Percivall Pott was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen, namely chimney sweeps' carcinoma. Many diseases are his namesake including Pott's fracture, Pott's disease of the spine, and Pott's puffy tumour. It is believed that Pott's standard of living contributed to the rise of the surgeon within social standings.
A chimney sweep is a person who inspects then clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During normal operation, a layer of creosote builds up on the inside of the chimney, restricting the flow. The creosote can also catch fire, setting the chimney alight. The chimney must be swept to remove the soot.
A street sweeper or street cleaner is a person or machine that cleans streets.
Sweep or swept may refer to:
House Hunting Mice is a 1947 American animated comedy short film directed by Chuck Jones and co-written by Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce. The short was released on September 6, 1947 by Warner Bros. Pictures as part of the Looney Tunes series, and features Hubie and Bertie.
"The Chimney Sweeper" is the title of a poem by William Blake, published in two parts in Songs of Innocence in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794. The poem "The Chimney Sweeper" is set against the dark background of child labour that was prominent in England in the late 18th and 19th centuries. At the age of four and five, boys were sold to clean chimneys, due to their small size. These children were oppressed and had a diminutive existence that was socially accepted at the time. Children in this field of work were often unfed and poorly clothed. In most cases, these children died from either falling through the chimneys or from lung damage and other horrible diseases from breathing in the soot. In the earlier poem, a young chimney sweeper recounts a dream by one of his fellows, in which an angel rescues the boys from coffins and takes them to a sunny meadow; in the later poem, an apparently adult speaker encounters a child chimney sweeper abandoned in the snow while his parents are at church or possibly even suffered death where church is referring to being with God.
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 applications because they are lightweight and quiet, enabling users to quickly clean small messes up from the floor without disturbing patrons, patients, babies and pets, and because they do not require electricity to operate.
Chimney sweeps' cancer, also called soot wart or scrotal cancer, is a squamous cell carcinoma of the scrotum. It has the distinction of being the first reported form of occupational cancer, and was initially identified by Percivall Pott in 1775. It was initially noticed as being prevalent amongst chimney sweeps. The disease has also been seen in men exposed to mineral oil and those who worked with coal distillates.
Benjamin Meggot Forster was an English botanist and mycologist who published An Introduction to the Knowledge of Fungusses in 1820.
A crossing sweeper was a person working as a street sweeper who would sweep a path ahead of people crossing dirty urban streets in exchange for a gratuity. This practice was an informal occupation among the urban poor, primarily during the 19th century. It was the focus of fairly intense study and commentary, and attitudes toward the presence of crossing sweepers on city streets varied greatly among urban residents, ranging from appreciation for their work to feelings that they were a public nuisance. Crossing sweepers also found their way into 19th-century fiction and artwork, including a novel by Charles Dickens and a popular painting by William Powell Frith.
Commissioner Elijah Cadman was an evangelist, an early member of The Salvation Army and the originator of the idea that Salvationists should wear uniforms. Just five feet tall, he became known as "the Converted Sweep" and "Fiery Elijah" because of his zeal for preaching.
The Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act 1864 was a British Act of Parliament that amended the Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act 1840 passed to try to stop child labour. Commissioners appointed in 1862 reported that several thousand children aged between five and fourteen years, including many girls, were working for sweeps. The bill was proposed by Lord Shaftesbury.
The Chimney Sweepers Act 1875 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that superseded the Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act 1840 passed to try to stop child labour. The bills, proposed by Lord Shaftesbury, were triggered by the death of twelve-year-old George Brewster, whose master had caused him to climb and clean the chimney at Fulbourn Hospital.
The Chimney Sweepers Act 1834 was a British act of Parliament passed to try to stop child labour. Many boys as young as six were being used as chimney sweeps.
The Chimney Sweepers Act 1788 was a British Act of Parliament passed to try to stop child labour. Many boys as young as four were being used as chimney sweeps.
Milborrow Chimney Sweeps is a British chimney sweeps company based in Crawley Down, West Sussex.
Spazzacamini was the term for child laborers in 19th- and early 20th-century Italy and Switzerland, where they were also known as Kaminfegerkinder in German-speaking areas.
Joseph Glass was the inventor of a successful chimney-sweeping apparatus, and a campaigner against boys being employed in sweeping chimneys.
Samuel Roberts, a Sheffield cutler, author and supporter of benevolent causes, was born in the city on 18 April 1763. He died there at the age of 85 on 24 July 1848 and was buried in Anston churchyard.
The tron-men of Edinburgh were an organization of chimney-sweepers named after the Tron, a weighing-beam which was also used as a pillory, that stood outside the Tron Kirk.
