Street sweeper

A street sweeper or street cleaner may refer to a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets. A street sweeper cleans the streets, usually in an urban area.

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.

Machines were created in the 19th century to do the job more efficiently. Today, modern street sweepers are mounted on truck bodies and can vacuum debris that accumulates in streets.

By the 1840s, Manchester, England, had become known as the first industrial city. Manchester was home to the first passenger rail service in the world and had one of the largest textile industries of that time. As a result, the robust metropolis was said to be England’s unhealthiest place to live. In response to this unsanitary environment, Joseph Whitworth invented the mechanical street sweeper. The street sweeper was designed with the primary objective to remove trash from streets in order to maintain aesthetic goals and safety.

The very first street sweeping machine was patented in 1849 by its inventor, C.S. Bishop. For a long time, street sweepers were just rotating disks covered with wire bristles. These rotating disks served as mechanical brooms that swept the dirt on the streets.

Charles B. Brooks, an African American man from Newark, New Jersey, invented the U.S.' first self-propelled street sweeper truck. Brooks' patent was approved on March 17, 1896; his application for the patent had been filed on April 20, 1895. His street sweeper had a truck-like frame mounted on axles supported by wheels. There are drive-wheels for the sweeping, elevator mechanisms, and an endless chain that travels around a sprocket-wheel and travels up to an additional sprocket-wheel. The patent drawings go on to explain the complete composition of the invention. The truck had brushes attached to the front fender which would revolve. These revolving brushes could interchange with a flat scraper for use on snow and ice.

John M. Murphy called at the offices of American Tower and Tank Company in Elgin, Illinois, in the fall of 1911. He had a plan of a motor driven pickup street sweeper. The American Tower and Tank Company had been formed in 1903 by Charles A. Whiting and James Todd. They called in a recently acquired silent partner, Daniel M. Todd, and it was decided to hire Mr. Murphy and begin the development of his idea. That started what has become the Elgin Sweeper Company.

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