IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING ROADS AND WAYS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Bondfield Westlake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th May 1877.
WILLIAM BONDFIELD WESTLAKE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan.
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING ROADS AND WAYS."
The object of this Invention is to provide a simple and efficient arrangement of
apparatus for collecting mud and refuse matters from streets or ways, and discharging
the same into attendant carts.
The apparatus consists of a carriage frame mounted on carrying wheels, and
fitted with a pair of shafts for receiving a draught horse. The rear end of this
frame is fitted to an inclined trough, which reaches down to the ground, and extends
upwards to any given height above the attendant cart which is to be loaded therefrom.
This trough is further secured by means of tie rods connected to side plates at its
upper end, and extending to side standards on the carriage frame.
The axle of the carrying wheels is fitted with a polygonal drum for receiving an
endless chain of scrapers, and the transverse rod which connects the tie rods together
forms the axle for a corresponding polygonal drum, over which the endless chain of
scrapers is laid. This endless chain receives its motion from the action of the
carrying wheels, and its blades gather up the mud and refuse matters presented to
them, and carrying the same up the inclined trough to be discharged from the
upper end thereof. This trough rests upon rollers which keep it just clear of the
ground, and in front of the trough is placed a pair of scrapers of peculiar construc-
tion, which are set diagonally so as to embrace at thoir forward ends a given width
of roadway, and scrape it clean by the advance of the apparatus, and at the same
time gather it into a contracted space in front of the trough that it may be taken
up by the blades of the endless chain. These scrapers are formed of a series of metal
blades attached to a pair of rigid frames, which are hinged to the sides of the trough.
These frames are further supported by cross tie rods, which are connected together
by a pivot pin, and are supported at their upper ends on a right and left handed
screw shaft, the threads of which work in tapped eyes in the rods. This screw shaft
is carried by the side standards before mentioned, and is turned by means of a
winch handle in order to adjust the degree of inclination of the scrapers to the line
of road.
The scraper frames are each composed of a pair of thin bars set sufficiently far
apart to provide a space for the admission of a set of scraper blades, and their free
1

page_text: action therein. These blades are slotted vertically to receive transverse bolts, which
connect the bars of the frame together and form guides for the blades. These blades
are so shaped at their lower ends as to overlap one another, and thus prevent any
flow of mud between them, and they are mounted loosely in order that they may
have an independent vertical action, and yield to any obstruction which they may
meet with in the road or way.
The scraper frames are fitted at their forward ends with conical brushes, which
are intended to sweep the mud within the line of traverse of the scrapers. Rotary
motion is communicated to these brushes through bevilled gearing or equivalent
mechanism actuated by the friction of rollers upon the ground.
The mud and refuse collected by the scrapers and carried up by the endless chain
of blades is delivered from the inclined trough into an attendant cart by means of a
shoot so formed as to admit of being tilted, and delivering the mud and refuse to
the right or left, as may be desired.
In order to throw the brushes out of action hand levers are provided, which will
tip the axles of the brushes, and retain them in a position clear of the ground.