U.S. patent application number 11/584578 was filed with the patent office on 2008-04-24 for cleaning apparatus.
This patent application is currently assigned to Han Lien international Corporation. Invention is credited to Ralph Lin.
Application Number | 20080092321 11/584578 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39316482 |
Filed Date | 2008-04-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080092321 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lin; Ralph |
April 24, 2008 |
Cleaning apparatus
Abstract
A cleaning apparatus includes a carrying handle and a collector.
The collector has a hollow shell pivoted to the carrying handle,
and a spade connected to the hollow shell and defining with the
hollow shell a dust collecting open chamber. The spade has a
leading edge and a V-shaped cut inwardly extending from a middle of
the leading edge. By means of the V-shaped cut, the user can use
the spade to pick up waste matters from the ground.
Inventors: |
Lin; Ralph; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BROWDY AND NEIMARK, P.L.L.C.;624 NINTH STREET, NW
SUITE 300
WASHINGTON
DC
20001-5303
US
|
Assignee: |
Han Lien international
Corporation
Taipei
TW
|
Family ID: |
39316482 |
Appl. No.: |
11/584578 |
Filed: |
October 23, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/257.7 ;
15/257.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E01H 1/1206 20130101;
A47L 13/52 20130101; E01H 2001/1293 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
15/257.7 ;
15/257.1 |
International
Class: |
A47L 13/52 20060101
A47L013/52 |
Claims
1. A cleaning apparatus comprising: a carrying handle; and a
collector having a hollow shell pivoted to the carrying handle, and
a spade connected to the hollow shell and defining with the hollow
shell a dust collecting open chamber, the spade having a leading
edge with a cut.
2. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cut of
the spade extends inwardly from the leading edge of the spade and
defines a front open end, a rear closing end and two lateral
sides.
3. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the two
lateral sides define respectively a first bevel edge which has an
end terminating at the rear closing end.
4. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the spade
has two second bevel edges respectively formed on the leading edge
thereof at two sides of the cut and respectively connected to the
other ends of said first bevel edges.
5. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said spade
has a plurality of reinforcing ribs formed on a top side wall
thereof at two sides of said cut.
6. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said spade
further has a stop block formed on the top side wall thereof for
stopping waste matters from falling out of said dust collecting
open chamber.
7. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising
a stick connected to said carrying handle for holding by the
user.
8. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
carrying handle has two lugs symmetrically disposed at two sides;
said hollow shell has two pivot pins symmetrically disposed at two
sides and respectively pivoted to the lugs of said carrying
handle.
9. A cleaning apparatus comprising: a stick; and a collector having
a spade and a wall perpendicularly extending around the spade and
defining with the spade a dust collecting open chamber, the wall
being fixedly connected to the stick; wherein the spade has a
leading edge with a cut.
10. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the cut
of the spade extends inwardly from the leading edge of the spade
and defines a front open end, a rear closing end and two lateral
sides.
11. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the two
lateral sides define respectively a first bevel edge which has an
end terminating at the rear closing end.
12. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the
spade has two second bevel edges respectively formed on the leading
edge thereof at two sides of the cut and respectively connected to
the other ends of said first bevel edges.
13. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said
spade has a plurality of reinforcing ribs formed on a top side wall
thereof at two sides of said cut.
14. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said
spade further has a stop block formed on the top side wall thereof
for stopping waste matters from falling out of said dust collecting
open chamber.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to cleaning apparatus and more
particularly, to a simple structure of cleaning apparatus that can
be conveniently operated to pick up waste matters from the ground
and to pour out collected waste matters.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] FIG. 7 shows a conventional cleaning apparatus 70, which
comprises a first handle 72, a second handle 71 pivotally supported
on the top side of the first handle 72, a first hollow shell 74
fixedly provided at the bottom side of the first handle 72, a
second hollow shell 73 fixedly provided at the bottom side of the
second handle 71, an operating handle 75 pivoted to the first
handle 72, and a cover 76 connected to the operating handle 75
through a link and adapted to close the first hollow shell 74.
After the user attach the first hollow shell 74 to the ground, the
user can bias the second handle 71 to force the second hollow shell
73 to push waste matters 80 away from the ground into the first
hollow shell 74. When carried the cleaning apparatus 70 to the
garbage-can, the user can operate the operating handle 75 to open
the cover 76 from the first hollow shell 74 so that collected waste
matters 80 can be poured out of the first hollow shell 74 to the
garbage-can.
[0005] The aforesaid cleaning apparatus 70 is functional. However,
because the cleaning apparatus 70 uses three parts pivoted to one
another, the structure of the cleaning apparatus 70 is complicated,
resulting in a high manufacturing cost. Further, when picking up
waste matters or pouring out collected waste matters, the user must
apply a force to the second handle 71 and the operating handle 75.
This design is not convenient to use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention has been accomplished under the
circumstances in view. It is therefore an objective of the present
invention to provide a cleaning apparatus, which can be
conveniently operated to pick up waste matters from the ground and
to pour out collected waste matters.
[0007] It is another objective of the present invention to provide
a cleaning apparatus, which has a simple structure and is
inexpensive to manufacture.
[0008] To achieve these objectives of the present invention, the
cleaning apparatus comprises a carrying handle and a collector. The
collector has a hollow shell pivoted to the carrying handle, and a
spade connected to the hollow shell and defining with the hollow
shell a dust collecting open chamber. The spade has a leading edge
provided with a cut. By means of the cut, the user can use the
spade to pick up waste matters from the ground.
[0009] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cut
is V-shaped and extends inwardly from a middle of the leading edge.
The V-shaped cut defines a front open end, a rear closing end and
two lateral sides respectively defining a first bevel edge which
has an end terminating at the rear closing end. The spade further
has two second bevel edges respectively formed on the leading edge
thereof at two sides of the front open end of the V-shaped cut and
respectively connected to the other ends of the first bevel
edges.
[0010] Further scope of applicability of the present invention will
become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter.
However, it should be understood that the detailed description and
specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the
invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various
changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the
invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from
this detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The present invention will become more fully understood from
the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying
drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are
not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
[0012] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a cleaning apparatus in
accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a perspective assembly view of the cleaning
apparatus according to the first preferred embodiment of the
present invention;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing showing the use of the
cleaning apparatus according to the first preferred embodiment of
the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing showing another status of use
of the cleaning apparatus according to the first preferred
embodiment of the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 5 is a perspective assembly view of a cleaning
apparatus in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the
present invention;
[0017] FIG. 6 is a perspective assembly view of a cleaning
apparatus in accordance with a third preferred embodiment of the
present invention, and
[0018] FIG. 7 is a side view of a conventional cleaning apparatus
according to the prior art.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cleaning apparatus 10 in
accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present
invention comprises a carrying handle 20 and a collector 30.
[0020] The carrying handle 20 has a grip 22 for carrying by hand,
and two extension arms 24 at two sides of the grip 22. The
extension arms 24 are angled arms, each having one end integrally
connected to the grip 22 and the other end provided with a lug
242.
[0021] The collector 30 comprises a hollow shell 32 and a spade 34.
The spade 34 is peripherally connected to the hollow shell 32,
defining with the hollow shell 32 a dust collecting open chamber
36. The hollow shell 32 has two pivot pins 322 symmetrically
outwardly extended from two opposite lateral sides thereof and
respectively coupled to the lugs 242 of the extension arms 24 of
the carrying handle 20 so that the collector 30 can be biased
relative to the carrying handle 20. The spade 34 has the leading
edge thereof protruding over the leading edge of the hollow shell
32. The spade 34 has a V-shaped cut 38 inwardly extending from a
middle of the leading edge, defining a front open end 382, a rear
closing end 384, and two beveled lateral sides 386 defining two
first bevel edges 342 each having one end terminating at the
closing end 384. The spade 34 further has two second bevel edges
344 formed on the leading edge at two sides of the V-shaped cut 38.
The two second bevel edges 344 each have one end respectively
connected to the respective front end of the first bevel edges 342.
The spade 34 further has a plurality of reinforcing ribs 346
protruded from the top side wall thereof at two sides of the
V-shaped cut 38. The ribs 346 extend to the second bevel edges 344
and are arranged in parallel at an equal pitch at two sides of the
V-shaped cut 38 to reinforce the structural strength of the spade
34 and to facilitate collection of waste matters from the ground by
the spade 34. Further, an elongated stop block 348 is formed
integral with the top side wall of the spade 34 behind the V-shaped
cut 38.
[0022] Referring to FIG. 3, when using the cleaning apparatus to
pick up waste matter, for example, a pet's stool 40 from the
ground, carry the carrying handle 20 with one single hand to have
the bottom side of the collector 30 be stopped at the ground and
then to bias the collector 30 so as to attach the spade 34 closely
to the ground with the open end 382 of the V-shaped cut 38 aimed at
the stool 40, and then drag the carrying handle 20 to move the open
end 382 of the V-shaped cut 38 over the bottom side of the stool 40
for enabling the stool 40 to be moved away from the ground by the
first bevel edges 342, second bevel edges 344 and ribs 346 of the
spade 34. When the stool 40 is moved to about one half position in
spade 34, as shown in FIG. 3, lift the carrying handle 20. At this
time, the collector 30 is turned downwards by its gravity weight,
as shown in FIG. 4, and the stool immediately falls from the spade
34 to the inside of the dust collecting open chamber 36, and
therefore the cleaning action is completed. When wishing to pour
the stool 40 out of the cleaning apparatus, aim the open side of
the cleaning apparatus at the garbage-can and then bias the
collector 30 for enabling the stool 40 to fall out of the collector
30 to the garbage-can. Further, in case non-solid waste matter or
fluid waste matter is collected in the cleaning apparatus, the
elongated stop block 348 stops waste fluid from flowing out of the
dust collecting open chamber 36.
[0023] FIG. 5 illustrates a cleaning apparatus in accordance with a
second preferred embodiment of the present invention. According to
this second embodiment, the cleaning apparatus 50 has a stick 52
connected to the carrying handle 54 thereof. Thus, the user can
directly hold the stick 52 with the hand to have the spade 56 be
closely attached to the ground when picking up waste matters from
the ground.
[0024] A cleaning apparatus according to either of the aforesaid
two embodiments uses the design of two pivoted members and a
V-shaped cut on one of the pivoted members to pick up waste matters
from the ground conveniently and rapidly, enabling collected waste
matters to be conveniently poured to a garbage-can. Because of
simple structural design, the cleaning apparatus is easy and
inexpensive to manufacture.
[0025] FIG. 6 illustrates a cleaning apparatus in accordance with a
third preferred embodiment of the present invention. According to
this embodiment, the cleaning apparatus 60 is made in the form of a
dustpan, having a spade (or pan) 64, a wall 62 perpendicularly
extending around the border of the spade 64 and defining with the
spade 64 a dust collecting open chamber 68, and a handle 66 fixedly
connected to the wall 62.
[0026] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that
the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be
regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention,
and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in
the art are intended to be included within the scope of the
following claims.
* * * * *