Sweeping machine with movable recirculation flap

摘要

A sweeping machine has a chassis (10), wheels (26) for supporting the chassis and a brush (30) mounted on the chassis for rotation to throw debris over the brush and into a debris hopper (32) mounted on the chassis behind the brush. There is a control lever (20) on the chassis for raising and lowering the brush relative to a surface to be swept. As the brush wears, a recirculation flap (54) is positioned between the brush (30) and the debris hopper (32) and located closely adjacent a rear portion of the brush to direct debris not reaching the debris hopper forwardly toward the brush sweeping zone. The recirculation flap (54) is moved toward and away from the brush concurrently with movement of the brush toward the surface being swept as the brush wears, whereby the space between the rear portion of the brush (30) and the recirculation flap (54) remains relatively constant. <IMAGE>