Andrew Czyzewski

This Week in 1875

In-Depth

“The invention consists essentially of two large vertical brushes made of horsehair driven by a little steam engine”.

I still find going through automatic carwashes a somewhat unnerving experience - like being swallowed by a psychedelic nylon whale. The sooner the procedure is over the better. So I’ve never really pondered at any great depth where the technology originated.

Browsing through the early Engineer archives may just have provided the answer though.

Pictured is an invention by the Earl of Caithness for cleaning train carriages. The article of April 1875 reports on a test of the device near the running sheds of the Great Northern Railway, at King’s Cross.

“The invention consists essentially of two large vertical brushes made of horsehair driven by a little steam engine”

‘The invention consists essentially of two large vertical brushes made of horsehair driven by a little steam engine.  Water is thrown upon the side of each railway carriage, 2ft in advance of the brush, from a vertical iron pipe pierced with small holes, placed at an average distance of 8in. from each other,’ the article reads.

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