U.S. patent application number 10/513939 was filed with the patent office on 2005-07-14 for cleaning device for floors.
Invention is credited to Buscher, Guido, Tien, Dieter.
Application Number | 20050152737 10/513939 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29285310 |
Filed Date | 2005-07-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050152737 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tien, Dieter ; et
al. |
July 14, 2005 |
Cleaning device for floors
Abstract
A cleaning device (100') for floors, comprising a base body
(10') with a cleaning surface element (20), which can be detachably
mounted on the front side (11') thereof and which can be moistened
in a dosed manner with a cleaning fluid. The cleaning device
further comprises an adapter-receiving element (14) for a handle or
a stem, a cleaning fluid supply container, a cleaning-fluid
distributor area which is disposed on the front side (11') of the
base body (10') and which is connected to the cleaning fluid supply
container either directly or by means of at least one distributor
channel in the base body (10'), and at least one cleaning-fluid
pump which is used to pump cleaning fluid out of the cleaning fluid
supply container into the cleaning surface element. The cleaning
fluid pump is formed by an elastically deformable covering element
(40) which seals a pump chamber (16;56) and which has a guide
flange (41) and a flexible pump plate (42).
Inventors: |
Tien, Dieter; (Nordhorn,
DE) ; Buscher, Guido; (Nordhorn, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MILDE & HOFFBERG, LLP
10 BANK STREET
SUITE 460
WHITE PLAINS
NY
10606
US
|
Family ID: |
29285310 |
Appl. No.: |
10/513939 |
Filed: |
November 9, 2004 |
PCT Filed: |
May 9, 2003 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/DE03/01493 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
401/270 ;
401/188R |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47L 13/256 20130101;
A47L 13/22 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
401/270 ;
401/188.00R |
International
Class: |
A46B 011/04; A47L
013/22 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 10, 2002 |
DE |
10221060.8 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. Cleaning device for cleaning floors comprising a base body, on
whose front side is a surface cleaning element mounted in a
detachable fashion that comes into contact with the surface to be
cleaned and that is to be moistened by cleaning fluid, said
cleaning device further comprising: (a) means for holding a handle
or handle shaft; (b) at least one cleaning-fluid supply container;
(c) at least one fluid distribution area positioned on the front
side of the base body and formed of at least one nozzle recess to
distribute and temporarily store the cleaning fluid that is
connected either directly or via at least one distributor channel
within the base body to the cleaning-fluid supply container; and
(d) at least one cleaning fluid pump to spray the cleaning fluid
out of the cleaning-fluid supply container into the surface
cleaning element; the improvement wherein the cleaning-fluid supply
container includes a recessed and/or outwardly extending, outwardly
open pump chamber, and wherein the cleaning fluid pump is formed by
a lid element which seals the pump chamber, is elastically
deformable and which includes a guide flange and a flexible pump
plate.
2. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the cleaning-fluid supply
container is formed by a hollow base body that includes a pump
chamber in its rear side which is open to the outside.
3. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the cleaning-fluid supply
container is formed by a supplemental tank removably placeable onto
the base body that includes a recessed and/or outwardly extending,
outwardly open pump chamber.
4. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the lid element is
mushroom-shaped with a tube-shaped guide flange and a convex pump
plate raised above the rear side of the base body, and wherein the
pump chamber is preferably cylindrical in shape.
5. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the base
body and supplemental tank includes two pump chambers into each of
which a lid element is inserted.
6. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the pump plate is raised
above the surface of the rear side of the base body.
7. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the base body is a
blow-molded hollow plastic body.
8. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein at least one securing
element is positioned to hold the surface cleaning element on at
least two opposing sides of the base body.
9. Cleaning device as in claim 8, wherein the securing elements are
formed of Velcro tabs.
10. Cleaning device as in claim 8, wherein the securing elements
are plate-shaped, and wherein chamber recesses are mounted in the
base body below the securing elements for receiving the securing
elements.
11. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the surface-cleaning
element comprises a moisture-permeable textile or sponge-like
material.
12. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the supplemental tank
includes on its lower side facing the base body at least one stud
with at least one nozzle that is insertable into a compatible snap
recess in the base body.
13. Cleaning device as in claim 12, that wherein the snap recess
includes at least two parallel snap rods that extend across the
snap recess, and between which the stud of the supplemental tank
may be snapped.
14. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the surface-cleaning
element is produced from a material selected from the group
consisting of woven fabric, knitted fabric, and micro fiber
fleece.
15. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein the fluid distribution
area on the base body includes a fluid-distributing capillary
matrix.
16. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein at least one flexible
sponge element is positioned between the base body and the
surface-cleaning element.
17. Cleaning device as in claim 16, wherein the sponge element is
connected with the base body by means of Velcro strips mounted in
recesses of the base body.
18. Cleaning device as in claim 1, wherein at least one stripping
lip of elastomer material is mounted on the front side of the base
body to serve as a squeegee.
19. Cleaning device as in claim 10, wherein the plate shaped
securing elements each include a cross or star shaped slit.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a cleaning device for floors
comprising a base body, on whose front side is detachably mounted a
surface cleaning element that is to be moistened by cleaning fluid
and which comes into contact with the surface to be cleaned.
[0002] The cleaning device includes:
[0003] At least one handle grip or shaft adapter receiver;
[0004] At least one cleaning-fluid supply container;
[0005] At least one fluid distribution area positioned on the front
side of the base body and formed of at least one nozzle recess to
distribute and temporarily store the cleaning fluid that is
connected either directly or via at least one distributor channel
within the base body to the cleaning-fluid supply container;
and
[0006] At least one cleaning fluid pump to spray the cleaning fluid
out of the cleaning-fluid supply container into the
surface-cleaning element.
[0007] A cleaning device with the essential characteristics of the
overall concept of Patent claim s known from PCT/WO 01/01841 A1
submitted by the Applicant. This cleaning device has proven useful
for use on windowpanes. With the help of the integrated hand pump,
cleaning fluid may be sprayed onto a replaceable surface-cleaning
element without having to set down the cleaning device. It has been
shown, however, that wiping a large floor surface with a hand
device is tiring. The action radius here is limited by the length
of the handle grip. Extensions are not possible since the lever for
the cleaning fluid pump may be actuated only directly on the handle
grip.
[0008] A cleaning device with a handle grip and a cleaning head is
known from DE 38 02 402 A1 that includes an exit plate on its front
side that comes into contact with the surface to be cleaned. This
exit plate forms a wall of the cleaning head a surface cleaning
element is mounted directly onto the aperture plate in the form of
a sponge or several brush bristles. The cleaning fluid is sprayed
from an inner cavity of the cleaning head onto the sponge or brush
via the apertures of the aperture plate. However, the spray is not
controlled, so that the cleaning fluid may drip from the sponge
particularly when the cleaning device is pressed against the
surface to be cleaned. It is also disadvantageous in that
exchanging the surface cleaning elements is possible only together
with the aperture plate, and with any necessary insert frame.
[0009] Further, DE 94 05 755.9 describes a device to clean
windowpanes that also includes a handle grip with a cleaning head.
The cleaning head includes a water supply container and a single
exit aperture through which the cleaning fluid may be pumped into a
cleaning sponge.
[0010] It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a
cleaning device for floors of the abovementioned type of simple,
inexpensive structure that allows for the cleaning of large floors
with a surface cleaning element that is constantly moistened during
the cleaning process.
[0011] This object is achieved by the invention wherein the
cleaning-fluid supply container includes a recessed and/or
outwardly extending, outwardly open pump chamber, and wherein the
cleaning fluid pump is formed by a lid element which seals the pump
chamber, is elastically deformable and which includes a guide
flange and a flexible pump plate.
[0012] This arrangement has the advantage that the lid element
required to seal the cleaning-fluid supply container also
simultaneously performs the function of a cleaning fluid pump that
thereby is very simply designed, and is both low-cost and not
liable to mechanical malfunction. The lid element may be easily
placed into the compatible pump chamber by the user, and may be
easily replaced after wear or damage.
[0013] Force on the pump plate that is especially easy to exert
with the foot causes the pump plate, made for example of
elastomers, to deform, by means of which the pressure in the
chamber below the pump plate that is filled with fluid is
increased, and cleaning fluid is forced out from the supply
container through at least one nozzle recess into the surface
cleaning element. During this, the fluid is either directed into a
distributor channel or injected directly into a fluid distributor
area, where it is absorbed by the surface-cleaning element.
[0014] In a first advantageous embodiment of the invention, the
cleaning-fluid supply container is formed by the hollow base body
itself, which includes a pump chamber in its rear side, a recessed
and/or outwardly extending pump chamber which is open to the
outside. It is particularly advantageous if the base body is a
blow-molded hollow plastic body that is low-cost and simple to
manufacture. The relatively large opening of the pump chamber with
lid removed also serves as a funnel, and allows simple filling of
the base body. Thus, all functions that, based on the state of the
art, are usually performed by a large number of different
components are fulfilled by only two elements, namely the base body
and the lid element.
[0015] Another advantageous embodiment of the invention provides
that the cleaning-fluid supply container is formed of a hollow
supplemental tank that is placed onto the base body that includes,
in its rear side a recessed and/or outwardly extending pump
chamber, open to the outside. The advantages mentioned above also
apply to this embodiment, which possesses the additional advantage
that, when filling, only the supplemental tank need be carried to a
water source instead of the entire cleaning device.
[0016] The guide flange of the lid element in both embodiments may
continue into an enclosed supply chamber provided with at least one
nozzle recess. Cleaning medium, particularly in concentrated form,
may be held in reserve in this supply chamber and sprayed by means
of pressure on the pump plate into main supply chamber formed by
the base body or supplemental tank and filled, for example, with
clean water.
[0017] For this, the entire lid element with supply chamber is
preferably shaped as a bellows of elastomer material.
[0018] An advantageous variation further provides that several pump
chambers with corresponding lid elements are provided with and
without a supply chamber. The pump chambers conduct fluid between
one another and/or are connected with the fluid distribution area.
Thus, either various cleaning fluids may be placed into the supply
chambers of the lid elements, or a first lid element is provided
purely for the pumping function and a second lid element from which
cleaning medium concentrate may be sprayed into the supply
container.
[0019] The invention is described in greater detail below with
reference to the illustrations, which show:
[0020] FIG. 1 a first embodiment of the cleaning device according
to the invention;
[0021] FIG. 2a, b a perspective view of the base body of the
cleaning device according to the invention seen from the front and
the rear;
[0022] FIG. 3 a second embodiment of the cleaning device according
to the invention; and
[0023] FIG. 4 a cutaway view of the snap mechanism in the
embodiment example shown in FIG. 3.
[0024] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the cleaning device 100
based according to invention with a view of the rear side 12 of the
base body 10. The base body 10 is preferably a blow-molded hollow
plastic body, polyethylene for example, and serves simultaneously
as the cleaning-fluid supply container.
[0025] Securing elements 21, . . . , 24 for a surface cleaning
element 20 are located in the corner areas of the base body 10. The
surface cleaning element 20 is preferably a section of a textile
cleaning cloth of micro fiber or fleece that possesses a known good
cleaning effect particularly when moist for all conventional
household contaminants such as dust and grease deposits.
[0026] The securing elements 21, . . . , 24 are preferably disks of
a flexible material into which a cross- or star-shaped slot 22.1
has been cut. The segments of the securing elements separated from
each other by the slot 22.1 may thus be individually deformed. A
surface cleaning element 20 may be laid on the front side 11 of the
base body 10 and attached to it by pressing it through the slots
22.1 of the securing elements 21, . . . , 24.
[0027] Further, Velcro tabs may be used as securing elements.
[0028] FIG. 2a shows the base body 10 with a view of the front side
11. The front side 11 includes recesses 11.3, 11.4 into which
Velcro strips may be secured while recessed. A sponge element (not
shown) may be mounted onto it that is positioned between the base
body 10 and the surface-cleaning element 20. It may serve as an
intermediary reservoir for fluid and/or it may compensate for floor
unevenness by means of its elasticity, thus pressing the full
surface of the surface-cleaning element 20 onto the surface to be
cleaned.
[0029] Fluid distribution areas 11.1, 11.2 are provided in a
central area of the base body 10, each of which are formed by one
or more nozzle recesses 13, and through which cleaning fluid may
flow out of the cleaning-fluid supply container formed by the base
body 10.
[0030] A pump chamber 16 open to the rear is formed on the rear
side 12 shown in FIG. 2b.
[0031] Also, at least one handle grip or shaft adapter receiver 14
is shaped to which handle grips or longer shafts provided with
compatible adapter elements 60, 61 may be attached, e.g., by a
simple snap fit.
[0032] Receiver chamber recesses 18.1, . . . , 18.4 are formed at
each of the corners that, as FIG. 1 shows, are covered on the
cleaning device 100 by a securing element 21, . . . , 24. The
receiver chamber recesses 18.1, . . . , 18.4 allow for the segments
of the securing elements 21, . . . , 24 formed by the slots 22.1 to
be deformed downward and to receive the clamped tips of the textile
surface cleaning element 20 into the securing elements 21, . . . ,
24.
[0033] The pump chamber 16, as FIG. 1 shows, is covered during
proper use of the cleaning fluid 100 by the lid element 40 that is
particularly mushroom-shaped with a tube-shaped guide flange 41
(see FIG. 3) and a convex pump plate 42 raised above the rear side
12 of the base body 10. The pump chamber 16 compatible with it is
preferably cylindrical in shape. The pump plate 42 is centered
within the pump chamber 16 by means of the guide flange 41, and a
water-and air-tight seal is achieved about the circumference of the
guide flange 41 with the wall of the pump chamber 16.
[0034] The convex pump plate 42 raised above the rear side 12 of
the base body 10 may be deformed (inward), or compressed by foot
effort in order to pump cleaning fluid. Thus, pressure in the pump
chamber 16 and in base body 10 connected with it and filled with
cleaning fluid increases so that cleaning fluid is forced out
through the at least one exit recess 13 into the fluid distribution
areas 11.1, 11.2. The cleaning fluid is then either temporarily
stored in the sponge element (not shown) and then added as the
surface-cleaning element dries out, or is fed directly to the
surface cleaning element 20 through stamped slots to the sponge
element.
[0035] In the second embodiment of a cleaning device 100' shown in
FIG. 3, the base body 10' does not serve as the cleaning-fluid
supply container. Instead, a separate supplemental tank 50 is
provided that is detachably mounted to the base body 10'. The base
body 10' also includes at least a handle grip- or shaft adapter
receiver 14 and receiver chamber recesses 18.1, . . . , 18.4 into
which securing elements 21, 22 may be emplaced.
[0036] Additionally, the base body 10' includes at least two snap
recesses 19' that extend through from the front side to the rear
side 12'. When the supplemental tank 50 is placed onto the base
body 10', studs that are positioned on the underside of the
supplemental tank 50 are guided into the snap recesses 19'. Nozzle
recesses 53 are positioned on the underside of the studs 52 through
which cleaning fluid is fed to a sponge or surface cleaning element
20 lying against the front side 11' when the pump plate 42 is
actuated. The supplemental tank 50 also includes a pump chamber 56
that is covered and sealed by a lid element 40. Structure and
function of the cleaning fluid pump formed by the pump chamber 56
and the lid element 40 correspond to the first embodiment of a
cleaning device 100 described above.
[0037] The snap mechanism is shown in FIG. 4 in detail. Two spring
snap rods 19.2' are positioned within the base body 10' that extend
parallel to each other across the cross-section of the snap recess
19'. The mushroom-shaped stud 52 presses the snap rods 19.2' apart
when the supplemental tank 50 is placed onto the base body 10'.
Once the mushroom-shaped head of the stud 52 passes through the
snap rods 19.1, these rods recoil by spring action into their
initial position and rest in a groove 52.1 or directly on the shaft
of the stud 52. Thus, the supplemental tank 50 is affixed to the
base body 10'. In order to prevent the rods 19.2' from ripping out
when the supplemental tank 50 is removed, the area of the snap
recess 19' with inserted snap rods 19.2' is covered by a cover
plate 19.1' that is inserted into a corresponding recess on the
rear side 12' of the base body 10' and is attached to the base body
10'. This cover plate 19.1' includes a recess largely even with the
snap recess 19'. The nozzle recess 53 lies free within the snap
recess 19' open to the front side 11'.
* * * * *