Pavement-cleaning vehicle

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.