{{Short description|Machine or person that cleans streets in urban areas}} {{About|cleaning streets|other uses|Streetsweeper (disambiguation)}} {{Redirect|Street cleaner|the 1989 industrial metal album|Streetcleaner}} {{Redirect|Sweepers|other uses|Sweeper (disambiguation)}} {{essay-entry|date=July 2024}} [[File:Street sweeper in Minneapolis neighborhood University.jpg|thumb|A street sweeper clearing dirt and debris from a bike lane in Minneapolis in 2022]] A '''street sweeper''' or '''street cleaner''' is a person or machine that cleans streets.
People have worked in cities as "sanitation workers" since sanitation and waste removal became a priority. A street-sweeping person would use a broom and shovel to clean off litter, animal waste and filth that accumulated on streets. Later, water hoses were used to wash the streets.
Street sweepers as machines were created in the 19th century to do the job more easily. Today, modern street sweepers are mounted on truck bodies and can vacuum debris that accumulates in streets.
== History ==
===Manual sweeping=== [[File:Ho-Chi-Minh-City Vietnam Street-Sweeper-01.jpg|thumb|upright|Road sweeper working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam]] The need for rubbish to be removed from roads in built-up areas has existed for centuries.
Sometimes a local law in a town or city ordered the owner or occupier of each address to clean the length of that road that passed his address.
Sometimes, when much traffic was horse-drawn vehicles or ridden horses, there were street cleaners who selectively removed horse droppings because of their value as fertilizer on nearby rural areas.
===Mechanical sweepers in the United Kingdom=== [[File:Illustrirte Zeitung (1843) 06 006 1 Whitworth's Straßenreinigungsmaschine.PNG|thumb|Mechanical street sweeper by Joseph Whitworth, 1846]] By the 1840s, Manchester, England, had become known as the first industrial city. Manchester had one of the largest textile industries of that time. As a result, the robust metropolis was said to be England's unhealthiest place to live.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief History of Manchester|url=http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/history/earlyhistory.html}}</ref> In response to this unsanitary environment, Joseph Whitworth invented the mechanical street sweeper. The street sweeper was designed with the primary objective to remove rubbish from streets in order to maintain aesthetic goals and safety.<ref name="Pitt2004">Pitt R, Bannerman R, Sutherland R, 2004. The role of street cleaning in stormwater management, Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 1-8</ref><ref name="Chang2004">Chang Y, Chou C, Su K, Tseng C, 2004. Effectiveness of street sweeping and washing for controlling ambient TSP, Atmospheric Environment, 39: 1891–1902</ref>
===Mechanical sweepers in the United States=== The very first street sweeping machine was patented in 1849 by its inventor, C.S. Bishop. For a long time, street sweepers were just rotating disks covered with wire bristles. These rotating disks served as mechanical brooms that swept the dirt on the streets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.articlesinsight.com/Art/5752/191/The-many-Different-Sweepers-And-Machines-Used-In-Street-Sweeping.html |title=Articles Insight | the many Different Sweepers and Machines Used in Street Sweeping |access-date=2011-07-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230092649/http://www.articlesinsight.com/Art/5752/191/The-many-Different-Sweepers-And-Machines-Used-In-Street-Sweeping.html |archive-date=2011-12-30 }}</ref>
The first self-propelled sweeper vehicle patented in the US, driven by a steam engine and intended for cleaning railroad tracks, was patented in 1868, patent No. 79606. Eureka C. Bowne was the first known woman to get a patent for a street sweeper, in 1879, patent No. 222447. "Her success was great", wrote Matilda Joslyn Gage in The North American Review, volume 136, issue 318, May 1883.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldsweeper.com/History/ElevatorSweeperHistory.html|title=An Overview of Elevator-belt Street Sweepers}}</ref>
In 1896, African-American inventor Charles Brooks improved on then-conventional street sweeping inventions by making the front brushes of different lengths, and by including a mechanism for collection and disposal of debris. The revolving front brushes could also be replaced with a scraper to remove snow or ice. Brooks was granted a U.S. patent for the invention in 1896.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/brooks-charles-b-1865/ | title=Charles B. Brooks (1865-?)| date=25 March 2018 }}</ref> Most of the more than 300 street sweeper patents issued in the United States before 1900, including the one in Brooks's patent, had no engine on board. The wheels on the cart turned gears or chains which drove the brush and belt. thumb|Diagram of an early Elgin Sweeper machine, 1913 John M. Murphy called at the offices of American Tower and Tank Company in Elgin, Illinois, in the fall of 1911. He had a plan of a motor-driven pickup street sweeper. The American Tower and Tank Company had been formed in 1903 by Charles A. Whiting and James Todd. They called in a recently acquired silent partner, Daniel M. Todd, and it was decided to hire Murphy and begin the development of his idea. That started what has become the Elgin Sweeper Company.<ref name="elgin">''The Sweep of Time'' William A. Richman, 1962{{full citation needed|date=October 2017}}</ref>
After two years of development, a sweeper was achieved which Murphy was satisfied performed all of the sweeping functions in the manner he had envisioned – one which partners James and Daniel M. Todd and Charles A. Whiting were willing to risk a reputation gained from 30 years' manufacturing experience.<ref name = "elgin" />
Following a demonstration, the city of Boise, Idaho, purchased the first Elgin Sweeper in the fall of 1913. Boise Street Commissioner Thomas Finegan made a comparison showing a savings of $2,716.77 from the Elgin motorized sweeper when used rather than a horse-drawn sweeper.<ref name = "elgin" />
Following its introduction and initial sales, Murphy continued improving his sweeper. In 1917, US patents were filed and issues for J. M. Murphy, Street Sweeping machine No. 1,239,293.<ref name = "elgin" />
===Technological advancement=== The goal of simple debris removal did not change until the 1970s, when policymakers began to reflect concern for water quality. In the United States, the lag time in which street sweepers responded can be pinpointed to the Runoff Report of 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/sw_nurp_vol_1_finalreport.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924094629/http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/sw_nurp_vol_1_finalreport.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Results of the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program |publisher=Environmental Protection Agency |access-date=2013-12-16}}</ref> As older street sweepers were only effective in removing large particles of road debris, small particles of debris remained behind in large quantities.<ref name="German2002">{{cite journal|last1=German |first1=J. |last2=Svensson |first2=G. |year=2002 |title=Metal content and particle size distribution of street sediments and street sweeping waste |journal=Water Science and Technology |volume=46 |issue=6–7 |pages=191–198 |doi= 10.2166/wst.2002.0679|pmid=12380991 |url=http://www.iwaponline.com/wst/04606/wst046060191.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217015143/http://www.iwaponline.com/wst/04606/wst046060191.htm |archive-date=2013-12-17 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The remaining debris was not seen as an aesthetic issue because rain would wash them away. Today, small particles are known to carry a substantial portion of the stormwater pollutant load.
Street sweeping can be an effective measure in reducing pollutants in stormwater runoff.<ref>[http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm?action=browse&Rbutton=detail&bmp=99&minmeasure= EPA - Stormwater Menu of BMPs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222033054/http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm?action=browse&Rbutton=detail&bmp=99&minmeasure= |date=2012-02-22 }}</ref> The Environmental Protection Agency considers street sweeping a best practice in protecting water quality.
=== Modern sweepers === [[File:Walk behind street sweeper.webm|thumb|A sweeper being used to clean a sidewalk alongside pedestrians in Philadelphia, 2015]]
Street sweepers are capable of collecting small particles of debris.<ref name="Pitt2004" /> Many street sweepers produced today are PM10 and PM2.5 certified,<ref name="Chang2004" /> meaning that they are capable of collecting and holding particulate matter sized less than 10μm and even down to 2.5μm.<ref>[https://cleaningexec.com/resource/TIP_2008_CMAQ-Methodology-for-PM10-Street-Sweepers17106.pdf PM-10 Efficient Street Sweepers]</ref>
[[File:Street Sweeper Brush Disc Close-Up Wiesbaden.jpg|thumb|Wire bristles on the brush of a modern sweeper in Wiesbaden]]
Despite advancements in street-sweeping technology, the mechanical broom-type street sweeper accounts for approximately 90 percent of all street sweepers used in the United States today.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030306111848/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ultraurb/3fs16.htm Wildlife and Habitat {{!}} Ecosystems {{!}} Environmental Review Toolkit {{!}} FHWA]</ref> In 2018, Boschung, a Swiss street sweeper manufacturer, launched the Urban-Sweeper S2.0, the first fully electric street sweeper releasing zero emissions.
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Sure We Can Earthday clean 2021 1.jpg|Two street sweepers clearing a pavement in New York City File:Abu Dhabi Corniche 19.jpg|Street cleaner cleaning the pavement in Abu Dhabi, Middle East File:SweepOfTime.jpg File:Boise1914.jpg File:street sweeping machine.jpg File:Laymor 3-wheeled Street Sweeper.jpg Illustrirte Zeitung (1843) 06 006 1 Whitworth's Straßenreinigungsmaschine.PNG|Mechanical street sweeper by Joseph Whitworth, 1846 Drawing_by_Marguerite_Martyn_of_children_enjoying_a_shower_from_a_street-cleaning_wagon,_1914.jpg|right|Drawing by Marguerite Martyn of children following a street-cleaning wagon dispensing water to clear streets of debris in St. Louis, Missouri, 1914 Barrido Manual Sinder.jpg|right|Street sweeper in Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, 2004 Dvornik.JPG|upright|Monument of street sweeper in St. Petersburg, Russia, 2006-2009 Street sweeper. Kashgar.jpg|Street sweeper. Kashgar 2011 HudsonScwarzeM6000crop.jpg|Mechanical street sweeper in Ohio, 2011 Bucher CityCat 5006.Street sweeper in Modiin 2024.jpg|Street sweeper in Modiin, 2024 </gallery>
==See also== {{div col}} * Best management practice for water pollution * Floor buffer * Road debris * Snow removal * Storm drain * ''Street Cleaning Simulator'' * Street gutter * Waste management in Taiwan {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{external media|image1=[https://archive.org/download/car-176-for-the-holyoke-street-railway-august-6-1937-holyoke-massachusetts/Street%20sweeper%20car%20%239%20for%20the%20Holyoke%20Street%20Railway%2C%20November%2016%2C%201934%20%28Holyoke%2C%20Massachusetts%29.jpg An example of a street sweeper tram from the early 20th century], Holyoke St. Rwy (1934)}} {{Commons category|Street sweeper vehicles}} * {{cite journal |date=April 1916 |title=Man And His Machines: Motor-Cycle Street Sweeper |journal=The World's Work: A History of Our Time |volume=XXXI |page=694 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09_Sr9emceQC&pg=PA694 |access-date=2009-08-04 |author1= Page, Walter Hines |author2= Page, Arthur Wilson }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Street Sweeper}} Category:Cleaning Category:Cleaning and maintenance occupations Category:Waste collection Category:Waste collection vehicles Sweeper Category:Articles containing video clips