The Negro world., 1892-07-23
sTREET-swEEPiNo MACHINES.
How They Work and wnat They Cost
Attempts af Improvements.

tx y
HOY They xyovk and xvnat Thev t,o..-
Attempts at Improvements.
To the average citizen the street.
sweeping machine is an object of aver
sion and the cause of more or less pro-
family. 1t comes swishinp along lust
as he is going out for the evening and
kicks up cloud of dust which settles
on his new silk hat and fills his eyes
and mouth with the sediment of city
life and traffic. The sweeping machine,
however, is the result of a good deal OF
careful Designing and inventinp. and
luckless inventors are all the time
spending their time and money in the
effort to get up new and improved ma
chimes.
The standard sweeping machine is the
simplest form that can be gotten up;
for simplicity is a necessity to which all
other theoretical advantages have
yielded. A two-horse sweeper costs the
city four hundred and fifty dollars. 1t
has large pair of wheels behind aud a
small swiyelled truck in front. Under
the rear wheels is hung the cylindrical
broom, which is about ten feet long,
and which, when new, is about three
feet in diameter The brooms are used,
however, until they are worn down to
less than half that diameter. They are
made os a material called bass or of rat
tan. Sometimes bass and rattan are
mixed. Especially good results are
claimed for the combination as the stiff
rattan digs out the mud, while the finer
bass sweeps away the dust.
The broom is hung at an angle Of
sixty degrees To the line of travel of the
sweeper, which inelines it thirty de-
grees to the main axle. A countershaft
takes the motion from the revolving
axle, though beyel gearing and a
sprocket chain runs down from the
countershaft to the broom. The gear
ing is usually so proportioned that the
broom makes three revolutions to one
revolu tion of the rear wheels of the
sweeper, and in the opposite direction.
The broom can be lifted up and thrown
out of gear by the driver when the
machine is not sweeping
The dirt is tumbled over and over by
the broom, which gradually works to
the right-hand side and leaves it there
in windrow. The two-horse machine
sweeps a swath about eight feet wide
Twenty miles is considered a good
nights work for one machine and pair
of horses. As the machine must travel
back and forth from four to six times to
sweep street, it can sweep completely
only from three TO five miles of streets
in a night In Washington they use
large four-horse sweepers. because thev
can be handled to advantage in the
broad avenues of the capital. 1t would
be too much bother turning them
around in New York's narrow thorough
fares.
With the arrangement of brooms de-
scribed each particle of dust is swept
diagonally across the street and il It is
on the extreme left it will be carried
about forty feet forward in order to get
1t eight feet across to the window
where it is dropped. As the Joints of
the pavement run STRAIGHT across at
right angles, it is evidently desirable
that the broom should sweep along
these Joints. Not only would the
joints then be cleaned out. but the dirt
would be swept directly to the windrow
instead of being tumbled over and over
while the machine is travelling forty
feet. One engineer receutlv huilt a ma
chine that did sween exac4lv AZ r;gbt
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