A street-sweeping person would use a broom and shovel to clean off litter, animal waste and filth that accumulated on streets.

For a long time, street sweepers were just rotating disks covered with wire bristles.

"Her success was great", wrote Matilda Joslyn Gage in The North American Review, volume 136, issue 318, May 1883.

[5] In 1896, African-American inventor Charles Brooks improved on then-conventional street sweeping inventions by making the front brushes of different lengths, and by including a mechanism for collection and disposal of debris.

John M. Murphy called at the offices of American Tower and Tank Company in Elgin, Illinois, in the fall of 1911.

They called in a recently acquired silent partner, Daniel M. Todd, and it was decided to hire Murphy and begin the development of his idea.

[7] After two years of trial, development, experimentation, and research, a sweeper was achieved which Murphy was satisfied performed all of the sweeping functions in the manner he had envisioned – one which partners James and Daniel M. Todd and Charles A. Whiting were willing to risk a reputation gained from 30 years' manufacturing experience.

[7] The goal of simple debris removal did not change until the 1970s, when policymakers began to reflect concern for water quality.

In the United States, the lag time in which street sweepers responded can be pinpointed to the Runoff Report of 1998.

[2] Many street sweepers produced today are PM10 and PM2.5 certified,[3] meaning that they are capable of collecting and holding particulate matter sized less than 10μm and even down to 2.5μm.