GB191412318A - Improvements in and relating to Street Cleaners. - Google Patents

Abstract

12,318. Bayless, P. A. May 19. Pneumatic collectors; sweeping - machines. - Relates to street-sweeping and refuse-collecting machines having selfadjusting suction airnozzles which follow the surface of the road behind the brushes, and consists in employing reciprocating brushes which have a scrubbing action on the road surface. When the scrubbing action is transverse to the road surface, a special suction hood having a kerbengaging member is employed for removing refuse from the gutters. The front of the machine is shown in side elevation in Fig. 1. It is propelled by any suitable engine, which serves also to drive a pair of fans journaled in air-exhaust casings 9 arranged one on each side of the machine. These casings communicate at their inlets with box casings 17 supported on a wind-chest 15, in the lower portion 16 of which, Fig. 9, a number of boxes 29 are so mounted that they are capable of vertical rocking movements against the action of coiled springs 50. These boxes are bifurcated at their rear ends; they are mounted on road wheels 38; and the are provided with flexible cuffs 39 which make contact with the road surface. On an axle 41 carried by the vehicle frame are mounted in pairs a series of brushes 44. Each pair of brush-carrying arms 42 is connected to its neigbours by braces 70. Fig. 19, the central one of which carries a link 71 pivotally connected with a crank arm 72 driven through bevel-gearing from the engine shaft. In this way, the brushes are reciprocated transversely to scrub the road in front of the air nozzles 39 as the machine progresses. The dust-laden air is sucked up through the boxes 29, the wind-chest 15 and the casings 17 into the fan casing 9, whence it is delivered through outlets 14 into a dust-chamber 95. From this it expands into a chamber 23, in which it is filtered through a screen 24 arranged zigzag fashion. The dust-freed air then escapes into the atmosphere, and the dust that collects on the screen falls into the chamber 95. The brush - system may be raised into inoperative position by chains 47, Fig. 1, which are wound on a drum capable of being rotated by any suitable means. The air-boxes 29 may be similarly raised by a bar 79 which is hauled up by cables wound on a rotatable drum. In order to clean the gutters, the end box 51, Fig. 13, carries a side extension casing 52 formed of wire-net, fabric, or like flexible material (not shown) supported by a link framework mounted on sets of telescopic pipes 55, 56 which carry a wheel 53 for engaging the kerb. The extension is braced to the box 51 by links 62, 63, 64.