Today in 1893, US Patent 489388 A was issued, an invention of John McNaney, for his “Attachment for Bar-Room Counters.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to improvements in attachments for bar room counters; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts which will be fully described hereinafter and particularly referred to in the claims.
The object of my invention is to provide an attachment for counters of bar rooms, which comprises a trough or gutter that is placed upon the floor of the room immediately at the lower front edge of the counter to receive tobacco, spit, beer and other slop which occurs in a bar room, and to provide a hollow foot piece which is capable of a partial rotation and provided with a slot through which water can flow into the said trough for cleaning it out, and be turned with the slot down to dislodge all slop accumulated in the said pipe, and to connect this hollow foot piece or rail with a water main or with a tank, whereby the trough and the pipe can be flushed or cleaned by a flow of water under the control of the bar tender.
