1920 Renault IK Type sprinkler-sweeper

Beschrijving

The Renault IK is a truck from the Billancourt manufacturer's catalog of special models. It was built on the basis of the GZ light truck, developed for the French army during the First World War.

This sprinkler-sweeper is a sophisticated model for its time, which combines:

- for watering: a tank of 5000 liters of water that could be projected under pressure using a centrifugal pump driven by the engine thanks to a power take-off,

- for sweeping: a rolling sweeper, driven by the movement of the vehicle (its rotation therefore depends on the speed of the vehicle) with addition if desired from sprinkled water to prevent dust.

The driver had therefore not only to manage the driving of the vehicle, but also the controls of the pressurized watering and the sweeping. He therefore had to be a real one-man orchestra.

On the usefulness of cleaning the streets:

Until the Second World War (approximately), city streets were clogged with heavy horse-drawn traffic. This mode of travel (which has the advantage of not producing CO2) is nevertheless particularly polluting. The streets are covered in slippery, smelly droppings produced by horses.

To clean the streets, motorized vehicles were quickly developed to replace the sweepers pulled by other horses or the brooms of road workers. The rollers are made of bamboo fiber and wear out quickly; they must be replaced every 200 km.

Renault offered this IK model which had the Laffly sweeper as its main competitor in that period.

Technical sheet:

Rear wheel drive.

Powered by a 5027 cm3 in-line 4-cylinder Renault engine.

4-speed + Reverse gearbox.

Solid rubber tires.

The foot brake acting on the transmission.

Handbrake acting on the rear wheels.

The maximum speed is 18 km/h in 4th gear.

This extremely rare Renault IK Sweeper truck is pretty complete and would be a unique addition to any period collection or museum.

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