Charles B. Brooks (1865–1908) was an American inventor. Born in Virginia in 1865, by the 1890s he was a resident of Newark, New Jersey. Besides inventing, Brooks was a porter for the Pullman Palace Car Company.[1] Unlike other sweepers at that time (1890s), Brooks’ sweeper was the first self-propelled street sweeping truck.[2] His design had revolving brushes attached to the front fender, and the brushes were interchangeable so that when snow fell, scrapers could be attached for snow removal. He received a patent for his invention on March 17, 1896 (US Patent #556,711).[3] A few months later, on May 12, 1896, he patented a dust-proof collection bag for the street sweeper (US Patent #560,154).[4]
Although little information is available about his life, we do know that funding for the production for his sweeper was provided by George M. Hallstead and Plummer S. Page.[5] The production took place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where each sweeper was priced at around $2,000.[5] It proved to be so successful that the Pennsylvania state government gave a $100,000 contract to the manufacturing company.[5] The maintenance superintendent of Buffalo, New York, was so impressed with Brook's design that he adopted the model for his city.[5]
Brooks also received a third patent for what he called a "ticket punch" on October 31, 1893 (US Patent #507,672), an early example of a paper punch, unique for its time because unlike hole punchers of today, his had a built-in receptacle to catch the round pieces of waste paper there and prevents littering.