Pavement-cleaning vehicle

Claim 1

A vehicle for cleaning ground surfaces provided with a rigid pavement, of the type having a chassis frame adapted for movement in a direction of travel along said pavement, and, mounted on the chassis frame, a traction engine, at least one working engine, and a fan having a suction-side intake and a blowing-side outlet and drivable by said working engine, the vehicle further having a sweeping-brush roller having a longitudinal axis transverse to said direction of travel and pivotable about a substantially vertical axis to vary the angle between said longitudinal axis and the direction of travel, drive means including said working engine for rotating the sweeping-brush roller about its longitudinal axis, a main blown-air duct connectible to the outlet of the fan, blowing nozzles connected to the main blown-air duct, and a cover disposed in front of the sweeping-brush roller in the direction of travel to form a blow duct running substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the sweeping-brush roller, wherein the improvement comprises: at least one suction port disposed for vertical adjustment within said blow duct at a location between the opposite ends of said brush, the upper limit of said adjustment being suited for snow clearing, and the lower limit being suited for vacuum-sweeping, means for connecting said suction port to said intake of said fan, a blowing nozzle at each of the opposite ends of said brush having an airflow path directed toward said suction port, a deflector device for leading airflow produced by said fan to either one or to both of said blowing nozzles, and means to raise said suction port to one position out of the airflow path of said blowing nozzles, and to lower said suction port to a second position adjacent the rigid pavement within the airflow paths from said blowing nozzles.