Fascinating. I think I remember reading that they wound up using sort of bent
fiber washers hung over the shafting. The washers just vibrated around and freed
up all the gunk, which -- as you said -- fell straight down.

GWE


At the Armington & Sims shop I learned that 'grease monkeys' were
originally the 12 year olds that climbed up to clean the overhead
shafting. Teddy Roosevelt signed laws limiting child labor to farms
and shop owners weren't about to pay 14 year olds to do the job, so
they installed disks that travel the length of the shafting to remove
the crud. Still, it fell on the machinists' heads and that's why all
those guys in the 'Bull o' the woods' cartoons wore hats.

Dick Hamm
Nashua NH