High-speed pick-up head for a street sweeper

Abstract

A high speed pick-up head for a street sweeper is provided for efficiently removing debris from a roadway surface as the street sweeper moves in a direction of travel. The pick-up head has a width extending in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of travel which defines a path of debris removal along the surface to be cleaned. The pick-up head also includes a structural housing having a top cover portion, a plurality of downwardly extending edge wall portions, a cross-member extending between opposed edge wall portions and disposed at an angle with respect to the transverse direction, and pressure and suction chambers adjacently arranged within the housing and separated by the cross-member. The pressure chamber has a generally circular inlet disposed adjacent to one of the edge wall portions, and a closed bottom portion. The suction chamber has a generally rectangular outlet disposed opposite the inlet of the pressure chamber, and an open bottom disposed adjacent to the surface to be cleaned. The pick-up head further includes a converging-diverging nozzle formed by the cross-member and the closed bottom portion of the pressure chamber for discharging a jet of forced air from the pressure chamber in a direction at least partially towards the outlet of the suction chamber. In use, this jet of forced air advantageously moves debris from the roadway surface in a direction towards the outlet of the suction chamber as the pick-up head moves in the direction of travel.