Top 5 Tips for Saving Water this summer - Black & Decker, India

All of us are aware of the water situation in our country and all over the world, and how saving water has become more important than ever. The increasing population and decreasing water bodies are going to lead a severe water shortage maybe even within our lifetimes. There are many things we can do at home to thoughtfully use this resource, and here are some top tips:

Think about the source: Since taps are the biggest source of water in our homes, it is important to decide a good model that allows water to be opened at lower forces with ease. If you have an older model that makes it tougher to regulate the flow, there are many attachments available that help to filter as well as distribute the water flow.

Use appliances that save water: The older methods of swabbing the floors may use more water especially with needing to change every time the water gets dirty. Using an appliance like a steam mop that uses a fixed quantity of water by effectively turning it into steam is a great option. Do check out the B&D Steam mop that also has a separate steam cleaning attachment if required.

Try to reuse: If it is possible to collect the soapy water from washing clothes and utensils, these can be reused for a variety of things from wiping the floors to watering plants. It also helps if you use environment free detergents so the water can be reused easily.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nagaon/4453432565/ 

Harvesting rainwater: If you have a good rainwater harvesting system in place, this can store a large quantity of water that can be used during the dry months. Even if it does not last until the next monsoon, you can still use this for watering your garden for quite a few months.

Educate families: It is very important for kids to understand the importance of saving water, and to learn habits such as turning off the tap when not in use. This will go a long way in spreading the word.

For more information about our steam mop and other appliances, please do visit our webpage: http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in

How to care for your garden in summer? - Black & Decker, India

With the summer heat beating down upon us, our green friends too suffer at the hands of the harsh sunlight. Here are a few tips to save your plants from getting sun-damaged:

Shifting the planters to a place where the heat doesn't beat down as fiercely-too much of sunlight can cause the plant to wilt. Provide a shade above or shift the pots to a shady place where the amount of sunlight is just right.

Using a water spray can be effective in two ways-one the water can seep through the mulch and penetrate deep into the roots and two, this also saves precious amount of water in the season of water scarcity.

Watering the plants early in the morning or late in the evening will reduce the amount of water lost due to evaporation.  Also, watering deeply rather than frequently will ensure more water penetration and this is especially true for grass lawns.

Providing more mulch through dried twigs, leaves, etc will help the soil to remain moist. Mulch also provides the extra fertilizer needed for the plants.

Plants need more fertilizer during summer and by composting at home, one can provide the rich and organic fertilizer to the plants. Tips to effectively compost at home can be found here.

Regular pruning and trimming of hedges, shrubs and plants must be done to avoid excess water transpiration. In addition, the plants look better cared for and thrive better.

Black&Decker provides a range of tools for your outdoor gardening requirements. To know more about our products, please visit our website http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in or log on to our FB page https://www.facebook.com/BlackandDeckerIndia to get regular updates.

Imbibing the mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle in our lives - Black & Decker, India

We are leaving our carbon imprints all over, leaving precious little of the resources for our future generation. With the World Earth Day just behind us, it is a good time to take stock of the damage done and find ways to quickly arrest further damage to the environment and planet Earth.

Surprisingly, for the amount of destruction all around with garbage mounds piling everywhere, increasing pollution and traffic levels, it requires fairly simple exercises to correct the situation. The golden mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle has to be incorporated in every aspect of our living.

Reduce: reduce the amount of stuff that comes into the house. It might be interesting to note that a large percentage of purchases go unutilized due to improper planning and impulse buying. Buying re-fill pouches for repeated purchase of the same item is one way of reducing the number of bottles or cans coming into your house.

Re-use: old bottles and cans can be re-used to store odds and ends. Fancy looking bottles can be creatively given a make-over to fit into the living room or used as planters in your balcony. Old curtains or cushion covers that are no longer required can be made into interesting cloth bags or even framed to adorn your wall. Similarly, old clothes can be given to needy people like your maid/car cleaner, driver or cook.

Re-cycle: After Bangalore suffered the garbage crisis a few months back, the segregation of waste for recycle has become mandatory for all the households. Indeed, if we can segregate the recyclable waste, precious resources can be brought back to life. Water needs to be conserved and can be recycled for use. Many individuals and apartments have their own sewage water treatment and rain harvesting plants.

At Black & Decker, we provide you a range of useful appliances to make your home cleaning needs easier. Do visit our website http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in or log on to our FB page https://www.facebook.com/BlackandDeckerIndia to get regular updates.

How our appliances have evolved-then and now - Black & Decker, India

The evolution theory of life can be applied to a lot of areas, especially technology, from the last few decades. We have certainly come a long way from using landline phone to going cordless to wireless to now having palm sized tablets that combine the activities of a phone and a computer.

This evolution is evident in the kind of appliances we use today too. Clearly the shift is from bulky, inconsistent, power and energy consuming to sleek, consistent and power and energy efficient. Black and Decker is proud to be a part of this sleek and efficient era with its product scoring in the  areas of appearance, maintenance, power consumption and effective and user friendly features and options.

In the age when there were no vacuum cleaners, the dust has to be physically wiped off using time consuming procedures. Then, came the bulky ones that were difficult to maneuver and clean. The attachments they came with did not clearly cover all the complexities of cleaning and the tough to reach areas got invariably left out. Maintaining the huge gadgets were a constraint in terms of energy consumption and also space.

Who would have thought a vacuum cleaner like the ORB-IT 4.8V Dustbuster would be so efficient in spite of its compact and sleek looks? The equipment could easily pass off as an ornamental show-piece!

This is the new age of DIY techniques where one can do away with the services of the good old local carpenter. Simple tasks like having nails hammered to complex tasks like designing and manufacturing your own coffee table can be done with new age tools.

A cordless 500W Powered Drill ideal for home drilling and hammer action suitable for drilling into masonry

Similarly in case of cleaning areas that needed pressure wash like your vehicle, B&D offers an unbelievable range in the pressure washer products that are suited to clean moderate to heavily soiled surfaces like that of a car, tiles in the garden path or the garage shutters.

A powerful & heavy duty washer from Black & Decker with Induction motor for smooth & continuous run.

To know more about our products, please visit our website http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in or log on to our FB page https://www.facebook.com/BlackandDeckerIndia to get regular updates.

  

Why your maid will love cleaning your house now? - Black & Decker, India

Getting the maid clean up and dust the house on a regular basis can be a loathsome task for many a homemaker. Forget the tough corners which anyway get their face lift only on special occasions, even regular surfaces seem neglected.

Complaints like, “oh, Madam, I cannot bend as much. My back hurts.” or “the air is full of dust; I cleaned the table surface only yesterday. What can I do if the dust gathers every few hours?!” are common and to be fair not completely untrue.

Now all of this can be wished away like a bad dream. Cleaning appliances from Black and Decker are especially designed to suit the convenience of the customer and its features are so easy to use that even your maid can operate them without any difficulty.

Take for instance, the FSM1600 Steam Mop that effectively kills up to 99% of the bacteria from the floor surface and that too without using any chemical solution. It comes with excellent user-friendly features like releasing the right amount of steam for your floor type and stopping the steam when parked upright, all automatically. It glides easily across the floor and even maneuvers effortlessly around furniture and hard to reach corners.  Isn’t this a boon for anyone who uses the mop? Now, who can make up excuses when an appliance takes care of every detail!

Another such beauty is the ORB-IT 4.8V Dustbuster that is designed for intricate dusting and cleaning. It is a compact tool that also provides quick and hassle free cleaning.  It is also easy to empty out its contents and maintain. Since it also comes without a cord, maneuvering and mobility is never a problem. 

If cleaning of your hob, sink, toilets and bath tubs required you to pay a special allowance to the maid for the complexity and hard work, the FSS1600 Steambuster is the ideal solution. It cleans deep and uses steam to get rid of tough stains like grease, killing bacteria without using any surface cleaning agent. What’s more, it comes with 10 professional cleaning attachments included for cleaning cookers, hobs and BBQ’s, shower screens and tiles, bathtubs, sinks, taps and toilets.

To know more about our products, please visit our website http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in or log on to our FB page https://www.facebook.com/BlackandDeckerIndia to get regular updates.

Kids and Cleaning Up - Black & Decker, India

At this time of the year, though it’s great fun to have the kids around the home, it makes for a lot of extra cleaning up for you too. The thing to remember though is that even young kids can help you out around the house, if only you give them that responsibility. Here are some ways you can try out:

Cleaning the yard: This might have meant using a broom or a rake in earlier times, but with appliances like the Black & Decker Blower, this can be fun for the kids too. All you need to ensure is that they are supervised at all times, as children should never be left on their own with power tools. You can even use the blower function of your vacuum cleaner for the same.

Washing the car: Even a few years back, kids would have moaned and groaned about this activity, but with the help of one of our pressure washers the kids are sure to enjoy the task. It uses the focused pressure of water and has a control to limit wastage too. If you can use harvested rainwater for the task that would be great too.

Floor cleaning: Kids may not be able to help you in areas where they have to maneuver too much, but in rooms like the living room where there is a lot of clear space to be cleaned up, they can feel really proud to help out. They can use the Steam Mop, or any of the vacuum cleaners such as the Wet and Dry one for this task.

Garden Care: Children love to work in the garden, so they can help you out with a bit of de-weeding from time to time. If you have a lawn space, they can also try out our electric lawn mover for a quick trim from time to time.

GR3400 Electric Lawn Mower

As you can see, there are a ton of activities that the kids can help you out with, during the holidays. A good way to go about it is to plan one chore along with other fun activities every day. Do check out our website for details on our appliances:

http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in

How to keep kids busy in the summer holidays - Black & Decker, India

It’s that time of the year again, when kids go crazy with happiness, and parents may groan just a little bit with trying to keep them occupied in a useful way. This means finding something to do that could keep them away from the television and video games for a major part of the day. Here are some ideas:

Plan a lot of physical activity: Trips to the park, to the amusement park and even that long put-off activity of learning cycling – this is the best time for it all. It will increase the time you spend with your kids, as well as keep them happy to be active. If you can plan some of these as a group of kids and parents, that will make it even more enjoyable.

Indoor fun: If you leave kids indoors for too long, they tend to gravitate towards the television or the computer. You can make it tougher for them to do this by planning an interesting DIY activity such as this one. Older children can even help you with more difficult DIY tasks such as painting a wall, and simple cleaning up activities.

Summer camps: Most of us would have put children in at least one summer camp to keep them occupied for a couple of weeks away from home. Try to choose one according to the interest of the child, such as craftwork or carpentry. Another option is going for a camp with physical activities, which would help the children pick up a new sport like swimming or tennis.

Teach a new skill: This could be something as simple as reading that can open up a world of wonder for young children. If kids are interested, they could also learn something like knitting or crochet and make small decorative items to gift friends and relatives.

We hope you are having a great time with your kids during the holidays. For your DIY and cleaning tasks, we at Black & Decker provide a range of options to help you out. Please drop in at our website and have a look:

http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in

Cleaning Gadgets – Then and Now - Black & Decker, India

Like most other appliances, cleaning gadgets such as vacuum cleaners have also gone through a lot of changes, and the present look and function is very different from what they started out to be. Here are some interesting tidbits from the history of cleaning appliances over the years:

1860: Daniel Hess may have been the first to invent and patent a vacuum device, but he called his invention a carpet sweeper. It used rotating brushes and bellows, and even had a water filtration mechanism for the dirt.

1901: Hubert Cecil Booth is considered the inventor of the first electric vacuum cleaning device, and he envisioned a gadget that sucked away the dust, rather than blowing it away which was the way until then. He received a British patent for his device in this year, and after demonstrating his device in a restaurant, two other Americans also constructed variations on the same.

1908: James Spangler created the first portable and electric suction-cleaning appliance, and this was the one that would be bought by his cousin’s husband William Hoover, to become the famous Hoover – the brand synonymous with home vacuum cleaners for many years.

1909: Other players like Fred Wardell who started the Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company also enter the fray, with Eureka producing some of the first light vacuum cleaners of the time.

1920: The first vacuum cleaner with a disposable bag was introduced.

1955: The re-usable bags that you find in vacuum cleaners even today, were introduced this year.

1979: Black & Decker revolutionized the field with their device that was a cordless and handheld vacuum cleaner – the Dustbuster.

1981: James Dyson filed the patent for the first bagless cyclonic vacuum cleaner.

 The sleek and shiny vacuum cleaners that we see nowadays definitely may not bear too much resemblance to what they looked like more than a hundred years ago. Black & Decker offers you a complete range of options – from upright to handheld, corded to cordless and more. Please do check our website for details of all models:

http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in

B&D History – Did you know?

Black & Decker completed a 100 years of existence in 2010 and we have come a long way from our humble beginnings. We have a blog post about the major milestones here. In this post, we try to bring you some other interesting details about this journey:

1910: When Duncan S. Black and Alonzo G. Decker founded The Company in a small shed in Baltimore, Maryland, the first devices they worked on were a bottle-capping machine and a candy-dipping device.

1916-17: Black & Decker patented its first portable electric drill, and the device was related to a portable air-compressor that was also patented.

1921: We were pioneers in the use of media, and this was the year that full-page advertisements for Black & Decker started appearing in the newspapers.

1946: The son of one of the founders, Alonzo G. Decker Jr. noticed that workers were borrowing the industrial power drills for their home repairs, and here began the idea of the home utility drills and the DIY revolution.

1954: The famous billowing skirt photo of Marilyn Monroe was shot with the help of a primitive version of the Black & Decker leaf blower. (Source article here)

1968: The next time you use a cordless drill from B&D, do remember the thrilling fact that an earlier model has been used to drill and take samples on the moon during the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions.

1984: The Statue of Liberty and nearby buildings underwent a major restoration and Black & Decker were the official supplier of power tools for this major event.

1992: The original drill from 1916 was presented this year to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. to be preserved and displayed for posterity.

Sources:

1.    http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-03-14/news/bal-black-decker-timeline_1_black-decker-stanley-works-power-drill

2.    http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/120-years-setting-trend/story-18354055-detail/story.html#axzz2PPeRCu9c

3.    http://www.blackanddecker100years.com/Timeline/

We hope you enjoyed that compilation. For a look at our present-day tools, please do check out our website: http://www.blackanddeckerindia.in