Charles brooks inventor biography
Charles brooks inventor biography
Charles Brooks: African American Inventor - myblackhistory.net!
Charles B. Brooks
US inventor, including street sweeping truck
Charles B. Brooks (1865–1908) was an American inventor.
Born in Virginia in 1865, by the 1890s he was a resident of Newark, New Jersey. Besides inventing, Brooks was a porter for the Pullman Palace Car Company.[1] Unlike other sweepers at that time (1890s), Brooks’ sweeper was the first self-propelled street sweeping truck.[2] His design had revolving brushes attached to the front fender, and the brushes were interchangeable so that when snow fell, scrapers could be attached for snow removal.[2] He received a patent for his invention on March 17, 1896 (US Patent #556,711).[3] A few months later, on May 12, 1896, he patented a dust-proof collection bag for the street sweeper (US Patent #560,154).[4]
Although little information is available about his life, we do know that funding for the production for his sweeper was provided by George M.
Hallstead and Plummer S. Pa