INVENTIONS : Cleaning Service Owner Hopes He’ll Clean Up With Device

Believe it or not, there’s a shine in those concrete sidewalks, asphalt driveways and marble courtyards.

Steve Artenian, owner of Superior High Pressure Cleaning Service in Santa Ana, has developed a lawn mower-like device that sprays such surfaces, quickly removing oil, grease, dirt and some kinds of graffiti. Just about the only thing it doesn’t catch is gum--leave that to shoes.

Artenian says his method is a far cry from the painstaking process of using a high-pressure water hose to clean off a parking lot, a job that can take hours.

“As the day wears on, your back breaks and you get sloppy,” he said. “With this, you get all of the surface evenly and in much less time. I can do the front of a 7-Eleven in 10 minutes.”

Artenian also uses his product, still unnamed, to clean parking ramps, construction sites and the Santa Ana Civic Center. Though similar products are available, he has applied for a patent on his invention’s three-pronged rotor-union, which spins at 6,000 revolutions per minute, can handle 4,000 pounds of pressure and water temperatures of about 250 degrees.

The device is not on the market yet, but Artenian says he is close to getting a major manufacturer to mass-produce the machine. The retail cost, he estimates, will be be about $2,000.