Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/852

 Cleaning Sewers from the Street

Many of the disagreeable features of the work are being eUminated

��AXO\"EL machine which is desjigncd to ilcan sewers from the street and thus chminate much of the disagreeable work in the sewer, has been put on the market b>' a western manufacturer. The apparatus and its metliod of operation are shown in the accompanying illustrations.

The device consists of two four-wheeled trucks placed at two successive manhole openings and a special steel bucket pulled between manholes by means of a cable, one end of which is attached to a hand-winch on one truck and the other end to a similar winch on the other. The bucket is not necessarily drawn from one manhole to the next, but is drawn into the sewer only far enough to be lilUcl with the deposit and then pulled out ot the same manhole in which it was inserted.

���The expansion bucket, which is used with a trolley-jack. The jaws are sharpened for scraping

lifted out of cable's cutting

���This is made possible by the construction of the bucket, which has two hinged scoops at one end so arranged as to close up tight when the reverse pull is made, and also to expand the bucket when it is emptied. Four guard-plates are riveted to the sides of the bucket to prevent excessive wear. They form a hinge for the jaws. The edges of the scoops are sharpened to cut any roots or growths that might be in the sewer bollcm.

A special feature of the apparatus is the means whereby the full bucket is the manhole without the nto the sewer or manhole brickwork. This is done by means of a guide-jack, consisting of a yoke with ball- joint adjusting-screws at one end and a wedge connection on the other end. This is lowered into the manhole on chains hooked to the manhole-rim, and carries a pi\ted arm with a cable pulley. When the bucket is being taken out, it strikes the arm, revolving it upward about its pivot, so that the bucket is guided free out of the scwer-tile and then up the center of the manhole without obstruction.

The shari)eiH'd jaws scrajie the till' thorougliK' so that e\ery par- ticle of debris is rem<ned. When shut the\- are so tight that noth- ing in the bucket can escajJC.

When the reverse pull is made on the cable the jaws of the bucket close automatically so that nothinR can escape except the excess water, for

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