Suction excavator
Encyclopedia
For underwater suction excavating, see Dredging#Types of dredging vessels.

A suction excavator or vacuum excavator is a construction vehicle that removes earth from a hole on land, or removes heavy debris on land, from various places, by powerful suction through a wide suction pipe which is up to a foot or so diameter. The suction inlet air speed may be up to 100 metres/second (224 mph).

The suction nozzle may have two handles for a man to hold it by; those handles may be on a collar which can be rotated to uncover suction-release openings (with grille
Grille
A grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-Spelling:In the United States, "grille" is used to differentiate the automotive...

s over) to release the suction to make the suction nozzle drop anything which it has picked up and is too big to go up the tube.

The end of the tube may be toothed. This helps to cut earth when use for excavating; but when it is used to suck up loose debris and litter, some types of debris items may snag on the teeth.

The earth to be sucked out may be loosened first with a compressed-air lance, or a powerful water jet.

Its construction is somewhat like a gully emptier
Gully emptier
A gully emptier is a type of specialized tanker lorry with suction gear which can suck wastewater and mud and sludge out of hollows such as the hollows below drain grids in street gutters and carry it to a suitable disposal point...

 but with a wider suction hose and a more powerful suction.

Excavating with a suction excavator may called "vacuum excavation", or "hydro excavation" if a water jet is used.

Vacuum excavation (also known as suction excavation) is considered a best practice for safely locating and witnessing underground utilities, reducing the chance of utility strikes by more than half.

History

RSP Gmbh have been making suction excavators and stationary suction units since 1993, but gully emptier
Gully emptier
A gully emptier is a type of specialized tanker lorry with suction gear which can suck wastewater and mud and sludge out of hollows such as the hollows below drain grids in street gutters and carry it to a suitable disposal point...

s and the old type of suction street cleaner vehicle that could only pick up loose debris have been around for much longer.

Since 1998, the MTS Mobile Tiefbau Saugsysteme GmbH is making a new type of suction excavator. It is said to have a new designed air flow principle, and thus a considerably improved suction performance.

RSP Gmbh

RSP Gmbh in Germany make or made these models:
model|fan
capacity
|maximum
suction
depth
maximum
suction
span
spoil
tank
volume
specifications of carrying truck info link
poweraxleswheelbaseweight
ESE 18/7 7 m 6.94 – 8.88 m³/s 0.1 - 0.17 bar 15 m 70 m 4 cu.m. 280 hp ≥ 2 4.2 m = 13 ft 10 in 18 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

s
http://www.rsp-germany.com/www/rsp/EN/produkte/fahrzeuge/list/details.htm?rec_id=10EC6D5BB9E&prodgroup=10E55644DF9
ESE 19/5 8 m 5 - 6.94 m³/s 0.1 - 0.17 bar 11 m 50 m 5 cu.m. 310 hp ≥ 2 4.5 m = 14 ft 10 in 19 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

s
http://www.rsp-germany.com/www/rsp/EN/produkte/fahrzeuge/list/details.htm?rec_id=10D0D032541&prodgroup=10E55644DF9
ESE 26/7 8.8 m 5 - 6.94 m³/s 0.1 - 0.17 bar 11 m 50 m 7 cu.m. 310 hp ≥ 3 4.2 m = 13 ft 10 in 28 tonnes http://www.rsp-germany.com/www/rsp/EN/produkte/fahrzeuge/list/details.htm?rec_id=10D16212451&prodgroup=10E55644DF9
ESE 32/7 9.8 m 8.8888 m³/s 0.3 bar 16 m 100 m 7 cu.m. 400 hp ≥ 4 4.2 m = 13 ft 10 in 32 tonnes http://www.rsp-germany.com/www/rsp/EN/produkte/fahrzeuge/list/details.htm?rec_id=10EC6D594A9&prodgroup=10E55644DF9

The suction unit is roughly rectangular-block-shaped, about 2.5 metres wide and 3.6 metres high, and is usually mounted and used on the back of a truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

, which must have power takeoffs to run the suction unit's air impeller and hydraulics
Hydraulics
Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...

.

When it is emptying its load out, the spoil tank lid (with the hose connection) hinges off to the right, then the spoil tank (with the filters) tips about 90º over to the left to tip its load out.

In the ESE 32/7:
  • The suction pipe's internal diameter is 25 cm = 9.8 inches
  • The fan produces a maximum pressure reduction of about 30,000 pascal
    Pascal (unit)
    The pascal is the SI derived unit of pressure, internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus and tensile strength, named after the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is a measure of force per unit area, defined as one newton per square metre...

    s = about 0.3 atmosphere
    Atmosphere (unit)
    The standard atmosphere is an international reference pressure defined as 101325 Pa and formerly used as unit of pressure. For practical purposes it has been replaced by the bar which is 105 Pa...

     or 4.5 pounds/square inch. Across a circular suction opening 9.8 inches diameter that would give an entry air speed of about 400 mph and a maximum suction power of about 340 pounds = about 3 hundredweight
    Hundredweight
    The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...

    . It can suck up objects up to 25 cm or 9.8 inches across of weight up to 30 kilogram
    Kilogram
    The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

    s = 66 pounds
    Pound (mass)
    The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

    .
  • It is described as able to suck up "earth, stones, vegetable waste, sand, mud, water, pebbles, rubble, asbestos
    Asbestos
    Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

    , railway-type ballast
    Track ballast
    Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers or railroad ties are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track...

    "
  • Its suction pipe has a detachable extension nozzle narrowing from 10 inches to 4 inches internal diameter, with handles on a rotatable panel to open or close side vents to let the operator let it drop overlarge objects which it has picked up.
  • Its expected spoil extraction rates are roughly, in cubic metres per hour:

materialcu.m./hourtime for 1 cu.m.
heavy soil with buried cables and pipes 1.6666 36 mins
dry heavy soil 2.5 24 mins
wet heavy soil or clay 3 20 mins
moderately heavy soil with buried cables and pipes 4 15 mins
muddy soil, gravel, crushed rock 6 10 mins
sandy soil 10 6 mins
water 30 2 mins
heavy soil with buried cables and pipes
excavated by hand
0.25 4 hours

MTS Mobile Tiefbau Saugsysteme GmbH

MTS GmbH in Germersheim
Germersheim
Germersheim is a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, of around 20,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the Germersheim district. The neighboring towns and cities are Speyer, Landau, Philippsburg, Karlsruhe and Wörth.-Coat of arms:...

, Germany is making since 1998 these types of suction excavators:
ModelFanAir movementSuction pressureSpoil capacityMax. suction depthMax. suction distanceSuction hose diameterInfo linkNotes
Suction Box SBO 1-2m³ 125-200mm = 4.932 - 7.87 inches http://saugbagger.com/products/51 Can be carried by excavators etc. In 22, 32, 42 kW versions.
MINI-VAC Single turbine 6,944 m³/sec 0.1974 bar
Bar (unit)
The bar is a unit of pressure equal to 100 kilopascals, and roughly equal to the atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. Other units derived from the bar are the megabar , kilobar , decibar , centibar , and millibar...

1,5-2m³ 5m 25m 200mm = 7.87 inches http://saugbagger.com/products/63 buildup on 7.5 ton truck, compact for difficult-to-reach sites
DINO 2-5 Single or
double turbine
6.944 – 10 m³/sec 0.335 bar 4m³ - 12m³ 20m+ 100m+ 250mm= 9.84 inches http://saugbagger.com/products/46 with telescopic boom or hydraulic boom
MEGA-VAC Quadruple turbine 10 m³/sec 0.493 bar 9m³ 30m+ 200m 250mm = 9.84 inches http://saugbagger.com/products/50 big for big jobs



With the MEGA-VAC the suction power across a 9.84-inch-wide hose entry would be about half a ton.

The MTS suction excavators are said to have a much easier air routing that leads to a more open spoil-hold design and much better suction performance.

Saugmaster

Saugmaster make a model similar to the ESE 32/7; it can suck 8 cu.m./second of air, and its suction tube is 9 inches = 23 cm wide inside.

Ditch Witch

The USA firm Ditch Witch
Ditch Witch
Ditch Witch is an American brand of underground construction equipment built by The Charles Machine Works, Inc., which has been in operation under the current name since 1949...

 makes 4 models of suction excavators: FX20, FX25, FX30, FX60; the number is its approximate horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

. It is mounted on a semitrailer. It has its own engine (petrol for FX20, the others diesel). Its spoil tank is cylindrical with somewhat rounded ends. Its suction hose is 3 inches diameter inside (but the FX60 can take 4-inch-diameter suction hose). Its spoil tank can be supplied various sizes.

Airex

Airex GB Ltd http://www.airexgb.co.uk/ in the UK make two current models of vacuum excavator: AX-68 and AX-180. Both systems are mounted on the back of rigid 7.5-ton trucks, designed for use in inner-city streets. The smaller design of these trucks gives less impact on their surroundings. The AX-68 uses a 4-inch hose but the AX-180 uses an 8-inch hose which can removing a tonne of earth in six minutes.

Vac-Tron Equipment, LLC

Vac-Tron Equipment, LLC http://www.vactron.com in the U.S. makes more than 50 models of hydro excavation and dry excavation gasoline and diesel vacuum excavators. They offer trailer mounted and skid mounted options, and gasoline and diesel models. Spoil tanks come in various sizes and configurations. Low profile increases maneuverability and can be towed by as small as a half-ton pickup truck
Pickup truck
A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area .-Definition:...

.

Cappellotto

Cappelottohttp://www.cappellotto.com makes various powered cleansing equipment including CAPGEO (a model of suction excavator). Its arm is said to reach 7 meters and to swivel 250 degrees.

(They also make CAPBORA (in Italian), which is specifically for sucking up loose material.)
Cappelotto was founded in 1953 and is based at Gaiarine
Gaiarine
Gaiarine is a comune in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, about 50 km north of Venice and about 30 km northeast of Treviso...

 in the province of Treviso in Italy.

Uses

Suction excavators are useful to remove earth from around existing buried services or tree roots with much less risk of damaging them than using a conventional excavator
Excavator
Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, stick, bucket and cab on a rotating platform . The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. A cable-operated excavator uses winches and steel ropes to accomplish the movements. They are a natural progression from the...

 with a metal scoop.

This type of excavation is held to be a safe and efficient form of excavation
Earthworks (engineering)
Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...

. However it is totally unsuitable for archaeological excavation. Using a powerful vacuum and high pressure water, precise holes, trenches and tunnels can be cut to the required size and proportion. Because compressed air or water is used to loosen the earth, the risk of damaging underground utilities is less and contractors can safely find and expose them. Often excavation reveals unknown utilities, saving lives, money and time.

It is also referred to as "daylighting", as the underground utilities are exposed to daylight during the process.

This type of excavating is quickly becoming recognized as a best practice when working in areas with underground utility congestion and frozen ground. Hydro excavation lessens the risk of damaging utilities, which may often be inaccurately mapped and located and marked on the surface.

A suction excavator is useful in bulk excavation in confined areas, where its suction hose can reach in over or through barriers, e.g. digging a swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

 in a courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....

.

It can be used on railways (perhaps mounted on a railroad car
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...

 base) to suck old track ballast
Track ballast
Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers or railroad ties are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track...

 off the track when re-ballasting the track.

It can be used as a very heavy-duty vacuum cleaner
Vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, commonly referred to as a "vacuum," is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal...

 to pick up miscellaneous debris, e, g, rubble
Rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture. This word is closely connected in derivation with "rubbish", which was formerly also applied to what we now call "rubble". Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as brash...

, or big accumulations of fallen leaves or litter.

It can suck up liquids, e.g. water from a hollow.

The National Grid (UK) (UK electricity suppliers) has ordered 10 suction excavators.http://www.tracto-technik.com/index.cfm?menuID=3&cmd=presseberichte&presseID=13

As at July 2009 in England the North West Gas Alliance http://www.nwgasalliance.co.uk/ has 3 German-made suction excavators.

Force One Ltd specialist image library shows various uses of the new excavation technology including Bridge Refurbishment - Clearing Culverts - Clearance of Holding Tanks - Extension Hose Excavation - Substations - Rail Excavations - Airports - Filter Beds, Lighthouse and many more applications http://www.vactruck.co.uk/gallery.html. There is little known fact about the diversity of the use of vacuum/suction excvators, for example - they are capable of excavating up to 140m horizontally and up to 20m depth depending on the type of material being excavated.

Specific jobs

Suction excavator jobs in Italy described in RSP Gmbh's publicity include:
  • In the old center of Venice
    Venice
    Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

    :
    • Cleaning deep silt
      Silt
      Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

       (accumulated over nearly 40 years) out of the Rio Terà San Polo, which was formerly a narrow open canal
      Canal
      Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

      , but is now a roofed sewer
      Sewerage
      Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...

       under a busy street. The excavator sucked through a long hose. Access damage to its roof and the street above was limited to four manhole
      Manhole
      A manhole is an opening used to gain access to sewers or other underground structures, usually for maintenance.Manhole may also refer to:* Manhole , a metal band from Los Angeles* The Manhole, a computer game...

      -sized holes, which afterwards were fitted with manhole cover
      Manhole cover
      A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, to prevent anyone from falling in and to keep unauthorized persons out....

      s for future access. This avoided a long smelly traffic-obstruction-causing manual job.
    • Cleaning 1.6 meters deep silt out of the Rio Terà San Leonardo (a roofed sewer, 230 m long, 6 to 13 m wide): similarly.
  • The south loggia
    Loggia
    Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...

     of the Palazzo della Ragione
    Palazzo della Ragione
    The Palazzo della Ragione is a Medieval town hall building in Padua, in the Veneto region of ItalyThe building, with its great hall on the upper floor, is reputed to have the largest roof unsupported by columns in Europe; the hall is nearly rectangular, its length 81.5m, its breadth 27m, and its...

     in Padua
    Padua
    Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

    : Sucking out a big accumulation of rubble and dust and bird droppings. The space is roofed by medieval vaulting
    Vault (architecture)
    A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

     through which only one small access hole was allowed. A 150-meter-long suction hose was used. (In the accompanying photographs the rubble seems to be largely plaster removed from the walls.)
  • In Siena
    Siena
    Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...

    : removing about 150 cu.m. of rubble left by building restoration
    Building restoration
    Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...

     works, which had been dumped in old tunnels cut in tuff
    Tuff
    Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...

    .

Vacuum excavation

Vacuum excavation is excavating
Excavator
Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, stick, bucket and cab on a rotating platform . The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. A cable-operated excavator uses winches and steel ropes to accomplish the movements. They are a natural progression from the...

 by high-powered vacuum suction
Suction
Suction is the flow of a fluid into a partial vacuum, or region of low pressure. The pressure gradient between this region and the ambient pressure will propel matter toward the low pressure area. Suction is popularly thought of as an attractive effect, which is incorrect since vacuums do not...

 machines. This process significantly reduces the risk of loss of property and injury to workers associated with contacting or cutting underground utilities, as often happens if backhoe
Backhoe
A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment or digger consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. They are typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader...

, auger
Auger
An auger is a drilling device, or drill bit, that usually includes a rotating helical screw blade called a "flighting" to act as a screw conveyor to remove the drilled out material...

, hand digging, or other mechanical methods are used.

Portable vacuum excavation equipment such as suction excavators can quickly dig small deep precisely-controlled holes to uncover buried utilities. Soft excavation technology can dig around buried pipe or cable without the risk of damage inherent with backhoes, excavators, or other mechanical tools.

Typically, vacuum excavation loosens the soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

 with a blunt-nosed high pressure
High pressure
High pressure in science and engineering is studying the effects of high pressure on materials and the design and construction of devices, such as a diamond anvil cell, which can create high pressure...

 air lance or water source and immediately vacuums away loosened material. Air and water, when used appropriately, are far less likely than sharp-edged tools to damage underground structures.

Depending on the machine used and soil conditions, a 12-inch-square 5-foot-deep pothole can be completed in 20 minutes or less. Most models are capable of digging deeper, but utility potholes seldom need to be more than six feet deep.

Vacuum excavation is best used in conjunction with conventional underground (one-call) locating services. Because of a preponderance of overlapping buried utility lines, locating devices often incompletely identify all the buried utilities on a site or cannot completely or accurately mark a site.

According to New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 One Call 811: Aligning Change, Locating with Potholing, "One-call paint marks and flags are the first step in making the process of locating underground utilities safer, the use of vacuum excavation technology adds an additional margin of safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...

."

Potholing (which here means exposing buried utilities and seeing them to find where and how deep they are) using vacuum excavation, has made it safer to locate underground utilities.

When conventional locating is unworkable due to high densities of buried utilities, potholing can also be used to verify the route of each buried line within the excavation
Excavator
Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, stick, bucket and cab on a rotating platform . The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. A cable-operated excavator uses winches and steel ropes to accomplish the movements. They are a natural progression from the...

 zone. In some cases, the contractor may choose to perform the entire excavation using vacuum excavation.

Today, according to "In the Pipeline" in an article on http://enewsbuilder.net, "As vacuum excavation technology and techniques for locating underground utilities has become both readily available and affordable, it’s already considered by many municipalities as a Best Practice
Best practice
A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark...

." Many governmental entities and municipalities no longer allow the use of backhoes for the physical locating of underground utilities, citing the risk of damaging the utility or utilities. Many have implemented policies mandating the use of vacuum excavation.

When conventional locating is unworkable due to high densities of buried utilities, potholing can be used to verify the route of each buried line within the excavation zone. In some cases, the contractor may elect to perform the entire excavation using vacuum methods.

To prevent utility strikes, the use of underground locating services has become the norm, and in most places, is required by law. However, the practice of underground location, while very useful, has its limitations. Locators have been known to incompletely identify all buried utilities or be unable to completely or accurately mark a site because of a preponderance of overlapping buried utility lines.

For these reasons, vacuum excavation techniques can be an effective way to locate, with virtually 100% accuracy, all underground structures in an excavation zone. Vacuum excavation is also typically more cost effective than hand digging.

Through aggressive educational efforts about the safety of vacuum excavation, vacuum excavation is now being mandated in many states and municipalities, and efforts are underway to achieve universal acceptance of vacuum excavation as the preferred technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

.

See also

  • Some street sweeper
    Street sweeper
    A street sweeper or street cleaner can refer to a person's occupation or a machine that cleans streets, usually in an urban area.-History of street sweeping in the United States:...

     vehicles include a suction hose that a man can control, but with less powerful suction and only able to pick up light loose litter and leaves.
  • Gully emptier
    Gully emptier
    A gully emptier is a type of specialized tanker lorry with suction gear which can suck wastewater and mud and sludge out of hollows such as the hollows below drain grids in street gutters and carry it to a suitable disposal point...

  • Sometimes (e.g.this link, this AVI movie) "suction excavator" is used to mean a floating suction dredger for dredging underwater,
  • Dredging

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