History of Mechanical Street Sweepers

The mechanical type of street sweeper may not be as old as the streets they are cleaning, but it may be a surprise to some that this equipment dates back to the 19^th Century.

In fact, it was in March 17, 1896 that C.B. Brooks invented the very first street sweeper. During his time, streets were cleaned by workers who manually picked up trash and used brooms to sweep the streets. His invention consisted of a truck that had brushes that pushed debris on the side of the road. However, some people also claim that it was C.S. Bishop who invented the first mechanical street sweeper in September 4, 1849, which had rotating disks and/or drums that were covered with wire bristles.

During the fall of 1911, John M. Murphy called the office of the American Tower and Tank Company in Elgin, Illinois about his plan of building a motor driven street sweeper. The company then decided to hire John M. Murphy because of his plan, and then started the Elgin Sweeper Company.

It was only during the early 20^th century that automobile became widely available in the US, but street sweepers were already in the scene before this. In 1914, city officials in Boise, Idaho bought the first ever Elgin street sweeper, and since then, the company has been a familiar name in the industry.