Rug Beaters

Ike Coate, via the Mercer County Historical Society

Every day, we find more items in the basement of the Riley house Museum. See if you can guess what they are before reading further.

In the 19th century, house cleaning was very difficult and time consuming. Carpets and rugs were becoming more popular and common, but coal and wood burning stoves brought significant soot into the home. There was also significant dust from dirt roads and walkways. Brooms only removed surface soot and dust. Simply walking across the rug or carpet would create a plume of soot or dust into the air. Hand pump vacuums had been invented, but they were expensive, inefficient, awkward and generally not accepted well. A better solution was needed. And that was the rug beater.

To use this simple and relatively inexpensive item, the homemaker would take their rugs/carpets outside and place them over a clothesline or fence rail. Then, one would actually beat the rug with the flat side of this tool! Shaped somewhat like a tennis racquet, this "beating" would dislodge soot/dust into the air or onto the ground with little damage to rug fibers.

One can imagine a homemaker taking out their possible frustrations on the innocent rug, or assigning this chore to the youngsters to burn off some energy. Beaters such as these were made of wood, rattan, cane, or shaped heavy wire. In most cases, the beaters were quite ornate with carvings and such. Larger beaters were used to fluff feather bedding.

See these and many more interesting items at the Mercer County Historical Society, housed in the Riley House museum. We are open on Mondays and Fridays from 9 to 5.