all moisture to the bottom of the window in one continuous motion without lifting the tool from the glass.
Preventing Run Lines and Streaks
Run lines occur when trapped water slips underneath the rubber blade onto the dry section of the window. Cleaners prevent this by tilting the squeegee slightly toward the wet area, guiding excess water downward. Regularly checking the rubber edge for microscopic nicks or tears is also crucial, as even tiny defects can leave noticeable water lines.
World Record Window Cleaning
Professional window cleaning requires speed, precision, and hand-eye coordination. The official Guinness World Record for window cleaning is held by Terry Burrows of South Ockendon, England. In March 2005, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Burrows cleaned three standard large framed office windows—measuring 114.3-by-114.3-centimetre (45 in × 45 in) each—in just 9.24 seconds, using an 11.75-inch (300 mm) squeegee and roughly 2.37 US gallons (9 L) of water.
Floor Squeegees for Sanitation and Safety
A floor squeegee is a larger version of the window tool, attached to a long wooden or aluminum broom handle. Instead of thin glass rubber, floor squeegees use thick, heavy neoprene or dense foam rubber blades.
Commercial and Industrial Applications
Floor squeegees are essential for environments that must remain clean, dry, and sanitary:
- Food Production and Supermarkets: Meat departments, commercial bakeries, and food packaging facilities wash their floors with hot water and sanitizers daily. Floor squeegees quickly push dirty wash water into floor drains.
- Hospitals and Clinics: Hospital operating rooms and treatment areas use foam squeegees to clean floors thoroughly, preventing bacterial growth in standing puddles.
- Military and Warehouses: Large facility floors and ship decks are cleared of rain, oils, and wash water to prevent slip-and-fall accidents.
- Home Garages and Basements: Homeowners use wide floor squeegees to clear out melted snow, mud, and rainwater after storms.
Historical Street Cleaning Machines
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before motorized vacuum street sweepers existed, city streets became covered in dust, horse manure, and mud. City sanitation departments turned to large-scale squeegee technology to wash paved streets.
The Kindling Street Washing Machine
Around 1905, German engineers invented a street-cleaning machine that mounted a large, rotating spiral rubber squeegee cylinder underneath a horse-drawn water tank. Louis Kindling, a German immigrant living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, manufactured an American version known as the "Kindling Squeegee."
How Street Squeegees Operated
In cities like Paris, London, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, street-cleaning crews worked in organized teams:
- Sprinkling: A water wagon drove down the street, spraying water across cobblestones and asphalt to loosen hardened dirt and mud.
- Rolling Squeegees: Squeegee wagons followed closely behind, using their rotating rubber rollers to scrape sludge toward the roadside gutters.
- Collection: Manual sweepers gathered the wet debris into piles so cleanup carts could haul it away.
While effective, these horse-drawn machines were gradually phased out after 1915 as motorized, fully enclosed mechanical street sweepers and vacuum trucks were developed.
Squeegees in Screen Printing and Photography
Beyond cleaning water off surfaces, squeegees are fundamental tools in the graphic arts and photography industries.
Screen Printing (Serigraphy)
In screen printing, an artist or manufacturer transfers ink onto paper, fabric, wood, or metal through a fine woven mesh screen. A squeegee with a thick, stiff polyurethane blade spreads the thick ink evenly across the screen.
When the printer presses down and draws the squeegee across the mesh, the blade forces ink through the open pores of the stencil onto the surface below. The hardness and shape of the squeegee blade determine how much ink passes through:
- Square-edged blades: Produce sharp, crisp lines on paper posters and flat signs.
- Rounded blades: Deposit thicker layers of ink, commonly used on textiles like cotton T-shirts.
- Beveled (angled) blades: Used for printing onto curved items like glass bottles and ceramic mugs.
Darkroom Photography Processing
In traditional chemical photography, photographers develop film and photographic prints in liquid chemical baths and wash them in clean water.
To dry the photographic paper without water spots, photographers use a squeegee with a soft, uniform rubber blade. In 1878, British chemist and photography pioneer William de Wiveleslie Abney published detailed instructions on using wooden squeegees with rubber strips to press water out of wet photo prints. Specialized tongs with dual rubber blades are also used to wipe excess moisture from hanging strips of developed film negatives.
Specialized Uses in Sports, Construction, and Technology
Squeegees serve many unique purposes across different fields:
Sports Maintenance
- Ice Rinks: Modern ice resurfacing machines (often known by the brand name Zamboni) smooth rink ice after hockey games and figure skating sessions. Inside the machine, a squeegee blade collects dirty slush while fresh water is laid down to freeze into a smooth sheet.
- Tennis Courts: Hard outdoor tennis courts collect puddles after rain showers. Groundkeepers use wide, curved foam squeegees (sometimes called "court rollers") to dry the asphalt quickly so matches can resume safely.
Construction and Tile Setting
- Grout Application: When masons install ceramic wall or floor tiles, they use a stiff rubber squeegee called a "grout float" to pack cement grout into the spaces between tiles without scratching the smooth tile faces.
- Epoxy Flooring: Construction workers use notched squeegees to spread liquid epoxy coatings evenly over concrete warehouse floors.
High-Tech Electronics and Sign Making
- Circuit Board Manufacturing: High-precision stainless steel and rubber squeegees apply microscopic layers of solder paste through stencils onto printed circuit boards (PCBs) before microscopic computer chips are attached.
- Vinyl Vehicle Wraps and Decals: Sign makers use handheld, credit-card-sized plastic squeegees with felt edges to smooth adhesive vinyl graphics onto cars, buses, and storefront windows without trapping air bubbles.
Summary of Squeegee Types
| Type | Blade Material | Common Handle Type | Primary Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Window Squeegee | Soft natural or synthetic rubber | Short metal/plastic handle or long pole | Wiping cleaning fluid and water from glass |
| Floor Squeegee | Heavy neoprene or dense foam | Long broom handle | Pushing large volumes of water into floor drains |
| Screen-Printing Squeegee | Stiff polyurethane | Thick wooden or aluminum grip | Pressing ink through fine mesh stencils |
| Photographic Squeegee | Ultra-smooth soft rubber | Tongs or flat wooden bar | Removing wash water from photo prints and film |
| Signwriter's Squeegee | Flexible plastic with felt edge | Handheld wedge (no handle) | Smoothing vinyl stickers and eliminating air bubbles |
See Also
