Chewing-gum problem

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33189, 31 March 1973, Page 12

Chewing-gum problem

Removing a piece of chewing gum embedded in a carpet is no easy matter, as many housewives can testify, but when hundreds of pieces have to be dealt with the problem assumes the proportions of a nightmare. This was the dilemma facing British Museum authorities in London after closing an exhibition of relics of the Egyptian boy king, Tutankhamen. The exhibition proved highly successful, and in the nine months during which it was open more than 1| million visitors passed through. The chewing gum, dropped by some members of the public and trodden hard into the carpets by others, resisted all efforts to move it. Various chemical preparations were tried without success. Finally, after the problem had been mentioned in a 8.8. C. broadcast, a liquid nitrogen expert from the British Oxygen Company went to the exhibition. Liquid nitrogen, at a temperature of minus 196 degrees C. was carefully poured on to the globules of gum, which became instantly embrittled and could be scraped and vacuum cleaned from the carpet.