A carpet beater or carpetbeater (also referred to as a rug beater, carpet whip, rug whip, clothes-beater, dust beater, carpet duster, wicker slapper, rug duster, or pillow fluffer, and formerly also as a carpet cleaner or rug cleaner) is a housecleaning

tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

used to beat carpets in order to shake dust and dirt out of them. Originally designed by Melville R. Bissell in 1876, it was in common use until the

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven. The dirt is collected by either a ...

became widely affordable. Typically made of wood,

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...

, cane, wicker, spring steel or coiled wire, antique rug beaters have become very collectible. Modern mass-production versions can also be in plastic or wire.

Operation

Carpets, rugs, clothes, cushions, and bedding were hung over a clothesline, railing, or a special carpet hanger, and the dust and dirt was beaten out of them. Some people preferred to beat carpets in winter on the snow - they laid the carpet face down and beat it. This method had some advantages - for instance, insects would freeze to death even if they were not expelled through beating - but it left a dirty and unpleasant-looking patch on the snow, and therefore some communities forbade beating on the snow for aesthetic reasons. Another way is to spread some snow over the carpet. In this way the dust is caught but the snow does not go up in the air. Its use in cleaning has been largely replaced since the 1950s by the

carpet sweeper A carpet sweeper is a mechanical device for the cleaning of carpets. They were popular before the introduction of the vacuum cleaner and have been largely superseded by them. However, they continue to be used in many home and commercial applicat ...

and then the

, although they are still sold in many household stores throughout Europe. A carpet beater may also be used to beat the dust out of sofas, futons, etc. In this case the beaten furniture is covered by a wet rag to collect dust.

References

Cleaning tools Spanking {{Tool-stub