Improvements in Machines 'or Apparatus for Sweeping and Collecting the Dirt or Refuse from Roadways or other Surfaces.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 3rd Oct., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines 'or Apparatus for Sweeping and
Collecting the Dirt or Refuse from Roadways or other Surfaces.
I, RICHMOND SMITII of 47 Chester Street, Birkenhead in the County of
Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and' ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to that kind of sweeping and collecting machine or apparatus
in which there is found combined with the sweepers an elevator and a receptacle,
the former receiving the dirt or refuse from the sweepers and elevating such into
the receptacle where it is retained as the sweeping proceeds until a convenient place
is reached for its discharge.
In such kind of sweeping and collecting machines or apparatus, it is very desirable
that the various parts should be both strong and uncomplicated, whereby the good
working of the machine or apparatus is secured; my improvements have, therefore,
for their object to so perfect the construction of these machines or apparatus that
the likelihood of their getting out of order is very much reduced, besides which I
provide meaus whereby the different parts which bear on the roadway or other
surface can, when desired, be easily controlled from one convenient point and be
elevated from the road way or other surface, thereby preventing wear, and retained
in such elevated position until they are again wanted to be lowered into position for
use; a further improvement has for its object to secure the dirt or refuse being all
thrown from the elevator into the receptacle to receive it.
Reference being had to the two accompanying sheets of drawings and to the
figures and letters of reference marked thereon, similar letters indicating like parts
in each of the figures :-
:-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a machine or apparatus constructed
according to my invention, the section is taken on the line of Figure 2.
Figures 2 and 3 are respectively a plan from underneath and from above the tank
of Figure 1.
Figures 4, 5 and 6 on Sheet 1 are views of details hereinafter described.
The machine, as will be seen from the drawings, cousists of a tank-cart mounted
on wheels, the under part of the tank carries the sweepers, whilst the elevator
passes through the tank into which the dirt or refuse is delivered from the head of
the elevator.
A, is the tank, which is suitably mounted on four wheels B B B B, the latter
carry the entire machine or apparatus and enable it to be drawn along over the
surface to be swept. The tank may be of any convenient dimensions and shape,
but an opening C, Figure 1, is provided through it to allow of the passage of the
elevator D, and it should, further, be provided with a cover or hood E, Figure 1,
about the head of the elevator, so that the dust and dirt are prevented escaping
into the open.
On the under part of the tank so formed, the sweepers, with their various supports
and connections, are applied.
I prefer that the sweepers should be as shown in the drawings, namely, two
front ones arranged obliquely and converging to the foot of the elevator, these two
front sweepers sweep up the dirt or refuse, and bring it to the shovel or pan of the
olevator, whilst a third and roar sweeper sweeps up any dirt or refuse which might
be passed over by the olevator. FF are the front sweepers, and G is the rear
one; these sweepers may be of any kind suited for the purpose in view; the
kind I profer are such as are shown in the drawings, namely, circular revolving
brushes.
It is very desirable, that the means employed for supporting, driving and suspending

page_text: these sweepers should be of a strong and uncomplicated nature; I therefore con-
struot and arrange the parts forming such as follows:-
I mount each of the sweepers F F G in curved arms a a a and bolt, or other-
wise attach, to the underside of the tank A, brackets aad, of a strong and simple
kind, and into these brackets- the upper cross bars of the curved arms of the
sweepers F F pass, while the curved arms of the sweeper G may simply have
their upper ends connected to the lower end of their bracket by means of a pin, the
lower end of the bracket being flattened, the più passing through such flattened end
and the upper ends of the arms.
.
Besides the brackets a¹ a¹ a¹, I apply, to the underside of the tank A, two
further series of brackets a² a² a a² and a³ a³ a³ a³, respectively, the brackets a gre.
for holding the parts by which the sweepers are driven, whilst the brackets aliave
pulleys mounted in them over which can pass the ropes by means of which the
Sweepers as hereinafter described, can be elevated and supported.
Both series of brackets a² and a³ are like the series a' in that they are of a strong.
and simple kind:
I drive the sweepers so that they will revolve, and sweep up the dirt and refuse
by means of gearing arranged as follows:
On the rear axle of the machine is mounted a bevelled cog wheel fastened to
the loose part of the clutch, the other part of the clutch is fixed firmly to the
rear axle of the machine and can revolve with it, and, accordingly as the two parts
of the clutch are brought into connection or not, the wheel, when the machine is
at work, will revolve, thereby imparting motion by means of the small bevelled cog.
wheels at each end of the shaft to the cog wheels ³ ³ at each end of the counter-
shaft b', the bevel wheels on this countershaft in turn communicate motion
to the small shafts and it is from these latter shafts the two oblique front
sweepers directly receive motion by means of the pulleys and belts 6.67 and 68.
On the other hand, the rear sweeper of the machine is in connection with the cog
wheel by means of the following arrangement of parts:-
Ou the collar at the back face of the cog wheel is mounted a pulley e, which
pulley will revolve or remain stationary accordingly as the wheel b revolves or not.
A belt from this pulley drives a small pulley, mounted on a spindle. which is
fastened in one of the curved arms a in which the sweeper G is mounted.
Figures 4 and 5 more clearly illustrate this arrangement of parts, Figure 4 being
an outline elevation showing the different parts applied to the curved arm a, whilst
Figure 5 are views showing such arin with the spindle and bearing for the
different parts. The spindle c³ carries, besides the pulley c, a cog wheel ct, and
this latter, gearing into a. cog wheel c, will, as it revolves, cause the latter to also
revolve, thereby revolving the rear sweeper of the machine as the cog wheel c* is
keyed or otherwise fastened to the spindle of the sweeper, the end of which
passes through and is journalled in the circular opening e, Figure 5, at the bottom
of the arm a.
The sweepers FF, arranged and driven in the foregoing manner, as they revolve,
will sweep up the dirt and refuse from the sides and bring it into a centre line, so
that the pan or trough I can shovel it up, into a receptacle H ont of which it can
be taken by the elevator.
This receptacle H consists of two sides d d, a back d' and a bottom ď³.
I support and hold this receptacle in the following way :-
The two sides d'lie level with the two uprights of the elevator to which they are
attached by means of small angle irons d³ d, whilst the bottoms of the two uprights
are made of a curved shape dd, and the bottom corners, d of the receptacle H
are correspondingly enlarged and curved, such corners d³ passing on the inside
of the curved portions of the bottoms of the two uprights to which they are
held by means of rivets. At the front end of, the bottom d² of the receptacle H,
I pivot a little pan or trough I with wheels dd, which keep it from rubbing
directly on the ground and thus becoming worn out, whilst the rear end of the
bottom d² of the receptacle H is curved, as shown in Figure 1, to allow of the

page_text: rear sweeper G revolving up against. it, so that what dust and refuse may escape
at the front of the machine or apparatus can be carried up and be led to the
buckets of the clevator. The portion of the front end of the bottom of the
receptacle H has a strip d' applied to it, and also the pivot joining the pan or
trough Ito the receptacle H is located. so that, when the parts are to be lifted from
off the roadway or other surface, the strip d', applied to the front cut away portion
of the bottom d, will, as the receptacle H rises, bear on the rear of the pan or
trough, and so the latter, resting on such cut away portion, will be borne up and
be raised from off the ground along with the receptacle as such rises.
The dirt and refuse so brought into the receptacle H by means of the
sweepers FFG and the small pan or trough I is elevated out of such by means of
the bucket elevator, which is constructed as follows:-
Two uprights K L are arranged to pass through the tank A of the machine. or
apparatus: These uprights KL are supported and, are controlled, at their upper
ends, by the arrangement of arms hereinafter described; whilst I apply at each side
of the opening C of the tank, at its top and bottom, as seen from Figure 1, guide
plates, two for each upright KL; whereby the uprights would be prevented from
any but an upward or downward movement.
At the bottom and top of the uprights K L are seated tumblers M N over which
the link chain O, with its buckets I' passes. The tumbler M is made use of foi
receiving the necessary motion whereby the link chain O with its buckets P are
kept travelling when the machine or apparatus is at work, whilst the tumbler N is
50 arranged that none of the dirt and refuse, as the latter leaves the buckets P.P
to be deposited into the tank A, will be apt to escape and fall down through the
opening C.
The necessary motion for revolving the tumbler M is obtained by means of a
chain belt and two pulleys; on the rear axle of the machine and in connection
with the pulley e is another pulley e, whilst there is a smaller pulley e¹ on the pro-
longed end e of the axle of the tumbler M, a chain belt e passes over the pulleys.e
and e', it will be seen that the pulley e being in connection with the pulley c is
indirectly in connection with the clutch b', so that when the two parts of the latter
are in connection, the pulley e, along with the bevelled gearing 6 and pulley c, will
also revolve,, thereby driving the chain belt e³ and the pulley e' by means of which
the tumbler M is revolved and so the elevator consisting of the link chain with its
buckets be set in motion.
The arrangement, applied to the tumbler M to secure the dirt or refuse being
thrown from the buckets P of the elevator into the tank A to receive it and to
provide that none of the dirt or refuse will escape and fall down through the
opening C, consists in applying or fastening at the angles of the tumbler Ñ flaps
or vanes of such a width and depth that they will just clear and be able to pass
through the links of the link chain O, whilst the angle at which they stand from
the tumbler N must be such that whilst the space corresponding to the distance f
of the opening C is sufficiently protected, enough room will be allowed for the dirt
or refuse to fall clear out of the buckets and into the tank A; such an arrange-
ment will be clearly seen by reference to Figure 6.
As has been mentioned above, I provide means whereby the different parts
which bear on the roadway, or other surface being swept, can be easily controlled
from one convenient point and be elevated from the roadway or other surface when
desired.
9 g of
For this purpose, I provide on the top of the tank A, a screwed rod Q with
hand-wheel R suitably mounted in a bracket or pedestal S, to the free end of the
screwed rod Q is attached a pair of arms T'T', the ends of which are connected to
a pair of link rods U U¹, forming the kind of toggle joint, the lower ends
the linked rods U U are fastened to a stationary point on the top of the tank A
whilst the upper ends gl' are fastened to the tops of the two uprights K L. At
a suitable point in and between the two uprights K L, I arrange a pin V by which
ropes or light chains W are fastened. The rear ends of these ropes or chains W

page_text: .
are fixed fast at to the curved arms a a in which the sweeper G is mounted, from
this point the ropes or chains pass up and over and under the pulleys h¹ mounted
in the series of brackets as and the other ends of these ropes or chains W are fixed
fast at points on the cross bar of the curved arms a a of the sweepers F F. It
will be at once seen that by simply turning the hand wheel R in a certain direction,
the linked rods U U¹ will be distended in an upward direction, thereby elevating
the uprights K L and the pin V rising will draw up the ropes or chains W thereby
- causing the sweepers to be lifted from. off the roadway or other surface; at the
same time that the uprights K L with the sweepers F. F G are elevated, the
receptacle H will also rise lifting with it in the manner as has been hereinbefore
described the pan or trough I from off the roadway or other surface. To facilitate
the linked rods U U being distended I also provide a pair of strong springs X X¹
and brackets or pedestals Y Y the ends of the springs X X bearing on the
one hand in the brackets or pedestals Y Y and on the other hand against the
joint by which the link rods U U' are confined, the springs will consequently tend
to press outwards thereby helping to distend the linked rods U U', but besides
this purpose they also act as buffers to balance or counteract the weight of the
parts raised.
If desired so as to provide a check the screwed -rod Q could be extended
through its block, at the opposite end to the hand wheel R, and between the pair
of arms TT, and by putting on such extension a screwed collar with a set pin,
when the hand wheel R was revolved to lower the parts such screwed collar with
set pin could be made the means for arresting or checking any lower movement of
the parts beyond just what was necessary. Such an arrangement is shown in
Figure 7. It will be understood that the portion of the rod adjacent to the hand-
wheel R and in the bearing block S. is plane or unscrewed so that the rod itself
does not advance (but only revolves in the block S) but it is the arms T T¹ with
their block which advance and recede on the screwed portion of the rod.
It will be understood that my invention can be varied without departing from the
general spirit of the invention for instance a single sweeping roller can bring all the
dirt to the side of the cart beyond the wheels as is usual in ordinary sweeping
machines. The elevator can then be placed on the outside of the tank and delivered
into the tank by means of a side shoot.
Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, & in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The special arrangement of parts consisting of the series of brackets a' a
together with the gearing consisting of the cog wheels and chain belts and pulleys,
substantially as hereinbefore described and shown, whereby in a sweeping and
collecting machine of the kind described, the parts in connection with the mechanism
for driving the sweepers are of a strong and uncomplicated nature.
2. The special arrangement of parts, substantially as hereinbefore described and
ehown, for elevating or lifting, when desired, the sweepers and the-collecting pan
or trough in a sweeping and collecting machine of the kind described, from off the
roadway or other surface being swept.
3. The application, substantially as herein before described and shown, of a series
of flaps or vanes to the upper tumbler of an elevator, in a sweeping and
collecting machine of the kind described, for the purposes described.
4. The construction of the machine or apparatus for sweeping and collecting the
dirt or refuse from roadways or other surfaces, substantially as hereinbefore
described and shown.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
I
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.