MOTOR ROAD SWEEPERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 August 1924, Page 16

MOTOR ROAD SWEEPERS.

■' * RESULT in BIG ANNUAL SAYINGS. / ew rem aining horse-drawn vehicles left, one of the most prominent is the road sweeper. Where motor road sweepers have been adopted, big anS f V w g V lave that in the city of Westminster, for instance, being estimated at £951. The sweepers used, however, have been big, heavy vehicles; a lighter type has been lately developed which is very suitable for smaller townships, as . with its tipping body it can be used for general carry-' nig purposes as Well as for sweeping The chassis calls for little comment, being very similar to that for a twoton lorry, states a writer in Cham’^ournal > four-cylinder motor of 25 horse-power is fitted under the usual bonnet, behind which is the driver’s seat. Next comes a side-tip-ping body with a capacity of 60 cubic feet or 90 cubic feet of wet or dry road sweepings respectively. At the rear of_ the chassis is a tank which holds 150 gallons of water for sprinkling dry roads ahead of the brush. From this tank the water is supplied to a sprayer under the front of the bonnet by a senn-rotary pump, having an adjustable stroke to vary the quantity. One of the most interesting features of this motor sweeper is a species of elevator for lifting the sweepings into the body. This consists of three) rotating brushes mounted one above another, in a steeply-inclined frame. The top and bottom brushes run in the same direction, but the middle one rotates the opposite way. These- conveyer brushes run at high speed, those at the top and middle turning at 308 revolutions per minute, while the bottom one runs at 370 revolutions per minute. The diameter of the two upper brushes is 20 inches, that of the bottom brush 24 inches. The road brush, which is 24 inches in diameter : and 7 feet 6 inches long, turns at 140 revolutions per minute. As the brush is fixed diagonally across the vehicle, the mud swept into the scoop travels across towards the conveyer. This vehicle has a sweeping speed of 6.3 miles per hour and a travelling speed, of 9.9 miles per hour, while it can proceed backwards at 2.9 miles per hour. At a test in Westminster, a street 11 yards wide and 90 yards long, ’was swept clean in nine minutes. Other trials have been carried out at Newport with equally convincing results.