New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-11

Its Does Good Work an q Trial on
MddisoR-4 Uf. 4sDkGH.

Last Wednesday about mon remarkable vehicle
drawn by three horses. putting away like a racing
automobile Of the gasOlene variety and squirting
water downward with such force that everything
resembling dirt swept 10 the curbs and washed
into the sewers. appeared in Madison-ave. at Thirty
second-st. The machine bore q striking resemblance
70 the upper part OF a railway locomotive loaded
a wagon with the cab forward. and was source
OF great interest to pedestrians and the throng in
carriages. Drivers and chaureurs could not help
observing that the asphalt. after The big vehicle
had passed was remarkably clean and free from
the slime which renders the pavement dangerous
IN moderately damp weather.
The big machine is the invention OF a New
Yorker. and appeared the avenue under the
direction OF Chief Engineer Stearns. Commissioner
Wooibury's mechanical and engineering expert, for
the purpose Of thorough of its efficiency and
economy a means for cleaning the paved streets
OF the city. Engineer Stearns told the Tribune
ported who Witnessed the test that the device had
fully indicated its right consideration an i'm
provement in flushing the streets clearing them
Of the sorts Of filth that most Injurious to
health and most difficult to remove. No means
except thorough washing has been found for
removing slime from the pavements, he said. and
the methods Of hose flushing heretofore employed
have proved inadequate. slow. costly and wasteful
regards the supply.
The machine tested was hastily built for the
purpose, and mounted upon a heavy four
wheeled truck, drawn by horses but the perfected
device viii be propelled by the same gusolene motor
that is employed to compress the air required to
force out the water al a much higher pressure
than from the ordinary sprinkler.
BY the use OF meters 1t found that the big
tank when loaded, contained l6l cubic feet OF 1s0
gallons. OF water. This water was expelled from
spray few inches from the pavement for three
and a halS minutes. the horses travelling with the
vehicle distance OF five blocks along the avenue
during that time. The pressure at which The water
was expelled was forty pounds to the square inch,
md
from the curb on one side to within about third
of the width OF the from the opposite curb.
One trip up the avenue and another down effective
IL swept into the sewer openings every vestige of
dirt. One load OF water therefore, thoroughly
cleaned the street for two and n half blocks. the
amount OF water expended being sixty-four cubic
feet block. and the time required being one min
and twenty-four seconds a block
Mr. SttaTns said that caleIul test o; hose flush
Ing by hand the method now in use. showed that
l55 cubic feet Of water used. and the best
lire made VAS nine minutes, the discharge beng
pounds. The auto pneumatic flushing wagon. there
fore. saved for each block cleaned Elnetytwo cubic
feet OF 90 gallons. of water, and performed the
work ia los than oTe-seVenth Of tie t.m,. Be
sl-c@ Mr.. SteaTLs said. the street much cleaner
after the passage of rhe wagon than ii could be
made tN hose flushing with only hyirant pressure.
same tcfce feIlIed I0r a.,u huSnlns ana Win a
saving CT approximately % 800 cubic feet 100000
hattan could he cleaned far better than now in
about o1e-seventh Of the tine. Besides, he said,
pedestrians and sUlashing vehicles with the hose
would be entirely ohyiated by adopting the auto
Is directed downward and forward at such an angle
thar it does not splash over the curb or rise TO
any INJURIOUS height. even in the roadway.
The same easolene motor that will pTopel the
ii empties maintaining a uniform pressure OF forty
pounds until the last cubic foot OF water has left
Niagara, supplied by The Standard Street Flushing
Machine Company. OF New-York- 1t was built for
and Foundry Company