A squeegee is a tool with a flat, smooth rubber blade, used to remove or control the flow of liquid on a flat surface. It is used for cleaning and in printing.
Cleaning
The original squeegee was the squilgee, a wooden-bladed tool fishermen used to scrape their boat decks.
The best-known of these tools is probably the window squeegee, used to remove the cleaning fluid or water from a recently cleaned glass surface. In the 20th century, window washers began using the Chicago squeegee, a bulky tool with two heavy pink rubber blades. Changing the blades required the loosening of twelve separate screws.
The modern single-blade window cleaning squeegee was patented by Ettore Steccone in 1936; it was lightweight brass with a very flexible and sharp rubber blade. The Ettore Products Co. is still the leader in the squeegee market today.
The sometimes pejorative term "squeegee man" is applied to those who use a squeegee or rag to clean the windows of stationary or slow-moving cars stuck in traffic, and then demand payment for their unsolicited services.
During the September 11, 2001 attacks, window washer Jan Demczur used a squeegee to free himself and five others from an elevator shaft in the World Trade Center.
Printing
In screen printing, a squeegee is used to spread ink evenly across the back of a stencil or silkscreen, making a clean image on the printed surface. A squeegee is also used in photography printing to dry the paper after it is washed, preventing wrinkles.
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Last updated: 10-12-2005 14:22:27
