Carpet Cleaning Apparatuses

Abstract

A carpet cleaning apparatus comprising a cylindrical brush rotating in contact with the floor and at least one brush reciprocatory in the direction of travel of the apparatus in contact with the floor and mechanically connected to the rotary brush, and a vacuum cleaner nozzle associated with said reciprocatory brush.

Description

The present invention relates to a carpet cleaning apparatus having a cylindrical brush which is in contact with the floor for taking up dust and the like and is rotated during operation by means of the travelling wheels of the apparatus, the axis of rotation of said brush being horizontal and perpendicular to the direction of travel of the apparatus.

Generally known devices of this kind have a particular disadvantage in that, when applied to carpets having a pile which is long or is otherwise difficult to work, e.g. of nylon, they press the dust further down toward the bottom of the carpet where the dust can cause great damage, especially if it includes large particles, instead of detaching and taking up all the dust.

Naturally it is desirable to provide a cleaner which efficiently and completely removes dust and sand without wearing the carpet any harder than when cleaning with a conventional cleaner.

It is previously known to combine such a rotary brush with a vacuum cleaner nozzle, and this involves a clear improvement over a device using only a rotary brush.

The present invention has for its object to provide a cleaning apparatus of the type mentioned above, and for eliminating the above-mentioned disadvantages it is characterized in that at least one additional brush for detaching dust and the like is connected to said rotary brush through a drive bar to obtain a reciprocatory movement in contact with the floor in the direction of travel of the apparatus and that a nozzle to be connected to a vacuum cleaner is associated with said additional brush for movement therewith.

For greater clarity, the invention will be more fully described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a side view and a top view of an embodiment of the carpet cleaning apparatus according to the invention but said figures are primarily to convey a general idea of the appearance of the apparatus which will be described in more detail with special reference to FIG. 3.

The cleaning apparatus comprises a housing 1 of suitable design provided with a detachably connected evacuating cover 2. This cleaner is further provided with two pairs of drive wheels 3 for travel on the floor and driving by friction or otherwise a cylindrical brush 4 rotatably mounted therebetween. The part of the housing surrounding this arrangement is separated from the remaining part of the housing by means of a partition 5, and the dust taken up by the brush 4 from the floor (preferably carpets which have a long pile or are otherwise difficult to clean) may be removed through the evacuating cover 2 but it is also possible to suck up the dust into a vacuum cleaner by tilting (to the right of the drawing) a socket 8 for attachment of a vacuum cleaner tube as described below.

The cylindrical brush 4 is mounted on a shaft that is supported by the inner walls of the housing.

In said other part of the housing there is a nozzle 6 which extends throughout the width of the cleaner and at its upper end is pivotally mounted about a pin 7 in the upper part of the housing. A tubular socket 8 for attachment of a vacuum cleaner tube 9, as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2, is also pivotally mounted about this pin 7. The pivotally mounted nozzle 6 is provided with bristles 10 along its entire width.

A drive bar 11 is at one of its ends freely rotatably but eccentrically attached to the brush cylinder 4 and at its other end pivotally attached to the nozzle 6. When said cylinder 4 rotates the nozzle 6 will thus carry out a reciprocatory movement with a full stroke for each complete revolution of the brush cylinder 4. The dimensional ratio between the wheels 3 and the cylinder 4 should preferably be such that the cylinder makes two revolutions as the drive wheels make one revolution and the bristled nozzle 6 will thus achieve two full strokes during the same time. This gives a superposition of the sinusoidal velocity of the reciprocatory brush 10 on the linear velocity of the brush cylinder 4, which results in that all dust and particles are taken up and removed.

The drive bar 11 is secured to cylindrical brush 4 instead of the drive wheels 3 so that the reciprocatory brush 10 due to the lesser diameter of the cylindrical brush 4 will be given a movement of higher frequency so as to have greater efficiency.

To prevent rearward tilting of the cleaner at too high pressures on the vacuum cleaner tube 9, which serves as a handle, and to keep the friction of the brush 10 against the floor at a suitable value the cleaner is provided with rollers 12 rotatably mounted at the rear part of the housing 1.

The drive wheels 3 are resiliently suspended in order to give the brush cylinder a larger surface of contact when applied to certain types of floor by pressing the vacuum cleaner tube 9 harder toward the cleaner. However, care should be taken that the drive wheels are applied with sufficient force against the brush cylinder 4 to permit rotation of the latter. This is obtained by the following arrangement: The drive wheels 3 are mounted in recesses 15 formed, for instance as shown in FIG. 3, in the side parts of the housing 1. A tension spring 14 extends between the drive wheel axles and is given additional tension by being run about a pin 13 fixedly secured on the side wall of the housing between the drive wheel axles but at a level therebelow.

When the cleaner is moved forwards (to the right of the drawing) dust and sand are detached and partly collected in the dust pan below the evacuating cover 2 and partly sucked up through the nozzle 6 into a vacuum cleaner (not shown), whereas the pile of the carpet is erected when the cleaner is moved in the opposite direction because the rotary brush will then be preceded by the reciprocatory brush as shown in FIG. 4.

Claims

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a carpet cleaning apparatus capable of use with suction having a cylindrical brush in contact with the floor for taking up dirt and travelling wheels connected to said cylindrical brush for rotating said brush about a horizontal axis of rotation which is perpendicular to the direction of travel of the apparatus, the improvement which comprises at least one additional brush for detaching dirt, a drive bar connecting said additional brush with said cylindrical brush, whereby said additional brush is given a movement reciprocatory in the direction of travel of the apparatus and in contact with the floor, and a nozzle adapted to communicate with a source of suction and associated with said additional brush for movement therewith.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said drive bar is a connecting rod driven by a crank pin eccentrically mounted on said cylindrical brush.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said nozzle is pivotally mounted and the pivot of a pivotally mounted socket for attachment of a common vacuum cleaner tube coincides with the pivot of said nozzle.