Street sweeper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the semiautomatic shotgun known as the Street Sweeper, see DAO-12.
A street sweeper or streetsweeper is a person or machine that cleans streets, usually in an urban area.
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[edit] Urban job
Street sweepers have been employed in cities since sanitation and waste removal became a priority. A street-sweeping person would use a broom and shovel to clean off litter, animal waste and filth that accumulated on streets. Later water hoses were used to wash the streets.
[edit] Mechanized sweeping
The first mechanical street sweeper invented was by C.S. Bishop, patented on September 4, 1849. U.S. Patent 6699 A mechanical street-sweeper is mounted with several rotating disks and/or drums covered in stiff wire bristles.
[edit] Modern sweepers
Modern street sweepers are equipped with water tanks and sprayers used to loosen particles and reduce dust. The brooms gather debris into a main collection area from which it is vacuumed and pumped into a collection bin.
A regenerative air street sweeper uses forced air to create a swirling knifing effect inside of a contained sweeping head and then uses the negative pressure on the suction side to place the road debris inside of a containment hopper. The debris laden air is then cleaned and reused to start the process anew. Many regenerative air sweepers are AQMD certified and can pick up particles as small as 10 micrometres or less (PM-10), a leading cause of stormwater pollution.
[edit] External links
Diagrams of several Street sweepers including Pat no. 6699
