US436520A

US436520A - Street-sweeping machine

Info

Publication number: US436520A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1890-09-16
Anticipated expiration: 1907-09-16

Description

[No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. 0. FISHER. STREET SWEEPING MACHINE.

No. 436,520. Patented Sept. 16, 1890,

"51 i- "I I 0 a E W/T/VES'S'ES. INVENTOH Arm/mm 3 Sheets-Sheet. 2.

(No- Model.)

B. 0; FISHER: STREET SWEEPING MAGEINE.

N .520. Patented Sept. 16, 1890.

W/T/VEjSSES:

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W A rm/m'ri 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

B. O. FISHER. STREET SWEEPING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 16, 1890.

"IVE/V70 z mdy ZZZ 0.. wAsnlNuYun D c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

ELMENDORF C. FISHER, OF PORT RICHMOND, NEW YORK.

STREE T-SWEEPING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.436,520, dated September 16,1890.

Application filed April 28, B99. Serial No. 349,760 (No model.)

To all whom it may, concern.-

Be it known that I, ELMENDORF O. FISHER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of ..Port Richmond, Richmond c'ounty, New York, have invented Improvements in Street Sweeping Machines, of which the following is a specification. V v The main features of my invention relate more particularly to that class of automatic sweeping-machines in which there is combined with the sweeping-brush carried by the vehicle a receiving-box, also carried by the vehicle, and a conveying or elevating device to carry the dust and dirt up into the receiving-box.

- My invention consists of certain improvements in the construction of the machine and its parts,as more fully described hereinafter. In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my improved street-sweeping machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a detached View of a part. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view on about the line 1 2, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of one of the vehicle-wheels and the driving-wheel with some of the spokes of the vehicle-wheel broken oif. Fig. 5 is a vertical seotionof the rotating brush-wheel. Figs. 6 and 7 are perspectiveviews of parts. Fig. 8 isa-vertical section on the .line 3 i, Fig. 2.- Fig. 8 is a view illustrating how the shoveh. arms are mounted in the rotary disk. Fig. 9 is a sectional planon the line 5 6, Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a viewto illustrate the construction and operation of the side sweeping-brush, and Fig. 11 is a perspective view of one of the shovels.

In the drawings I have shown the vehicle part of my i proved machine as constructed after the pattern of an ordinary top businesswagon, to be drawn, as usual, by one or a pair of horses, as the work may require. The vehicle is mounted upon four wl1eels,-the two large rear wheels 15' being mounted loosely on the ordinary axle l), fixed to or in the frame-work of the vehicle. The two front and smaller wheels 0 turn on the axle c, which may have the usual springs, frame, and fifth-wheel between it and the under front part of the body of the vehicle. Over the front wheel is the usual seat for the driver of the wagon, and within easy reach are a number to turn.

of levers, hereinafter referred to, by which the parts are controlled.

The rotary brush-wheel D is mounted concentrically with the rear axle of the vehicle, in order that as the vehicle traverses over .the ground the sweeping-edge of the brush shall be -coincident'with the bearing-edges of the rear wheel, and shall come down into depressions in the ground and pass over rises in the ground coincidently with the rear wheels.

By this means the streets will be much more elfectually swept than where'the brushes are mounted so as not to coincide with the wheels. In the present instance I have shown the rotary brush-wheel as consisting of a series of transverse brushes 10, carried by end wheels 11 on a hollow shaft 12, which is mounted on bearings 13, carried by theopposite side frames. (See Fi 3.) The transversebrushes .10 are carried by these end wheels through expanding movement of the brushes is limited by-short, chains 17.

Rotary movement isimparted to the brushwheel thus constructed from the rear wheels in the manner which Iwill now describe. Be-

tween the body of the vehicle and each rear wheel is mounted a gear-wheel 18 upon fixed bearings 19, secured to the body of the vehicle about the fixed axle b. Each of these wheels 18- may be thrown into and outjof gear with the adjacent vehicle-wheelB by any suitablemeans, so that'wheu the two are in gear with each other the traversing of the vehicle along the street will then cause the wheels 18 to move and impart rotary motion to the brush, as hereinafter described.

As a convenient device for engaging and disengaging the wheels B and gear-wheels 18, I may use sprngactuated pawls 20, carried by the gear-wheels, to engage with correspond- SQ I simultaneously with the shaft 2 L through the ing ratchet-wheels 21 on the hubs of the wheels B. On throwing them out of engagement the traversing of the vehicle will cease to cause the gear-wheels, and consequently the sweeping brush-Wheel, to rotate.

I provide any suitable devices for freeingthe pawls from the ratchet-wheels, and in this case I have illustrated sliding pins 22 passing through the sides of thevehicle and controlled from the driversseat. One stop-pin 22 is controlled through the medium of the hand-lever 26, rod 25, and vertical shaft 24, with its crank-arms, Fig. 7. The stop-pin 22 on the other side of the vehicle is carried bya crankarm on a vertical shaft 27, which is operated medium of' the connecting-rod 23, as illustrated in the perspective diagram, Fig. 7. By

moving the hand-lever 26 forward the stop-- pins 22 on .the opposite sides of the vehicle will be thrown out into the paths of the rear arms of the pawls 20, Fig. 4, and the latter will be thereby disengaged from the ratchet wheels on the hubs of the wheels B, and accordingly the gear-wheels 18 will be stopped. Motion is transmitted from these gearwheels 18 to the rotary brush-wheel D by the gearing of the wheels 18 into pinions 28 on a transverse shaft 29.,which also carries a chain-wheel 30. Over the latter passes a chain onto a wheel 31, carried by the hollow shaft 12 of the rotary brush-wheel. Through the medium of this or like gearing rotary motion is imparted to the brush in a direction the opposite-of that in which the wheels B of the vehicle turn as the vehicle is traversed over. the street.

Immediately in front of the brush-wheel D is a movable shield E, whose upper end leads to the bottom of the elevator-chute F, Fig. 2. To the-under side of this elevator-chute is pivoted a front guard-board G, connected by a rod or rods g to the shield E, so that as the vehicle is traversedover the street if this front guard-board should strike an obstruction the shield E, which is hung by arms e from the rear axle of the vehicle, as shown in Fig. '2, will be raised up out'of the way beforethe obstruction can strike it, and thus avoid any damage.

The dust and dirt are swept up over the shield E into the bottom of the conveyor or elevator-chute F, and the elevating device thence carries the dirt up into the chute and discharges it into the receiving-box H, as shown in Fig. 2. This receiving-box H occupies the space over the rotary brush-wheel, and may be pivoted at its rear at h, so that when the rear doors of the vehicle are opened the receiving-box may beswung on its pivots to dump the dirt out wherever desired The elevating or conveying device usually employed in street-sweeping machines consists of endless bands with buckets; but an objection to such devices is that the dirt and dust get into the bearings of the bottomwheel' over which the band or chain passes and soon get out of order, and if sticks or barrel-hoops or such devices are swept up into the conveyor they are apt to stop-it. I have therefore constructed my conveyor of two or more shovels or buckets carried at the outer ends of traveling arms, so that the operating wheels for these buckets shall not be at the lower end of the chute. I have shown the eouveyer in Figs. 2 and 8 as provided with a pair of these shovels ,Lcarried byarms J, and as the width of the chute is not equal to its height I provide means for imparting to these shovels and arms a motion in the direction of their length as well as their rotary traveling motion. For this purpose the arms J' are mounted to slide in grooves in a central wheel or disk K, Fig. 8, and the inner ends of the arms are pivoted to an endless traveling belt I, passing'over wheels L mounted in bearings in the vehicles, Figs. 2, 3, and ,8. Rotary motion may be imparted to each of these wheels and thence .to the buckets by any suitable means; In the present instance I have shown means forimpartingintermittent motion to one of the wheels L through the medium of a pawl-lever 51', engaging with a ratchet-wheel on the axis of the wheeliL, Figs. 2,3, and 8, this pawl-lever being connected, as shown in Fig. 1,by a rod 32 to a walking-beam 33, pivoted to the vehicle, while the opposite end of this walkingbeam. is connected by a rod 34' to a crank-pin on the wheel 28.

The better to balance the opposite shovels I, I preferto fix'to the axis ofthe wheel K a lever-k, having its opposite ends connected by rods is to the arms J of the shovels, as'shown in Fig.8. It will thus be-seen that as the chain, or belt Z travels in the direction of its arrow, Fig. 8, the buckets will have a rotarymotion imparted to them in an elliptical path, owing to the advancing and receding motion of their carrying-arms, inorder to accommo-I date themselves to the width of the vehicle,- Each shovel I has a tail-piece j, by which-it is pivoted to 'its arm J at J. As illustrated in Fig. 2, this pivoting pointof each shovelis such that the shovel, which has two sides open, as shown in the perspective view, Fig. 11, and which is normally keptfrom tilting on its pivot by being confined within the chute F, will, whengit reaches the top of its movement and comes opposite the opening in the back i of the chute, fall or tilt over at right angles to the plane of movementof the elevator-arms, as shown in the upper part of. Fig. 2, and dump the contents of the shovel into the reeeiving-box 1-1.. As the shovels continue their rotary movement, however, an incline 53 will so act on the tail j of the shovel as to bring it back intofits normal position on its carrying-arm, whence it passes down the chute again to gather up another charge of dust and dirt from the bottom of the chute and carry it up on the other. side to discharge atthe top into the receiving-box.

I prefer to combine with the street-sweoping device constructed as described a pair'of revolution and throw the dirt under the vehicl'e into the path of the main brush-wheel. Rotary motion may be imparted to the shafts of these brushes by any suitable means, and in the present'instance I. have shown at the upper end of each shaft a bevel-wheel 37,

gearing into a corresponding bevel-wheel 38,,

whose shaft alsocarries a chain-wheel 39. .30- tary motion is imparted to this chain wheel from the corresponding front wheel through a chain passing either over the hub of the wheel or over a chain-wheel, which maybe driven by the front wheel 0 and be engaged with or disengaged fromit, as desired. The frame 35, which carries these front gutterbrnshes, is preferably so mounted and controlled by a hand-lever 59 and connecting-rod 40 that when desired the driver may readily raise-the brushes into and out of the gutter,

In order to cause the main brush-wheel to expand oreontract to a certain extent-that is to say, to adjust the transverse brushes farther from or nearer to the hollow axle of the wheelI provide the following or equivalentdeviee: 'As I have before described, the inner ends of the spring-arms 15, which carry the several transverse brushes 10, are connected to the sleeve 16. On this sleeve is secured a segmental rack 41, into which gears a-worm 42, mounted in hearings on one of the end-wheels 11 of the brush-wheel.- The opposite ends of this worm carry star-wheels 43, located at different distances from the axis of the briglsh-wheel. A vertical shaft 44, Fig. 6 mounted in hearings in the inner frame of the-vehicle, carries at its lowerend two fingers and 46. Whenthis shaft 44 is turned so as to throw the finger 45 inward, the latter will come into the path of one of the star-wheels 43 and turn the worm '42 at each revolution of the brush-wheel, and consequently turn'thesleeve 16, so as to adjust the brushes outward from the axis of the brush-wheel. When the verticalshaft 44 is turned in the opposite direction, so as to throw the finger 46 inward, the latter will find itself in the path of the other star-Wheel 43, which at each revolution of the brush-wheel will be so turned as to move the sleeve 16 in a direction to adjust the brushes 10 nearer to the axis.of the wheel and thus collapse or. contract the brush-wheel.

The shaft 44 can, however, be moved to such a position that neither finger 45 or 46 will be in the way of either star-wheel as'the brnsh-wheel rotates.

convenient to the driver by means of a lever 49, controlling the transverse shaft 48, with a crank-arm connected by a rod 47 to an arm on the upper end of the vertical shaft 44.

I I claim as my invention- 4 1. A sweeping-machine having a vehiclebody mounted on wheels, a fixed axle for the rearwheels, with a rotary brush having a'tubular shaft turning about the said fixed axle, gearing for imparting motion from the said rear wheels to the brush, andengaging and disengaging devices between thewheels and brush, all substantially as described.

2. A sweeping-machine having a rotary brush-wheel-with a series of brushes adapted to be moved toward or from the axis of the wheel, the sweepingedge of the brush being on a line with the bearing-edges of the veliicle-wheels, in combination with a lever nn-. der the control of the driver,and devices, substantially as described, controlled by the lever, to expand or contract the brush while the vehicle is in motion, substantially as described.

. 3. A sweeping machine having a rotary brush-wheel with transverse-brushes carried by arms pivoted to the wheel, and means for adjusting the arms on their pivots to expand or contract the rotary brush, substantiallyas described.

4. A sweeping-machine having a rotary brushwheel with transverse brushes, springarms carrying the brushes and pivoted to the wheel, and means for adjusting the said spring-arms on their pivots to expand or contract the rotary brush, substantially'as described. g

5. A sweeping-machine having'a rotary brush-wheel consisting of a shaft with endwheels and rods, spring-arms carrying'transverse brushes and pivoted. on the said rods with a sleeve to which the inner ends of the spring-arms are connected, and means for adjusting the said sleeve in relation to the axis of the wheel,--as and for the purpose specified.

6. A sweeping-machine having a rotary brush-wheel mounted to turn on the rear axle of the vehicle with an intermediate shaft, gearing for imparting motion from the ve-- hicle-wheels to the intermediate shaft and thence to the shaft' of the brush-wheel, and engaging and disengaging devices between the vehicle-wheels and brush-wheel.

.7. The'combination of a receiving-box and. elevating-chute of a sweeping-machine with a brush and movable shield over which the brush sweeps the dirt into the chute, and a front guard-board connected with the mov able shield, as and for the purpose set forth.

8. The combination of the brush and receiving-box of a sweeping-machine with an elevating-chute and a rotating shaft carrying arms with pivoted shovels at the outer-ends, substantially as described.

9. The combination of the brush and receivingdoox of a sweeping-machine with an elevator-chute and rotating shaft' carrying agms with pivoted shovels, an end ess belt In testimony whereof I have signed my name connected to the ends of the shovel-arms, to this specification in the presence of'two subwheels over which the chain passes, and means scribing witnesses.

for traversing the said belt'or chainto impart ELMENDORF C. FISHER.

a rotary motion to the sh0ve1-arms, and also Witnesses:

a sliding motion longitudinally of the said EDITHJ. GRISWOLD;

' an-ms, as and for the purpose specified. J HN REVELL.