New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-05-03
CLEAN STREE rs.

Science me asures all things-the weight Of the at
mosphere, the speed Of lightning, the depth Of the
ocean, ard has even condescended laely to gauge
the powers of mud. No easy tack our readers will
agree with lie, in a city lile that Of Manchester.
ENGLAND where the dense coal smoke from thou
sand manufactures is constantly borne to the ground
by humid atmosphere, to mix there with the clsyey
sod forced up from beneath the psvements by the con-
slant travel of heavy carts. Yet even there this
plague Of modern cities has by the aid of science,
be- n robbed of its terrors to dainty clean stockings
AID long flowing iOunces, and we do not see why 1t
should not be 90 bere under the far favorable in
fuepcts Of sky and climate we enjoy. True, move
mep,-a heeled movement-has just been m aie-in-
aueursted is the pet phrasein right direction; but
by any hone ct people the scope and capabilities of
the street sweeping machines are little understood,
and by mary intelligent voters are very naturally
disliBed.
We therefore propose to lay before our readers
sketch of the operations Of these machines, "a de-
scrbtd by The inventor and patentee, Mr. Joseph
Whit Fortb, lone Of the Commissioners from Great
Britain to cur late Crystal Palace before the Com
missoners appointed by the House Of Commons to
itQure into the health of towns, aud whose interest
il = report is now before The mods of operating
with the machine viii, trust, before long become
familiar citizens, and for the present We msy de-
scribe the apparatus as series Of brooms Suspended
"fIom a Eight frame Of wrought irOn hung behind
Common cart the body of which lie placed near the
"eIourd for greater facility in loading. AS the cart
wheels revolve the broous successfully sweep tho
surface Of the ground, and carry the soi up an
"iuclined or csnier plate, at the top Of which it falls
into the bo5y If ,he cart. Thus it will be seen
that the three processes In cleaning, as now Prao-
t.csd w Sweeping, loa ling, and csryiDg-the two
former absorbing large amount of humzn labor
Gre performed simultaneously; and not only this,
but" whereas by the present mode the dut is first
swept from the center to the sides of the street. and
"there collected into heaps. each particle moving
through 20 feet Of space before the operation OF
loading commences by the machine the dirt is
swept and carried, by one and the same movement,
from the spot ia which it lies. The operation OF
"sweeping 10 fact, mergss in that Of lcsdirg, aud
both are performed without the Intervention Of hui
"nan labor While going d. the rate Of only two
miles per hour, with broons three feet wide the
patent machine will c'esn nearly co superficial
"eousre verbs per minute. Tel. is about the aver
I" sgo rate of work dope by 80 men"-that Is, Man-
chester men. We imagine cur imported scayengers
would sco,n to take fueh name advantage of the
uU-'nc cfb'Or, linus, III qu7iic- VI o. "'"i, 'SS
sclDe performs nearly the days work OF one N An
Many ether Collateral advantages are found; tsuI,
the machine moving constantly aud unilterrRptedy,
the time and force wasted by continual sioppsges
are saved. The humber Of carts aud hor es required
for given effect is found by practice to be reduced.
TIE peIpleay Of adjusting The number ofsweepsrs to
the number DdreurD OF the carte the loading may
imrne dstely follow the sweeping sadly neglected,
however, In Gotham is entirely obvia,ed, as esch
acts iIGeperderDy, having in connection with itself
al the Necessary accessories. Thus the condition
bumsni'y 10 The form Of our scavepger friend, Pat Is
al once elevated; be is sweeper loader, sad earrier
ell IN ore, ard he may comfortably carry an um-
brells while bic cart tail performs his work for him.
Besides the omnibuses uust get out of bis way then
Still further. Every thrifty housewife knows tho,
her house once thoroughly cleaned it is eisiy kept
cesp end This axiom is lees true as regards clean
streets, and the following table, from Mr. Whworth's
Report shows, beyond oil cay that the streets be.
ing once cleaned very little labor is required to keep
them TO:
No. Of ynds No 81 loads Ave No Of
Dis,ics swept Iemoysd yards 2 loio.
Tewr.Iip, issi, is42. 81 $4,000 2aes s5s
The portion swept by
nechpes the latter - 49,
ytH......s......... oot tVV if-o' t''0
We have very little doubt that years sweeping
by the machines in New-York would show still more
striking results than the above, as Il is distinctly
stated that the Kind Of surface does not make any
" difference 1t has been worked regularly on every
40 ind NJ sfreef sprface-the round and square set