144 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



WHITWORTHS PATENT SWEEPING MACHINE. 



[Aprtl, 



This machine, lately brought into operation in the town of Manchester, 

 where it excited a considerable deal of public attention, has lately been 

 introduced into the metropolis, and is now employed in cleaning Regent- 

 street. It is the invention of Mr. Whitworth, of the firm of Messrs. M'hit- 

 worth and Co., of Manchester, engineers, by whom it has been patented. 

 The principle of the inventiou consists in employing the rotary motion of 

 locomotive wheels, moved by horse or other power, to raise the loose soil 

 from the surface of the ground and deposit it in a vehicle attached. The 

 apparatus for this purpose is simple in its construction; it consists of a 

 series of brooms (3 ft. wide) suspended from a light frame of wrought iron, 

 hung behind a cart, the body of which is placed near the ground, for greater 

 facility in loading. The draught is easy for two horses, and throughout the 

 process of tilling, scarcely a larger amount of force is required than would be 

 necessary to draw the full cart an equal distance. 



The following description of the machine by a reference to the accom- 

 panying engraving, will explain its action. The cart is constructed with 

 plate iron, and consists of two parts, A, A: the lower part A is suspended 

 to the upper part, and when filled is lowered and replaced with an empty 

 one. To the off-side wheel, 13, is attached, on the inside, a cog-wheel, C, 

 which works into a pinion, D, on the end of a shaft the length of the back 

 part of the cart, and fixed thereon are two pullies, 1 ft. diameter and 2 ft. 

 4 in. apart : two other corresponding pullies, E. are fixed upon a lower shaft, 

 which is suspended to the upper shaft by a wrought iron frame, and over 

 these pulleys pass two endless chains P, to which the brooms G, consisting of 

 29 rows, each 3 ft. 4 in. long, are attached. It will thus be seen, that when 

 the large wheel of the cart is set in motion, it will, by means of the large 

 spur wheel C, turn the pinion D, and with it the pulleys and the endless chain 

 and brooms that pass over them : and as these brooms come in contact 

 with the road, they sweep the mud up the inclined plane into the bottom 

 part of the cart A. For the purpose of raising the brooms from on" the ground, 

 there is an apparatus. 11, consisting of an endless screw working into a bevel 

 wheel upon a shaft which passes across the top of the catt : upon this shaft 

 are fixed two pulleys, to which are attached two chains, which pass along 

 the top of the cart and over the quadrants I, at the back, and there fixed to 

 the iron frame of the apparatus, — so that when the endless screw is turned 

 the chains are coiled round the pulleys, and raise the apparatus to any 

 height it may be requisite. For the purpose of removing or emptying the 

 lower portion of the cart, it must be raised to a horizontal position; as 

 this apparatus is raised, it throws itself out of gear by means of a lever 

 attached to a clutch fixed on the end of the pinion shaft U. To the apparatus 

 11 there is another motion attached for regulating the pressure of the brooms 

 on the ground, according to the state of the weather and the nature of the 

 surface, consisting of a series of weights in the box in front, suspended to 

 two chains, which pass over pulleys on the axle of a wheel that works into 

 another wheel on the same shaft as the first wheel described of the ap- 

 paratus H. 



There is also another apparatus, K, for raising and lowering the lower 

 part of the cart, consisting of an endless screw working into a cog-wheel, 

 the shaft of which passes across the top of the cart, and on each end are 

 pulleys, ronnd which chains are coiled that suspend the cart on each side. 



Provision is made for letting off the water collected in the cart, by means 

 of a pipe, having its interior orifice some inches above the level of the mud 

 after settlement : the cart, when full, is drawn to the side of the street, at 

 some distance from a sewer grid, and the pipe plug being withdrawn, the 

 water flows into the channel. A slight modification of the original form of 

 the machine, by bevelling the cogs of the large spur wheel, C, throws the 

 machinery more to the near side, and enables it to sweep close up to the curb- 

 stone of the foot-pavement ; and the hands before required to clean out the 

 gutters are now dispensed with. An indicator, attached to the side of the 

 sweeping apparatus, shows the extent of surface swept during the day, and 

 acts as a useful check on the driver. It also affords the opportunity of 

 hiring horses to work the machine over a given quantity of surface, the rate 

 of hire being per 1000 yards actually swept.— This will be found convenient 



where parties working the machine do not keep their own horses, and wlil 

 tend to facilitate the introduction of the new system under management of 

 the local authorities. 



Where provision cannot be conveniently made in large towns for deposit 

 in yards at proper intervals, the patent machine is constructed of two parts, 

 as above described, viz., an upper, A', carrying the sweeping apparatus, and 

 a lower, A, consisting of a loose box, suspended from the upper, and capa- 

 ble of easy detachment. Each machine having two or more of these boxes, 

 A. may be kept constantly at work, depositing the full box in a suitable 

 place, and taking up an empty box before provided, — a skeleton cart being 

 afterwards employed to convey the loaded boxes to the place of ultimate 

 deposit. No difficulty has been found to arise in the management of the 

 machine by ordinary drivers. It has been worked regularly on every kind 

 of street surface — the round and square set stone, — the Macadamized road, 

 — and the wood pavement ; all of which are found in the districts before 

 mentioned. Its peculiar advantage, as applied to wood pavement, in pre- 

 venting the slippery state of the surface so much complained of, has 

 attracted particular attention, and will, no doubt, tend to facilitate the gene- 

 ral introduction of that useful invention. By the use of proper precautions 

 in cleaning and oiling the machine before setting it to work, the friction of 

 the working parts may be materially reduced, — a point of great importance, 

 in reference both to the consumption of horse power and the cost of repairs. 

 The wear of the brooms, which at first was considerable, has been diminished 

 more than one-half, by the action of the regulating weights before men- 

 tioned. A product of South America, called by the Portuguese " Piassava," 

 forms an excellent material for the beard of the brooms, having great pliancy 

 and strength combined, and also remarkable degree of durability. 



Two machines are advantageously worked together, one a little in advance 

 of the other. Not onlj is the operation of cleansing a particular street thus 

 effected more rapidly, but the two drivers can occasionally assist each other, 

 and one of them (at higher wages) may exercise a supervision over both 

 machines. 



The success of the operation is no less remarkable than its novelty. Pro- 

 ceeding at a moderate speed through the public streets, the cart leaves be- 

 hind it a well swept tract, which forms a striking contrast with the adjacent 

 ground. Though of the full size of a common cart, it has repeatedly filled 

 itself in the space of six minutes from the principal thoroughfares of Man- 

 chester. This fact, while it proves the efficiency of the new apparatus, 

 proves also the necessity of a change in the present system of street 

 cleaning. 



Mim Great Blast at Dover.— On Wednesday. 1st March, about foul 

 o'cli ck, auothei steal blast took place at the South-eastern Railway works, 

 a little beyond the Rounddown cliff. This blast, as compared with that at 

 the Rounddown (when 18.500 lb. of gunpowder were instantaneously ig- 

 nited), was comparativel] insignificant; hut when we mention that 70t.O lb- 

 were fired at the present explosion, it will be seen that this insignificance 

 was only comparative. The present operations, like the blast on the 26th 

 January, were conducted by Mr. Cubilt, the engineer-hi-chief to the South- 

 eastern Railway, who. with Lieutenant Hutchinson and a lumber of the 

 directors ut the company, uere present to-day. witnessing the blast. The 

 effect of this blast lias been quite as successtul as that which affected the 

 destruction of Hounddown. About 50.000 yards of chalk have been du!> 

 ignition betn^ communicated bv the voltaic battery. Nine chambers wen 

 formed in the cliff, about ninety !e< t fn in its top, the object being to blow 

 away the crown of the cliff, to render it safe fur the railway carriages to 

 pass on the sea wall under it. Like the explosion on the 20 ih of January, 

 (he present was effected with very little noise and smoke. The instant 

 ignition was communicated the cliffs around trembled, and the immense 

 mass of chalk burst out with a low booming noise, and the ruins wen gently, 

 though majestically, thrown down on the beach below; but, instead of, like 

 those if the Rounddown, shoot out into the sea about 1,100 feet, they 

 scarcely, we should say, extended 200 feet in any direction,. after reaching 

 the base of the cliff. 4 __ „ 



