Every railway company faces the problem of how to remove discarded chewing gum within the station and stuck to platforms, yet encounters opposition to proposals of stopping gum sales at station kiosks. Enter the Gumtoru... toru being the Japanese for remove.
The Japan Railway West Trading Co. Ltd., and Suiden Co. Ltd., an industrial electric fan and vacuum cleaner manufacturer, have developed a special gum-removing vacuum cleaner to deal with this problem.
A peeling spatula is attached to the end of the body of the machine, which works in combination with a special liquid remover. As the gum is removed from the flooring it is vacuumed into the machine.
Available in a variety of colours, scrape up one for around ¥198,000.
