Recently I took my youngest son to see "The Unfortunate Adventures of Lemony Snicket." After it was over, I began thinking about the unfortunate events I have experienced through the years with sweeper/scrubbers. If you think I'm kidding, sit back, relax and read the events. Most involve the loading of this equipment in various ways. I told my son about these and he said, "Dad, most of this stuff happens to stupid people." I laughed and exclaimed; "You said it, not me."

    1) One day I was watching an operator sweeping a parking lot because the owner was concerned that it was not doing a good job. It was a Tennant Model #97. This operator was new, not too bright, and yelled over; it's not sweeping. He took off and at the end of the parking lot he did not stop. The sweeper went right into the grassy area and sank into the ground. I ran over and he said, "Doesn't this thing sweep in grass?" DA!

 

    2) This event was years ago. I was looking over ten to twelve Tennant Sweepers to buy. There were two Model #92 Sweepers that some one else purchased and were loading. They had a 53' aluminum open trailer. It was an overcast day with drizzle. It wasn't raining at the time but the trailer was wet from when it rained earlier.

    Being a 53' trailer in a dock area made the trailer angled up hill. A man started loading the sweeper forward. The Tennant Model 92 is a three-wheeled sweeper designed with the back wheel being a drive and steer wheel. About half way up the trailer the tire started loosing traction. Seeing this I yelled over, "You're loosing traction, it's too wet!"

    He looked over and laughed. For some reason he slightly turned the wheel and it immediately flipped over off the trailer. I ran over with all the other people, he was okay, but shaken-up.

    3) This is a good one! I happened to be at this company when they were transporting two sweepers to another location. Again, a flat bed semi-truck pulls up and they have no dock. I thought to myself and wanted to watch how they were going to handle this. The guy drives outside with a 3,000 lb. Clark lift truck. He puts the forks under the sweeper on the driver side and begins to pick it up. The rear of the forklift begins raising into the air. I ran over and said, "You know this sweeper weights 5,000 pounds. You'll never pick it up with that." He replied, "Watch me."

    And this is exactly what happened next. He put the sweeper directly next to the semi trailer. He once again put the forks under the sweeper. He had another drive out with a second 3,000 lb. Clark forklift. This one is positioned where the counter-weight butts up to the counterweight of the first lift truck. He then takes a chain and ties it around the overhead guard and also ties it too the counterweight of the second lift truck. As he lifts the sweeper and moves forward the chain tightens and both trucks move toward the trailer. I thought this guy was nuts. He should be thankful the chain didn't break or he would have been an unfortunate event.

    4) Once again this involves a forklift. I don't know why people try to pick up sweeper or scrubbers with a lift truck. Of course the best method to transport these sweeper/scrubbers is with a tilt bed truck. It is a bad idea to put forks under any sweeper or scrubber at all!

    An American Lincoln SC7740 got forked from the rear when they tried to load it into a semi. They did get it loaded. When it got to its destination and unloaded the operator started filling the solution tank. Meandering around the scrubber he noticed the rear squeegee was entirely gone. Kneeling and looking underneath, he saw the damage. Water was pouring out of the solution tank. What a mess!

        Just like the Bullwinkle cartoons, I'll have two titles for this article:

                1. The Unfortunate Adventures of Sweeper/Scrubbers

OR

                2. Don't let your scrubber get forked.

    If you have any questions or comments you can e-mail me

at mikec98423@yahoo.com or call at 1-800-346-2319.