PARIS 



The principal cleaning which the streets receive is 

 done by horse-propelled brooms. After many experi- 

 ments with different forms of apparatus the 



The Work 



brooms which have been found to give the of Hone 



ft f i Brooms 



best service are of the rotary form having 

 two wheels. These brooms move along the axis of the 

 street and throw the sweepings to one side. The brooms 

 are generally worked in gangs of 2-3 and are accom- 

 panied by men on foot who sweep and shovel the refuse 

 thrown by the brooms into pits for final removal by 

 carts. The brooms have bristles of split bamboo and 

 are 7 feet 2 inches wide. They are capable of sweeping 

 7175 square yards per hour with the horse walking 

 about 2.5 miles per hour. This amount of sweeping is 

 considered equal to the work of about ten men. The 

 city owns 440 of these machines, of which about 270 are 

 kept in service and the remainder in reserve. About 

 77 machines are especially adjusted for sweeping mac- 

 adam pavements. 



Horse-propelled squeegees are employed on asphalt 

 and wood pavements. They are of simple design and 

 somewhat resemble common road scrapers. The scrap- 

 ing edges are strips of rubber about .3 inch thick and 

 3 inches wide. They are held in position by sheet-iron 

 guides. The scraping edge is set like a machine broom 

 in an oblique direction and scrapes the refuse to one 

 side. These squeegees are useful in rainy weather and 

 when the dirt on the streets can be softened by sprink- 

 ling-carts so that it is ready to be moved like mud. 

 Softening by sprinkling followed by squeegeeing or 

 sweeping with rotary brooms is the chief reliance of the 

 city in getting rid of fine dirt which cannot be shoveled 

 away. 



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