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Remember washing your hands after using a public restroom and instead of a paper towel or blow dryer, there was a continuous-rolling cloth towel dispenser? Would you be surprised to learn that they're still being made today by one company that just so happens to be located here in Utica.

It's true. Darman Manufacturing located on Lennox Avenue in Utica first patented the device back in 1936 and while the dispenser has been slightly improved over the years, it's still being manufactured and used I public restrooms. While you'll find a few of them scattered throughout local businesses, they're extremely popular in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

It turns out, the towel really is clean. There are two completely separate chambers inside the cabinet. The chamber on the bottom, houses the tightly wrapped clean portion pdf the towel, which is about 40 yards long. When the towel is soiled, it rolls up into the top chamber. Each cabinet is good for about 140 pulls of the towel.

“We were  green before green was a thing,” said Maxwell Darman who runs the company with his family. The continuous rolling towel dispenser is environmentally friendly, hygienic, and cost-effective, according to Darman. "Our products combine American manufacturing with precision engineering to bring you a product built to last," he said. "The machine is made of steel," said Darman. He says in places like Australia, it's the preferred choice of bars and restaurants for hand drying.

The continuous towel dispenser is heavy duty and costs about $125, and extra towels sell for about $50. The The soiled towels are washed, either by a professional cleaning company or in a home washing machine. Darman also has a paper towel dispenser that they manufacture and sell.

Darman says there are several reasons that their dispenser is better than other options, including,

•Doesn’t Use Electricity

•Better for the Environment

The cloth roll towels are absorbent, and the fabric is a blend of 70% cotton and 30% polyester, which makes the towels effective at drying hands quickly and completely, according to their website.