Sewer History: Photos and Graphics

Maintenance - Sewer cleaning equipment (1)
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge image)

The need to clean sewers led in the nineteenth century to a number of designs to flush sewers (see Flush Tank section), but in many cases, other methods were needed. "Pills" (round wooden balls pushed downstream by the sewage) were an early method. Larger sewers were cleaned by a bucket on wheels or a disk pulled through the pipe.

When a sewer was entirely stopped up, a "sewer rod" was pushed into the obstruction. Early rods used short lengths of pipe or wood, which were assembled together and forced through the obstruction. Several tools were developed to be attached to the front end -- to remove roots, create an opening in the blockage, scrap out grit, etc.

See Tracking Down the Roots of Our Sanitary Sewers for more information.


(377k)	Poster showing wagons used for sewer cleaning, Paris. The wagons ran on rails and had thick plates that could be lowered into the sewer for cleaning. Source: Courtesy of Bruno de Ville d'Avray, Mairie de Paris / Direction de la protection de l'environnement, Section de l'assainissement de Paris; and Lucien Finel, previous Deputy to the Mayor of Paris (in charge of water and sanitation management).
(357k)	Poster showing boat used in sewer cleaning, Paris. Source: Courtesy of Bruno de Ville d'Avray, Mairie de Paris / Direction de la protection de l'environnement, Section de l'assainissement de Paris; and Lucien Finel, previous Deputy to the Mayor of Paris (in charge of water and sanitation management).
	Illustration of tools used in cleaning sewers, circa 1880. These were generally attached to sewer rods. "Tools Used in Cleaning Sewers," Engineering News and American Railway Journal (22 May 1880), p. 176.
	Flushing boat and truck used in Paris sewers, circa 1884. Samuel M. Gray, Proposed Plan for a Sewerage System, and for the Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Providence (Providence: Providence Press Company, Printers to the City, 1884), Plate 16, opposite page 53.
	Sand scraper for sewer pipes, 1895. Many sewer cleaning tools in the early days were handmade using parts from other equipment such as farming tools. Source: William Nelson, "A New Sand Scraper for Sewer Pipe," Engineering News and American Railway Journal, Volume XXXIII, No. 17 (25 April 1895), P. 275.
	Device for cleaning sewers automatically, Berlin, Germany, 1896. "The Sewers and Sewage Farms of Berlin," Engineering News and American Railway Journal, Volume XXXVI, No. 9 (27 Aug. 1896), p. 141.
	Bag for flushing large sewers, 1897. Source: "Apparatus for Flushing Small Sewers," Engineering News and American Railway Journal, Volume XXXVII, No. 17 (29 April 1897), p. 262.
	Details of cleaning mechanism for the 48-inch outfall sewer at Salt Lake City, Utah, 1898. F. C. Kelsey, City Engineer. Source: "Cleaners for the Large Outfall Sewer at Salt Lake City, Utah," Engineering News and American Railway Journal, Volume XXXIX, No. 18 (5 May 1898), p. 291.
	Appliances used in the maintenance of sewers at Providence, Rhode Island, 1899. Source: Engineering News and American Railway Journal, Volume XLI, No. 13 (30 March 1899) insert facing p. 200.
	Construction drawing for a sewer cleaning device. From Columbus, Ohio, dated 1899. Source: Mike Foster, Sewer Maintenance Operations Center, Columbus, Ohio.
	Advertisement for "Healey Sewer Cleaning Machine," manufactured by P.J. Healey & Co. of Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1900. Source: The Engineering Record, Volume 47, Number 3, p. 24.