The History of Mops

A mop is a mass or bundle of coarse strings or yarn, etc., or a piece of cloth, sponge, or other absorbent material, attached to a pole or stick. It is used to soak up liquid, for cleaning floors and other surfaces, to mop up dust, or for other cleaning purposes The word (then spelled mappe) is attested in English as early as 1496, but new refinements and variations of mop designs have been introduced, from time to time.

For example, American inventor Jacob Howe received U.S. patent #241 for a mop holder in 1837 and Thomas W. Stewart (U.S. patent #499,402) in 1893. At the 1968 Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can", which included mops. 

Dry mop, dust mop

A dry mop or dust mop is designed to pick up dry, loose contamination such as dust, earth, and sand from the surface of the floor. It consists of yarn and/or microfiber and is used as a first step in cleaning a floor. 

Professional dry mops consist of a flat sheet of microfiber textile or sheets with a surface of looped yarn, usually about 15 cm (6 in) wide, and comes in variable lengths (usually 30–100 cm (12–39 in)). 

The dry mop can in many instances replace a broom and has the ability to hold a limited amount of dust or sand within itself. The heads of dry mops are often removable and can be washed and replaced when saturated with dust.[5] Another option is using a vacuum cleaner to suck surface dust away from the mop; however, this is much more limited in its effectiveness. 

Single-use dry mops are also available and widely sold. 

Wet-mop, moist-mop

A wet mop or moist mop is, in professional cleaning, used as in the second step in the cleaning of a surface. The wet mop is swept over the surface to dissolve and absorb fat, mud and dried-in liquid contaminations. Professional wet mops consist of a flat sheet of microfiber textile or a sheet with a surface of looped yarn (which might contain microfiber as well), usually about 15 cm (6 in) wide, and come in various lengths (usually 30–100 cm (12–39 in)). 

Mops for pre-moisting

Professional flat mops are made for pre-moisting. Mops are pre-impregnated with an ideal amount of water mixed with an appropriate amount of detergent. This means that the cleaner does not need to bring any additional water on the cleaning trolley. This ideal amount is often recommended by the manufacturer in terms of weight percent of water per weight of the dry mop, for example "175% water per weight of the dry mop". 

Mops for pre-moisting are flat sheets of (often microfiber) textile, usually about 15 cm (6 in) wide, and comes in variable lengths (usually 30–100 cm (12–39 in)). Mops for pre-moisting are fastened on a handle with a flat pad mount with the aid of velcro or a pouch on the mop, in which the pad on the handle fits. 

Pre-moisting can be done with a special washing machine or by hand by simply folding and packing the mops tight in a container and pouring the measured amount of water over them. The mops will then need about 5–10 minutes for the liquid to distribute evenly in their tissue before use. This offers some advantages: 

The cleaner does not have to have a bucket of water with him/her when sweeping the floor, but simply carries an appropriate number of mops. This means the weight of the equipment can often be kept lower.

The risk of over-wetting the floor and leave puddles is eliminated if the wetness is ideal.

Hot mops

The hot mop (or steam mop) follows a similar concept to a steam iron. After adding water, the water is heated to make it exude on top of a floor, which can then be cleaned without using a cleaning solvent. These can work best on surfaces where a regular mop would also be used, such as bare floors, hearths, and laminate. 

Syntho-mops

A syntho-mop such as the Scooba is not considered a mop, because even though it performs the same function as a traditional mop, the lack of hand operation makes it ineligible for status as a mop. 

Microfiber mops

Microfiber mops are constructed of a blend of polyester and polyamide fibers which are “split” and formed into a single fiber. This blend consists of 70-90% polyester that serves as the scrubbing and cleaning fiber and 10–30% polyamide which performs as the holding and quick drying fiber. This blend is usually expressed as a ratio on the label of the mop, e.g. an 80% polyester and 20% polyamide blend would be labeled as "80/20".

At EH Clean, our motto is "We don't cut corners, we clean them!" By stressing  a quality, tailor-made cleaning service for all of our clients who demand the best, we have been able to build a strong and thriving business. We are owner operated and during the past 20 years we have gained a vast amount of knowledge, understanding and experience within all aspects of cleaning and it shows in our work.

 
Ed Attanasio | Trust Ed Advertising

Written by Ed Attanasaio
TrustED Advertising

 

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Published on:
08/20/2018

Post by:
Admin

Category:
Cleaning Tips 

Tag:
Cleaning service 
Dry mop 
Dust mop 
EH Clean 
Hot mops 
Jacob Howe 
Microfiber mops 
Moist mop 
Moist-mop 
Professional cleaning 
Professional dry mops 
Professional flat mops 
Syntho-mops 
Thomas W. Stewart 
Wet mop 
Wet-mop 

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