The SUperior Sweep

Before 1797, brooms were homemade out of sticks and twigs and were not efficient. In 1797, Levi Dickenson created a sorghum broom for his wife. Sorghum is a wheat that is stiff enough to get into cracks, but is soft enough to sweep efficiently. Dickenson’s wife loved the broom, but the design could be improved. Through the years, many changes were made. This project’s goal was to create a broom that sweeps into smaller piles.

For testing, there were about 8 sections measuring a foot in length. Sawdust was spread evenly, making a controlled testing environment. The sweeper swept one section at a time, with one sweep per section. Each sweep started behind the line of the previous box, and went until it reached the next line. Light pressure was applied, with quick strokes. Pictures were taken to record the shape of the pile at the end. The pile with the best pile shape was declared more efficient.

In the end, it worked. The control broom and the original prototype would fling the sawdust forward, making the pile bigger. The second prototype did not fling dust forward at all. It moved a decent amount of sawdust to the center of the broom, but dust was also all along the line of bristles, making it so you still had to gather it with the dustpan.

In conclusion, the broom was declared slightly better than a normal broom, but it was not efficient enough to make this design life changing and revolutional.