Use the double sided tape to adhere the rugs to the floor. Mineral spirits will remove any adhesive residue and not harm your floors.
My mother has these all round the house and they work like a charm - they don't shift unless you really give it some welly!
I think they just beat the dirt out of the rugs. Dirt was everywhere, so its not like they had a vacuum cleaner to run and its not like thay had rugs glued to the floor, like we do today. The rugs they used were throw type rugs. The big rugs would ha...