The Washington times., 1902-12-23
MAN VS.. MACHINE IN
Street SWEEPING
German Device Attracting
Much Attention.
WARNER STUTLER'S OPINION
Superintendent of Street Cleaning Be
lieves white Wings" Cannot Be
Replaced.

Much interest Is manifested at the Dis
trict Building in a new street sweeping
machine recently perfected in Dussei
dorf, Germany. This machine Is a COM
bination sweeper and sprinkler. taking
up the filth from the street and dump
ing e in cart attached TO the ap-
paTatus behind The new street cleaner
was on exhibition az the Dusseldorf EX-
position. and is said 10 nave. attracted
wide attention among visitors al the
fair.
The apparatus has a large water tank
under the drivers seat. from which a /
stream is thrown over the surface Of the .
pavement in front OF the brushes. which
revolve underneath in the center OF the !
wagon. The brushes are fitted to flexible I
fixtures which adjust them TO any uneven 1
parts Of the pavement. and literally :
all the dirt is taken up.
After being swept up by the brushes /
the dirt is deposited upon a revolving /
apron which carries il upward and over
the hind wheels Of the vehicle into the /
card behind. when full the cart is de- /
tsched and an empty one takes its place. /
the full cart being drawn away 10 the
dump.
similar machine was invented two or
three years ago in New York and was
tried in Washington.
Claims of Inventors
II is claimed by the inventors Of the
Dusseldorf cleaner that Il win do the
work Of q whole squad OF White
Wings" and do il much cheaper and
bet;er In the printed announcements
OF the invention sent 10 the Street
Cleaning Department It Is stated that
the hand cleaning brigade is doomed
because Of the economy Of the new in
vention.
Warner Stutler. Superintendent Of
Street Cleaning. in speaking Of the mat
Ter yesterday said that the New York
apparatus was tried here about three
years ago with fairly good results. ItI
swept the streets and did the work
we'll But he said that this or any
other machine doing the work by horse
power would never supeTscdc the White
Wings" for the reason that machine
sweeping has 20 be done at night while
the streets are free from traffic This.
he said. resulted in clean streets at
night and the early hours OF the morn
ing and dirty pavements in the after
noon and evening.
Mr.. Stutler maintains that the me-
chanical devices must Of necessity be so
large and heavy that they cannot be
worked in the day time when the streets
are crowded with wagons and vehicles.
while the hand-cleaners can move about
among the teams standing or in motion
and keep the streets in good condition
throughout the day.
The cleaning Of streets by hand in
the morning and the patrol for eight
hours through the day. in Mr.. Stutler's
opinion. is the ideal method It results
in clean pavements all day and not for
a few hours only Furthermore, the eX-
perience in Washington has been al
ways that the hand-cleaning is the
cheapest per square yard.
Comparison of Costs.
Mr. stutler presented some interesting
figures relative to the comparative cost
OF hand and machine cleaning OF streets
FOR the last fiscal year II appears that
210 men worked in the hand cleaning
service for 272 days They cleaned an
area Of 575. .992.92O square yards. at a
cost Of so, $3.50. and took away TO the
dumps Sc 3l6 cubic yards OF debris The
equipment for hand cleaning was "A
horses. II wagons. II sets OF harness.
100 hard sweeping machines. 100 bag
carriers. 200 snow scrspers, and 500
shovels. all owned by the District
The machine sweeping is done under
contract and the contractor worked 236
days. cleaning 2O752s1sS square yards
At cost OF s37 .355.05, involving 1891
cubic yards OF debris.
The cost by hand cleaning was 15-4
cents for each 900 yards. and the ma
chine cleaning cost IS cents for caci
1000 yards.
MIR. Stutler called attention to the fact
that in Paris. Berlin and other European
cities the hand cleaning Is on the in
crease on all the fine streets. Probabll
the best results achieved in the worl'
are 10 be found in Paris. where nc iltl
is allowed 10 lie on the streets for
period Of five minutes. There the omni
present. alert and efficient hand cleane
is seen in his glory.
Will Not Banish "White Wings"
The superintendent Of street cleaning
evinccd much interest 10 the Dusseldor
machine. but be said be had no ide'
that n would prove 10 be the means o
banishing The man I'm white uniform from
The streets and avenues OF Washington
ON the G,her hand. be thought the ma
chine would prove just as heavy an
cumbersome as the machines now EN-
ployed. which cannot be used by day a
all. because Of the interference wit
trsfic.
Mr. stutler believed that the true solu
tion Of cleaning city payemgnts is han
sweeping by day and flushing with waite
by night. lie has been trying for the pas
two years 20 secure an appropriate
from Congress which will enable him q
flush such thoroughfares as Pennsyl
yauia Avenue and r Street every nigh
10 summer from end 20 end. In the no
weather the asphalt pavements. he says
become covered with an oleaginous coat
ing that no kind OF sweeping will re