Bioswales are great at reducing street litter including trash and leaves as well as sequestering rainwater to reduce ground subsidence (which in turn reduces road and foundation cracking), downstream flooding, air and water pollution, irrigation, and infrastructure upgrade costs. It keeps stormdrains from overflowing into sewage drains (when those meet the excess untreated effluent typically runs into rivers, lakes, etc). Bioswales assist in regreening urban landscapesas well as adding walkability, bikeability, comfort, shade and beauty. They reduce maintenance costs costs too. Bioswales also sequester carbon to soil, instead of allowing it to flow to the ocean.
great video thg I would love to see a video on the history of herbrand tools they started in 1881 and lasted in to 2000 and was in usa 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦
I've been driving a street sweeper for two years now. I never once have even wondered about the history of it. But I've wondered what the future would look like if we didn't do our job. Some areas are so bad that one day after I have swept a particular street it will already look like I was never there. Parked cars and trash cans left out are the bane of my existence. One day 60 tickets (at $60 each) were issued for parked cars. One time, though not on my shift, a parked car was ticketed and there was a dead person inside. I think the parking enforcement officer thought the motorist was sleeping. After that it became the policy to wake up anyone sleeping in vehicles. I'm pretty sure he didn't have to pay the ticket
I knew that, one day, the city where I reside would achieve the notoriety it deserves and be mentioned on 'The History Guy'! By being the first city(town or village!) to make history by purchasing an 'Elgin' Street sweeping machine!! And yet, it seems that I no longer recall hearing them as recently as I once did. In the past, they could be heard with their powerful vacuums and spinning water soaked brushes as they travelled slowly next to the curb, brushing away all manner of detritus! Have they become quieter, or is my hearing failing me? I shall be calling City Hall today to get clarification on this!! Yes, Boise is a tidy city! And I have been here 62 years!!
I have spent a good part of my career repairing street sweepers. The first one was an Elgin Pelican. It's not that much different than first one made in Elgin.
I have also spent years repairing street sweepers, and was very happy to to see this episode and excited to see elgin mentioned. Many pelicans have the logo of "America's first, world's finest."
Thank you for the lesson. Edit Whitworth's rifle of 1858 was extremely expensive and very accurate. Holding sub minute of angle groups out to at least 500 yds. During trials the rifle was able to hit a target at ranges of 1600 yds. The rifle was too expensive so the British chose a different rifle for general issue. Several Whitworth rifles made their way to Confederate snipers in the US Civil War.
I used to repair Mobile Street Sweepers back in the 80s. It was my first job as a mechanic. They were all mechanical, with a separate engine to run the brushes and conveyor. They also had two driving controls with curb brushes on both sides to allow the driver to sweep the inner and outer curbs without having to drive against the traffic flow.
" She got Elgin movements from her head down to her toes/breaks in on a dollar most anywhere she goes....." song lyric from "Walkin' Blues", originally by Son House but better known as having been covered by Robert Johnson and many others including Bonnie Raitt. Musicologists claim it's about a woman whose workings are as precise as the movements of a fine Elgin watch, but I know better: it's about a sexy woman, a lady of the night perhaps, who undulates as she walks, gyrating one way and the other, hips and shoulders moving almost simultaneously, like the brushes and rollers of an Elgin street-sweeping machine, and she vacuums up dollars everywhere she goes!
@@michaelwalton7776 , Academic studies of folk and blues music should always be taken with a couple grains of salt. I read a book about the life of Robert Johnson where the author was mystified by the lyrics of "Stones In My Passway", and discussed it as a possible parable for being blocked from certain avenues or directions in life. I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and throttle the author, to yell at him "you effing eejit, haven't you ever heard of kidney stones?"😉 Occam's Razor often applies to song lyrics ---- the simplest, most likely explanation is likely to be correct; and only after eliminating the more likely scenarios should you settle on something unlikely, or more obscure.
Sir Joseph William Bazalgette CB was a British civil engineer. As Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of a sewerage system for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city of cholera epidemics.
Mr. Geiger, could you please research and do an informational video on the USS Quail. In 1990 I joined the Navy at 17 and did a short 4 year enlistment and discharged at a Machinist Mate 3rd Class. Years after my service, my father, who turned 83 this month, told me a story of my great uncle Glenn Swisher. Glenn was a machinist mate as well and was aboard the Quail during the battle of Corregidor during WWII. The story of the Quail’s crew during and after the battle is fascinating and it deserves a retelling by an exceptional historian…you. Thank you for your contribution in retelling our history. Merry Christmas and may you have continued success in all your endeavors!
Born and raised in the upper West side of Manhattan. Alternate parking days. Sweepers come by but before that the parking enforcer will ticket and tow your car away..
While working for the City of Baltimore, Maryland, I had cause to go to the archives for some research. Reaching up to a dusty shelf I pulled down a 20x24 in leather bound ledger. It turned out to be the original ledger for the founding of the City. The first entry was to pay for the Mayor, a constable, and two street sweepers. The next year they hired one more constable and another street sweeper.
I am an utter nerd about infrastructure. I've been subscribed to your channel for like 3 years now and I've gotta say, despite the popular perception of these topics being boring or gross, these are among my favorite types videos! Keep up the good work!
Another form of street cleaning (during the period that municipal electric trolley cars were common public transportation), was trolley - mounted street sprinklers designed to flush horse manure off streets & into storm drains. Sometimes they took the form of a large water tank mounted on a trolley car chassis, with a small platform for the motorman operator, & & long hinged pipe with holes along its length to distribute the water across the street. Some versions had the water tank hidden inside a faux passenger trolley body. As always, you deliver interesting content! 😊
"She got Elgin movements from her head down to her toes/breaks in on a dollar everywhere she goes....." song lyric from Walkin' Blues, originally by Son House (1930) but famously covered by Robert Johnson and many others. Musicologosts think it's related to the precise movements inside an Elgin watch, but I know better: It's about a woman, a lady of the night perhaps, with an alluring walk, a gyrating hip action, who sashays up the street with one part of her undulating way and the other part going the other way almost simultaneous, just like a street sweeping machine ---- and she vacuums up dollars as she goes.
@@goodun2974 Man that took an unplanned turn. But great dig into the past. It's been since October when I last heard that song. Keep it up. I like it in you 😏
@@constipatedinsincity4424 , Anything said or written by musicologists or academics should always be taken with a grain of salt. Some years ago I read a book about Robert Johnson and the author, a college professor, seems totally mystified by the lyrics to the song "stones in my passway". He seemed to view it as some kind of parable about Johnson being blocked from avenues and paths in his life, and I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and yell at the guy " haven't you ever heard of a kidney stone"?
I am disappointed that no mention was made of the iconic Elgin Pelican being likely the most recognizable street sweeper on American streets throughout the 20th century.
I never would've thought that a topic such as this could be so interesting. I grew up in Toledo, OH. Street sweepers were a normal thing in my neighborhood.
Reading the title and then listening to THG, the little street sweeper at the end of "Mr. Peabody's Improbable History" [cartoon] immediately came to mind!
My grandfather ran the tool and die department for the Elgin street sweeping company and was part of the team that designed and built the Pelican. I remember as a kid he had a toy replica of a Street King that you could drive around the floor with controller and a connected wire. I wonder whatever happened to that toy
TOTALLY LOVED your commercial effects at the beginning of this Vid. Only improvement I might offer. Would be to have Josh to do a voice-over for the History Cat 👍
as a kid, I asked my brother how does the driver of the street sweeper go home at the end of his shift at 1 MPH? He explained that the street sweeper can retract the sweeping apparatus and drive at normal speeds like any truck. We used to follow them on the way to school and collect the metal bristles that came off.
At age 6, I moved from the country to a major city. It was a scary place and very boring. But one excitement was realizing an Elgin sweeper came down my street every evening, and it was mysterious and fascinating. I struggled to understand how it worked. But I knew it left the road damp and it smelled clean. Looked forward to seeing those machi es every day.
6/19/2024 As a child in the 1950's I can still remember seeing a large truck wit a tank of water and spray nozzles on the front that would WASH the street. The truck would have to stop often to refill the tank at a fire hydrant. He did not have to worry about parked cars. There was also a three wheeled STREET SWEEPING machine, I only saw it a few times. Oddly, I don't remember either after 1965. In my youth the "outdoor" dirt was mostly the soot from the steel mills, steam locomotives, and the leaves in the fall. The water truck usually delt with them well. Garbage was a different matter all together, collected by a different crew at least once a week. I vaguely remember a TV ad which stared a man sweeping "Wall Street" with a large push broom. Now that is street sweeping. '-)
My grandpa survived the depression in the 30s and went on to invent the first vacuum powered street sweeper. The pension paid for my college. I was really hoping THG would name drop him... soo close haha. The man was incredibly intelligent and would have loved this ep.
i/me retired custodialmark, social scientist filluposofee of dirt. since the 60's i cleaned. Lobby dust pan roller push broom, to battery auto scrubber of floors i used. even a push mower sized one for parking lots at mall. our lil town o Marfa,Texas has some streets cleaned once before the Lights Festival. hiway department down one block may maintian main street/ Hiway 90, Souther Tear bicycle route. i have played street cleaner here for near decade 2012- retired from 90 clients in town. city hall, county courthouse,art galleries, rentals, and ranch hunt camps. and now ached and pained sumtimes wobble to get trash of our area and as far as i see when waddle to store next door...
In the 80s as a kid a worked running a Elgin Pelican street sweeper in NY. I had people cursing calling police angry from dust that went all over . Even though I used some water still. I found running the machine in rain storms was best time to sweep. Half the dust went into cab. Brushes would wear off if you used them to much. It was a giant shop vac with brushes on wheels. People also would complain "you missed everything" thinking I had to get everything . Machine would fill and I had to drive a mile to dump area to empty it fill with water from fire hydrants. Fun summers then. Paid for Civil engineering degree eventually . PS: in Torah Judaism Laws all human waste must be removed from your City and or home buried also . In Europe they tossed waste into street then dark the well water... שלום
I ran an Elgin street sweeper in the 90's for a year or so, adjacent to construction sites. it's a pretty unwieldy contraption that kind of wants to go one way and the other simultaneously; it was tricky to keep it on a clean straight track. Probably didn't help that the maintenance schedule for the machine from the company who owned it was pretty much negligible.
I am constantly amazed by that, and how little we think about the fact that the lives we live now are not just different from 100 years ago, but from every age in human history.
Sadly humans learned the hard way the dangers of things like Rats running around. Of course impossible to combat totally. Simple things like street sweeping/cleaning helped a lot.
I remember the street cleaning operation in my city during to 40's/50's. One tanker truck similar to the ones that deliver heating oil to a home today. A "FAN" type nozzle out the front and one on each side. This powerful spray of water washed the dirt/trash/leaves to the curb. Not far behind this truck, walking in the street at the curb, was 2 big men pushing the wet waste at the curb with brooms into piles about the size of one grain shovel on each side of the street, then start another pile. Behind them was a dump truck with two big men walking along side of it using shovels and with one scoop the wet dripping pile was on the shovel and up into the dump truck. The men would rest while the water truck was refilled from a fire hydrant every few streets. It was fascinating to a 5/6 year old sitting on the front steps, especially the water truck with that powerful spray out the front and sides. I can still see the whole operation in my memories eye as I write this.🤔🤔🤔
In my experience it is far cheaper to hire a street sweeper contractor who periodically performs the service. The trucks are pricey, and the municipalities I've managed don't need the capital, maintainence, and staffing cost.
I grew up in NYC (Staten Island)and in 20 years of living there I saw a street sweeper go up my street twice. Now in Vegas they sweep my street twice a month.
I'm in a small town in Pennsylvania. Butler. We have a nice street sweeper. It's used on Mainsteet after parades and street festivals. So not too often. It's a fine looking machine I must say. Thanks again always entertaining and informative.
On Mackinac Island, Michigan the streets are still cleaned by men with brooms and hand pushed carts, but for a very different reason than a lack of technology and their primary "trash" to be cleaned is very different than almost any place else. This is because motor vehicles have been banned on the island almost since they were invented. And their largest source of trash comes from one of the primary modes of transportation, the horse.
As a child our town had asphalt paved streets but to extend the life of the streets they would "tar and chip" the streets every summer. Basically this was liquified hot tar that was sprayed on the street and then a very fine granular stone and dust was put on top of the still sticky tar. It made the entire summer a bit of a dusty mess as it took car traffic to press the fine stone and dust down in to the tar. Street sweeping would of been counter-productive and in the longer term the tar and chip method of street maintenance only delayed the eventual need to re-pave the streets.
In my city only major roads, the nice neighborhoods, and downtown get street sweeping. If you go down our main boulevard on the right day you'll still see people sweeping the curbs with hand brooms since the city won't.
Hi, Pocky! History Guy, I love learning about these kinds of things. We don't think about them, because they're so mundane. You help remind us that they're wonderful
Machines like that exist in any size you want, from small ones like the Bissell Crosswave, to bigger machines to walk behind or bigger ones to ride on. Walmart and Sam's Clubs use the bigger machines so it's easy to go see one in action if you want. The ones at Sam's are often robots.
One aspect of dirty streets prior to the wide spread adoption of the automobile was the large amounts of "road apples", (horse dung), that accumulated on the streets of towns and cities. I realize the reference to pigs cleaning city streets might have hinted that horse manure was the main problem, but in a age where most people have never been around livestock, the problem of animal manure seldom comes to mind. But the fact is, mechanical "street sweepers" were probably first invented to remove this byproduct of horse drawn vehicles. I seldom see a street sweeper on my street, but I have NEVER seen a horse on my street in the 43 years I've lived here.
The Paris sewers are virtually a character, along with the hero and heroine, in one of the greatest silent films, Seventh Heaven. And then of course, the sewers of Vienna appear with Orson Welles in the classic noir film The Third Man.
Here in Tucson the streets are swept every month or two. We get a lot of dust and sand on the streets, especially at intersections but otherwise ours is a tidy desert community with gravel or dirt yards and cacti.
History Guy ! This is the first time I've ever commented on a site's paid promotion but Yours Rocked !!! Nord VPN should pay you 4 times the normal rate for that inventive promotion spot you came up with. It Truly Swept Me Away !👊😎🤙 Good looking mouse chaser you got there too ! 🐈⬛
where I live, I call it "spring dirt relocating". The sweepers just move the dirt/sand/glass/sticks from next to the curb, to 1 to 2 feet out from the curb. Not ideal for a cyclist.
The sight of a man pulling a garbage can with the letters "D.S.C." on it is a cliche of old movies and cartoons, and falls into the category of "Has anybody ever really seen...?"
When were kids in the '60's we would chase the street sweeper and look in the street, it was good luck if you found a long bristle from that angled gutter brush.
@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thank you, Sir. Lots going there, so I wanted it for myself. Just ordered the poster on Amazon. Btw... my wife loved the cameo video I commissioned from you.
🌏 Get exclusive NordVPN deal here ➵ NordVPN.com/thehistoryguy It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!✌
Bioswales are great at reducing street litter including trash and leaves as well as sequestering rainwater to reduce ground subsidence (which in turn reduces road and foundation cracking), downstream flooding, air and water pollution, irrigation, and infrastructure upgrade costs. It keeps stormdrains from overflowing into sewage drains (when those meet the excess untreated effluent typically runs into rivers, lakes, etc). Bioswales assist in regreening urban landscapesas well as adding walkability, bikeability, comfort, shade and beauty. They reduce maintenance costs costs too.
Bioswales also sequester carbon to soil, instead of allowing it to flow to the ocean.
Beware the puns!
The commercial for the VPN was as hilarious as the rest of the vid was informative.
great video thg I would love to see a video on the history of herbrand tools they started in 1881
and lasted in to 2000 and was in usa 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦
H&hfgvhbrygff
This kind of history shouldn't be swept under the rug!
I've been driving a street sweeper for two years now. I never once have even wondered about the history of it. But I've wondered what the future would look like if we didn't do our job. Some areas are so bad that one day after I have swept a particular street it will already look like I was never there.
Parked cars and trash cans left out are the bane of my existence. One day 60 tickets (at $60 each) were issued for parked cars. One time, though not on my shift, a parked car was ticketed and there was a dead person inside. I think the parking enforcement officer thought the motorist was sleeping. After that it became the policy to wake up anyone sleeping in vehicles. I'm pretty sure he didn't have to pay the ticket
What city/state?
I knew that, one day, the city where I reside would achieve the notoriety it deserves and be mentioned on 'The History Guy'!
By being the first city(town or village!) to make history by purchasing an
'Elgin' Street sweeping machine!!
And yet, it seems that I no longer recall hearing them as recently as I once did. In the past, they could be heard with their powerful vacuums and spinning water soaked brushes as they travelled slowly next to the curb, brushing away all manner of detritus! Have they become quieter, or is my hearing failing me?
I shall be calling City Hall today to get clarification on this!!
Yes, Boise is a tidy city! And I have been here 62 years!!
Thanks for the excellent coverage on street sweepers history which deserves to be remembered and not brushed aside and forgotten!
Some puns make me bristle, but yours was a clean sweep
I see what you did there😂
THG recently endured me and my puns for 8 days in Germany and Austria - God Bless Him!
I have spent a good part of my career repairing street sweepers. The first one was an Elgin Pelican. It's not that much different than first one made in Elgin.
I have also spent years repairing street sweepers, and was very happy to to see this episode and excited to see elgin mentioned. Many pelicans have the logo of "America's first, world's finest."
When I was a kid in the 70's in our suburb of Montreal the sweeping machine carefully drove around parked cars leaving piles of dirt.
Thank you for the lesson.
Edit Whitworth's rifle of 1858 was extremely expensive and very accurate. Holding sub minute of angle groups out to at least 500 yds.
During trials the rifle was able to hit a target at ranges of 1600 yds.
The rifle was too expensive so the British chose a different rifle for general issue.
Several Whitworth rifles made their way to Confederate snipers in the US Civil War.
Your commercial is very cool. You should also be known as the hat guy.
I used to repair Mobile Street Sweepers back in the 80s. It was my first job as a mechanic. They were all mechanical, with a separate engine to run the brushes and conveyor. They also had two driving controls with curb brushes on both sides to allow the driver to sweep the inner and outer curbs without having to drive against the traffic flow.
" She got Elgin movements from her head down to her toes/breaks in on a dollar most anywhere she goes....." song lyric from "Walkin' Blues", originally by Son House but better known as having been covered by Robert Johnson and many others including Bonnie Raitt. Musicologists claim it's about a woman whose workings are as precise as the movements of a fine Elgin watch, but I know better: it's about a sexy woman, a lady of the night perhaps, who undulates as she walks, gyrating one way and the other, hips and shoulders moving almost simultaneously, like the brushes and rollers of an Elgin street-sweeping machine, and she vacuums up dollars everywhere she goes!
Learned something from that one paragraph!😁👍
@@michaelwalton7776 , Academic studies of folk and blues music should always be taken with a couple grains of salt. I read a book about the life of Robert Johnson where the author was mystified by the lyrics of "Stones In My Passway", and discussed it as a possible parable for being blocked from certain avenues or directions in life. I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and throttle the author, to yell at him "you effing eejit, haven't you ever heard of kidney stones?"😉 Occam's Razor often applies to song lyrics ---- the simplest, most likely explanation is likely to be correct; and only after eliminating the more likely scenarios should you settle on something unlikely, or more obscure.
The effort The History Guy puts into his commercials deserves to be.. well rewarded. Bravo. So nice I watched it twice.
Sir Joseph William Bazalgette CB was a British civil engineer. As Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of a sewerage system for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city of cholera epidemics.
ua-cam.com/video/jD7nRrSH_VE/v-deo.htmlsi=67qn_N5Hyub-iuKI
Mr. Geiger, could you please research and do an informational video on the USS Quail. In 1990 I joined the Navy at 17 and did a short 4 year enlistment and discharged at a Machinist Mate 3rd Class. Years after my service, my father, who turned 83 this month, told me a story of my great uncle Glenn Swisher. Glenn was a machinist mate as well and was aboard the Quail during the battle of Corregidor during WWII. The story of the Quail’s crew during and after the battle is fascinating and it deserves a retelling by an exceptional historian…you. Thank you for your contribution in retelling our history. Merry Christmas and may you have continued success in all your endeavors!
Saw the subject matter and thought, "This should be fun." And it was. Thanks!
I always liked seeing street sweepers in action. I remember seeing them for the first time in NYC and being fascinated.
I used to drive a sweeper. It was a fun job. Didn't have to bother with parked cars a lot as I mainly did construction sites and road repair cleanup.
Born and raised in the upper West side of Manhattan. Alternate parking days. Sweepers come by but before that the parking enforcer will ticket and tow your car away..
While working for the City of Baltimore, Maryland, I had cause to go to the archives for some research. Reaching up to a dusty shelf I pulled down a 20x24 in leather bound ledger. It turned out to be the original ledger for the founding of the City. The first entry was to pay for the Mayor, a constable, and two street sweepers. The next year they hired one more constable and another street sweeper.
Back in the Saddle Again Naturally!
Finally we got The History Guy doing cosplays
I am an utter nerd about infrastructure. I've been subscribed to your channel for like 3 years now and I've gotta say, despite the popular perception of these topics being boring or gross, these are among my favorite types videos! Keep up the good work!
Street sweeping IS important
Another form of street cleaning (during the period that municipal electric trolley cars were common public transportation), was trolley - mounted street sprinklers designed to flush horse manure off streets & into storm drains. Sometimes they took the form of a large water tank mounted on a trolley car chassis, with a small platform for the motorman operator, & & long hinged pipe with holes along its length to distribute the water across the street. Some versions had the water tank hidden inside a faux passenger trolley body.
As always, you deliver interesting content! 😊
Here in Las Vegas they have street sweepers that works the Downtown and Fremont area! They walk it with street Zambones
"She got Elgin movements from her head down to her toes/breaks in on a dollar everywhere she goes....." song lyric from Walkin' Blues, originally by Son House (1930) but famously covered by Robert Johnson and many others. Musicologosts think it's related to the precise movements inside an Elgin watch, but I know better: It's about a woman, a lady of the night perhaps, with an alluring walk, a gyrating hip action, who sashays up the street with one part of her undulating way and the other part going the other way almost simultaneous, just like a street sweeping machine ---- and she vacuums up dollars as she goes.
@@goodun2974 Man that took an unplanned turn. But great dig into the past. It's been since October when I last heard that song. Keep it up. I like it in you 😏
@@constipatedinsincity4424 , Anything said or written by musicologists or academics should always be taken with a grain of salt. Some years ago I read a book about Robert Johnson and the author, a college professor, seems totally mystified by the lyrics to the song "stones in my passway". He seemed to view it as some kind of parable about Johnson being blocked from avenues and paths in his life, and I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and yell at the guy " haven't you ever heard of a kidney stone"?
I am disappointed that no mention was made of the iconic Elgin Pelican being likely the most recognizable street sweeper on American streets throughout the 20th century.
"Elgin, IL" was mentioned; I imagine there's a connection.
@@RobertGaines-j4z You would be correct. Elgin, IL is where they are manufactured.
I never would've thought that a topic such as this could be so interesting. I grew up in Toledo, OH. Street sweepers were a normal thing in my neighborhood.
Reading the title and then listening to THG, the little street sweeper at the end of "Mr. Peabody's Improbable History" [cartoon] immediately came to mind!
OMG ... I have not thought about Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman in DECADES.
My grandfather ran the tool and die department for the Elgin street sweeping company and was part of the team that designed and built the Pelican. I remember as a kid he had a toy replica of a Street King that you could drive around the floor with controller and a connected wire. I wonder whatever happened to that toy
As children, few things were scarier and more fascinating to us than the street sweeper.
Thank you, THG, for another fascinating episode about the history of our civilization.
Paris has a sightseeing sight. The sewers of Paris. A must see.
I was hoping for an Ed Norton quote🤞🤞🤞
Boomf
TOTALLY LOVED your commercial effects at the beginning of this Vid. Only improvement I might offer. Would be to have Josh to do a voice-over for the History Cat 👍
You should make a video on The Zamboni Machine.
And yes Littering is a problem in America.
as a kid, I asked my brother how does the driver of the street sweeper go home at the end of his shift at 1 MPH? He explained that the street sweeper can retract the sweeping apparatus and drive at normal speeds like any truck.
We used to follow them on the way to school and collect the metal bristles that came off.
I've heard of people filing those down to make lockpicks. They're good spring steel.
At age 6, I moved from the country to a major city. It was a scary place and very boring. But one excitement was realizing an Elgin sweeper came down my street every evening, and it was mysterious and fascinating. I struggled to understand how it worked. But I knew it left the road damp and it smelled clean. Looked forward to seeing those machi es every day.
6/19/2024
As a child in the 1950's I can still remember seeing a large truck wit a tank of water and spray nozzles on the front that would WASH the street. The truck would have to stop often to refill the tank at a fire hydrant. He did not have to worry about parked cars. There was also a three wheeled STREET SWEEPING machine, I only saw it a few times. Oddly, I don't remember either after 1965.
In my youth the "outdoor" dirt was mostly the soot from the steel mills, steam locomotives, and the leaves in the fall. The water truck usually delt with them well. Garbage was a different matter all together, collected by a different crew at least once a week.
I vaguely remember a TV ad which stared a man sweeping "Wall Street" with a large push broom. Now that is street sweeping. '-)
My grandpa survived the depression in the 30s and went on to invent the first vacuum powered street sweeper. The pension paid for my college. I was really hoping THG would name drop him... soo close haha. The man was incredibly intelligent and would have loved this ep.
i/me retired custodialmark, social scientist filluposofee of dirt. since the 60's i cleaned. Lobby dust pan roller push broom, to battery auto scrubber of floors i used. even a push mower sized one for parking lots at mall. our lil town o Marfa,Texas has some streets cleaned once before the Lights Festival. hiway department down one block may maintian main street/ Hiway 90, Souther Tear bicycle route. i have played street cleaner here for near decade 2012- retired from 90 clients in town. city hall, county courthouse,art galleries, rentals, and ranch hunt camps. and now ached and pained sumtimes wobble to get trash of our area and as far as i see when waddle to store next door...
Good clean fun😎💪
In the 80s as a kid a worked running a Elgin Pelican street sweeper in NY.
I had people cursing calling police angry from dust that went all over .
Even though I used some water still.
I found running the machine in rain storms was best time to sweep.
Half the dust went into cab.
Brushes would wear off if you used them to much.
It was a giant shop vac with brushes on wheels.
People also would complain "you missed everything" thinking I had to get everything .
Machine would fill and I had to drive a mile to dump area to empty it fill with water from fire hydrants.
Fun summers then.
Paid for Civil engineering degree eventually .
PS: in Torah Judaism Laws all human waste must be removed from your City and or home buried also .
In Europe they tossed waste into street then dark the well water...
שלום
I ran an Elgin street sweeper in the 90's for a year or so, adjacent to construction sites. it's a pretty unwieldy contraption that kind of wants to go one way and the other simultaneously; it was tricky to keep it on a clean straight track. Probably didn't help that the maintenance schedule for the machine from the company who owned it was pretty much negligible.
It amazes me how many inventions that have drastically improved our lives seem to have been invented around 1900, give or take 10 or 20 years or so.
I am constantly amazed by that, and how little we think about the fact that the lives we live now are not just different from 100 years ago, but from every age in human history.
1:23 the transition from uk police, to globe man and then the top/bowler hat (i think) was funny as heck
Sadly humans learned the hard way the dangers of things like Rats running around. Of course impossible to combat totally. Simple things like street sweeping/cleaning helped a lot.
You made a clean sweep of a dirty subject THG.
We people in my city who clean up the trash around the city as a program to help the homeless. Surprising it is very successful here in Roanoke va
"Bring out your dead!"
"Here's one."
"I'm not dead!"
"He says he's not dead."
I remember the street cleaning operation in my city during to 40's/50's. One tanker truck similar to the ones that deliver heating oil to a home today. A "FAN" type nozzle out the front and one on each side. This powerful spray of water washed the dirt/trash/leaves to the curb. Not far behind this truck, walking in the street at the curb, was 2 big men pushing the wet waste at the curb with brooms into piles about the size of one grain shovel on each side of the street, then start another pile. Behind them was a dump truck with two big men walking along side of it using shovels and with one scoop the wet dripping pile was on the shovel and up into the dump truck. The men would rest while the water truck was refilled from a fire hydrant every few streets. It was fascinating to a 5/6 year old sitting on the front steps, especially the water truck with that powerful spray out the front and sides. I can still see the whole operation in my memories eye as I write this.🤔🤔🤔
Thank you for all research and hard work!
In my experience it is far cheaper to hire a street sweeper contractor who periodically performs the service. The trucks are pricey, and the municipalities I've managed don't need the capital, maintainence, and staffing cost.
I grew up in NYC (Staten Island)and in 20 years of living there I saw a street sweeper go up my street twice. Now in Vegas they sweep my street twice a month.
I'm in a small town in Pennsylvania. Butler. We have a nice street sweeper. It's used on Mainsteet after parades and street festivals. So not too often. It's a fine looking machine I must say. Thanks again always entertaining and informative.
Take a close look at the painting that begins a the 7:28 mark. There is some funky stuff going on there
On Mackinac Island, Michigan the streets are still cleaned by men with brooms and hand pushed carts, but for a very different reason than a lack of technology and their primary "trash" to be cleaned is very different than almost any place else. This is because motor vehicles have been banned on the island almost since they were invented. And their largest source of trash comes from one of the primary modes of transportation, the horse.
As a child our town had asphalt paved streets but to extend the life of the streets they would "tar and chip" the streets every summer. Basically this was liquified hot tar that was sprayed on the street and then a very fine granular stone and dust was put on top of the still sticky tar. It made the entire summer a bit of a dusty mess as it took car traffic to press the fine stone and dust down in to the tar.
Street sweeping would of been counter-productive and in the longer term the tar and chip method of street maintenance only delayed the eventual need to re-pave the streets.
Mr. Lance, Kudos on the imadinitive VPN commercial. Very well done.
In my city only major roads, the nice neighborhoods, and downtown get street sweeping. If you go down our main boulevard on the right day you'll still see people sweeping the curbs with hand brooms since the city won't.
That cat looks like it's willing to pay it's dues, but it doesn't have to be happy about it.
Hi, Pocky!
History Guy, I love learning about these kinds of things. We don't think about them, because they're so mundane. You help remind us that they're wonderful
I need a super compact sweeper that will clean my shop floors at work.
Machines like that exist in any size you want, from small ones like the Bissell Crosswave, to bigger machines to walk behind or bigger ones to ride on. Walmart and Sam's Clubs use the bigger machines so it's easy to go see one in action if you want. The ones at Sam's are often robots.
One aspect of dirty streets prior to the wide spread adoption of the automobile was the large amounts of "road apples", (horse dung), that accumulated on the streets of towns and cities. I realize the reference to pigs cleaning city streets might have hinted that horse manure was the main problem, but in a age where most people have never been around livestock, the problem of animal manure seldom comes to mind. But the fact is, mechanical "street sweepers" were probably first invented to remove this byproduct of horse drawn vehicles. I seldom see a street sweeper on my street, but I have NEVER seen a horse on my street in the 43 years I've lived here.
I love the video, but your Nord VPN commercial is by far the best one I have ever seen! Great job. 😊
Off topic: Your cat is adorable.
He is. And he knows it.
Highly enjoyable telling of an eccentric I had never heard of .😂
The Paris sewers are virtually a character, along with the hero and heroine, in one of the greatest silent films, Seventh Heaven. And then of course, the sewers of Vienna appear with Orson Welles in the classic noir film The Third Man.
I appreciate you and thank you for making content.
That sponsor intro was delightful
What an interesting subject, thanks for sharing.
Thanks THG👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
There were some street cleaning models of vacuum cleaners as sometime before ones that are suitable enough inside of homes
Here in Tucson the streets are swept every month or two. We get a lot of dust and sand on the streets, especially at intersections but otherwise ours is a tidy desert community with gravel or dirt yards and cacti.
As a kid, we used to toss pennies into the path of the Street Sweeper as a tip to the driver as a sign of thanks for sweeping our street.
Using your adorable kitty to help your ad! I love it, theyre beautiful!
Interesting references to the Miami County solid waste district. I’ve lived in Miami county for years and haven’t heard of it. Glad to be learning.
How about a video on the Whitworth bolts and tools
This is excellent.
This was a good one
Thank you.
PS you have the best way to showcase your paid promotion.. very entertaining.
A history of street sweeping and not a single mention of 'Trigger's broom' 🤣🤣
Ironically, as I am watching this video, our city street sweeper just rolled by outside...
Best VPN plug ever!!
I can't believe it took you this long to finally do street sweeping.
Beats ME what they're like in the big city but small town street sweeper just kick up dust/dirt and shift the litter around on the ground
The street sweeper here in Kelso Washington just shows up with notice to have vehicles moved thus the cleaning is not as thurough.
History Guy ! This is the first time I've ever commented on a site's paid promotion but Yours Rocked !!! Nord VPN should pay you 4 times the normal rate for that inventive promotion spot you came up with. It Truly Swept Me Away !👊😎🤙 Good looking mouse chaser you got there too ! 🐈⬛
I don’t know Lance - can your cat be trusted not to divulge your secrets?!🤔😸
No. He is cute, but clearly untrustworthy
where I live, I call it "spring dirt relocating". The sweepers just move the dirt/sand/glass/sticks from next to the curb, to 1 to 2 feet out from the curb. Not ideal for a cyclist.
Yeah, Miami Country, Ohio!
The sight of a man pulling a garbage can with the letters "D.S.C." on it is a cliche of old movies and cartoons, and falls into the category of "Has anybody ever really seen...?"
You jogged my memory of the days of street sweeping machines ( grew up in the Bronx)..dum waiters and incinerators in apartment buildings
Me too
Bronx Love 😎
Interesting video!
Is there any correlation between pigs being seen as filthy and then being used as street cleaners?
😻 1:57 🐈😊
When were kids in the '60's we would chase the street sweeper and look in the street, it was good luck if you found a long bristle from that angled gutter brush.
Horse poop! I mean that in the 19th century and early 20th, the main thing to pick up and carry away came from the south end of a northbound horse.
Hell yeah
Street sweeping man
HISTORY CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!
Wonderful presentation..... Merry Christmas ⛄⛄⛄🎁🎁🎁🎁
Hi History Guy,
What is the name of the very colorful painting starting at 7:29 of this video?
Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thank you, Sir. Lots going there, so I wanted it for myself. Just ordered the poster on Amazon. Btw... my wife loved the cameo video I commissioned from you.
@@slingerssecretlaboratory I am glad she liked it!
You should do a follow up video on the great horse manure crisis of 1894.
Beware the puns!