The invention relates to a hand-operated wiping instrument for floors. The wiping instrument comprises a frame 1 with support and guide rollers 5, arranged at the front in the direction of movement F, and a wiping strip 7 arranged after said support and guide rollers in the direction of movement. The frame 1 supports a guide pole 3 with a handle 4 which is located in a plane A perpendicular to the direction of movement F, the distance a of which plane from the wiping strip 7 is substantially smaller than the distance b of the wiping strip 7 from the support and guide element 5. A wiping instrument of this type can be easily handled with a good wiping effect because the wiping strip is dragged and not pushed.
A wear pad for use with large machines used to pick up or push material from a flat surface, in which a wear pad is secured to the lip of the apparatus that pushes the material. The pad includes a plurality of similar abradable sections sandwiched together under compression with a pair of parallel edges, either of which may be positioned to function as the lead edge of the wear pad.