Minuteman automatic spaceband cleaner - linotype?

The Linotype machine inserts a spaceband when you key a word space in composition. Once a full line is set the spacebands are compressed to expand their dimension to make the word spaces take up any remaining space in the line. They need to be clean to move freely.

This contraption seems to be devised to keep them in good working order.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Where I worked spaceband cleaning was the first job of the day.
They were cleaned by hand using powdered graphite supplied by Linoytpe; they were cleaned until the wedged shape insert would travel the full distsnce smoothly.
I still have some of the graphite even after being retired for 17 years, and is ideal for lubricating items with a close fit,such as telescopic tubing.

I think this type of space band machine was is a large newspaper composing rooms. The two newspaper here in Houston that used hot metal until the early 80 had about 20 to 30 Linotypes each. If there was a machine to clean space band I am sure these newspaper owned them.

I worked in smaller shops and we only had 6 Intertypes and cleaning space bands was a job people hated to do because of the powdered graphite on your hands.