Volume 4, Number 3 July/August 1996
Assistance from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is helping an inventor clean up-literally. Cecil Thornburg of Millerville, Alabama, used to operate the Mr. Clean Janitorial Service in nearby Sylacauga. One of his customers was a Winn-Dixie supermarket with a large parking lot. The lot needed to be swept and have trash picked up. Thornburg felt there should be a way to do both at the same time.
In developing this idea, Thornburg devised a vacuum-sweeper combination that worked, but it needed improvement. The amateur inventor received the professional assistance he needed free-of-charge through the Technology Transfer Office. Working from a technology assistance request submitted by Thornburg, the Technology Transfer Office's representative for Alabama, Benita Hayes, enlisted the help of mechanical engineers Matt Marsh, Neill Myers and John R. "Rusty" Cowan. All work in the Propulsion Laboratory's Component Development Division.
After a visit to Thornburg's business to see and discuss the inventor's idea and design, the engineers used their expertise to suggest improvements. These included changing the shape of the vacuum unit's fan blades, introducing weight-saving and weight-redistribution refinements and devising a way of guiding heavier items of trash, such as cans and bottles, to a point under the vacuum where suction was the greatest, thereby ensuring its collection. "We're picking up nearly 100 percent of the litter we roll over," Thornburg said recently. The new "Vac-n-Bag" design is pulled by a tractor and operates off of the tractor's engine. It has proven to be an efficient, cost-effective way of cleaning athletic fields, golf courses, parks and other grassy areas in addition to parking lots. The vacuum unit pulls the trash into the unit, where it is shredded and bagged for disposal. Vac-n-Bag also will mow the grass and collect the clippings.
Thornburg's new firm, The Burg Corporation, in Sylacauga is now manufacturing the Vac-n-Bag. The invention has been demonstrated for a number of municipal sanitation officials and for the Alabama Department of Transportation. The unit could be used to keep rest areas clean along interstate highways. Six "Vac-n-Bags" already have been sold, and - at $9,995 per unit - the new firm is cleaning up in more ways than one.
For more information, contact The Burg Corporation, P.O. Drawer 146, Sylacauga, Alabama 35150.
Phone: (205) 208-0809, (205) 245-0061
Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.
Curator: Joe Goldfus
