U.S. patent number 3,892,004 [Application Number 05/295,463] was granted by the patent office on 1975-07-01 for domestic cleaning apparatus.
Invention is credited to Thomas Downes.
United States Patent |
3,892,004 |
Downes |
July 1, 1975 |
Domestic cleaning apparatus
Abstract
Venetian-blind slat-cleaning apparatus comprises a hand held
housing from which a pair of cleaning elements project. The
elements are contiguously mounted for cleaning opposite sides of a
single slat and they are free of mechanical interconnections
externally of the housing to enable blinds to be cleaned in situ by
engagement of a slat as a result of movement of the apparatus
laterally with respect to the slat. The drive for the cleaning
elements may be rotary or reciprocal linear vibratory and the
cleaning elements may be associated with releasable splash
guards.
Inventors: |
Downes; Thomas (Tullibody,
Alloa Clackmannanshire, EN) |
Family
ID: |
23137836 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/295,463 |
Filed: |
October 6, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/102;
15/24 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47L
4/02 (20130101); A46B 13/04 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A46B
13/00 (20060101); A46B 13/04 (20060101); A47L
4/00 (20060101); A46B 013/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;15/102,21A,22R,24,97R,29,23,97 ;401/190,196,199,201,205,207 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Roberts; Edward L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Young & Thompson
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. Portable apparatus for cleaning venetian blinds or the like,
comprising a housing adapted to be hand-held, a pair of
contiguously-mounted slat-cleaning elements mounted on rotatable
hollow shafts projecting from the housing, said shafts being free
at their ends remote from said housing, an electrically-operated
motor mounted in said housing and coupled to rotate said shafts, a
reservoir formed in the housing for storing cleaning liquid and
having an outlet port, conduit means coupling said outlet port with
the hollow interior of said shafts, and means forming perforations
in the walls of said shafts in the region thereof mounting said
slat-cleaning elements, to permit said cleaning elements to receive
cleaning liquid, there being a plurality of said perforations
spaced apart lengthwise along each said hollow shaft, the portions
of said elements which are external to the housing being free of
mechanical interconnections to permit the apparatus to engage a
slat to be cleaned by movement of the apparatus laterally with
respect to the slat so that opposite sides of a slat are engaged
simultaneously by said elements.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, including a pump mechanism
mounted in said housing and coupled to pump liquid in said
reservoir to said cleaning elements, and manually-operable control
means for said pump.
3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the housing includes
releasable splash guards mounted on opposite sides of said cleaning
elements.
4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said reservoir comprises
a cleaning liquid-containing canister releasably mounted on the
housing, the canister being internally pressurized and having said
valved liquid outlet port thereon, and control means mounted on the
housing and operable selectively to open and close said valved
liquid outlet port.
Description
This invention relates to portable apparatus for cleaning venetian
blinds or other objects of a similar nature, namely having a
structure primarily composed of mutually spaced elongated
slats.
According to the present invention there is provided portable
apparatus for cleaning venetian blinds or the like, comprising a
housing adapted to be hand-held, a slat-cleaning element projecting
from the housing and power-actuated means mounted within the
housing and coupled to drive said element.
Also, according to the present invention there is provided portable
apparatus for cleaning venetian blinds or the like, comprising a
housing adapted to be hand-held, a slat-cleaning element mounted on
a rotatable hollow shaft projecting from the housing, an
electrically-operated motor mounted in said housing and coupled to
rotate said shaft, a reservoir formed in the housing for storing
cleaning liquid and having an outlet port, conduit means coupling
said outlet port with the hollow interior of said shaft, and means
forming perforations in the wall of said shaft in the region
thereof mounting said slat-cleaning element to permit said cleaning
element to receive cleaning liquid.
Still further according to the present invention there is provided
portable apparatus for cleaning venetian blinds or the like,
comprising a housing made of an electrically non-conductive
material, a drive shaft mounted in and projecting from said
housing, power-actuated means mounted within said housing and
coupled to drive said drive shaft, a slat-cleaning element
releasably mounted on the end of the drive shaft projecting from
the housing, a cleaning-liquid-containing canister releasably
mounted on the housing, the canister internally pressurised and
having a valved liquid outlet port, conduit means mounted in the
housing and located at one end to deliver liquid to the cleaning
element and at the other end to releasably engage said outlet port,
and control means mounted on the housing and operable selectively
to open and close said valved liquid outlet port.
The cleaning element may be composed of such materials as are
well-known in the cleaning art, of which sponge either natural or
synthetic is preferred due to its having a relatively high moisture
absorption rate. Alternatively, a sponge element may incorporate
nylon bristles or other members capable of disloging dirt from the
slats being cleaned or may simply be cloth covered.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way
of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic schematic perspective view partly in
phantom of one form of apparatus according to the present
invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates a detail of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 illustrates a modified portion of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 4 illustrates another part of the embodiment of FIG. 3.
In FIG. 1 of the drawings the apparatus comprises a housing 10 made
of a non-conductive plastics material, the housing having a
gun-like appearance defining a barrel portion 10A and a butt
portion 10B and is therefore adapted for hand-held operation.
Mounted on and projecting from the barrel portion 10A is a pair of
slat-cleaning elements in the form of substantially cylindrical
sponge elements 11, 11A secured to hollow shafts 12, 12A which are
rotatably driven by a power-actuated means 13 which is in the form
of an electric motor. A manually controlled ON/OFF switch 19
controls the motor 13 whose output shaft 14 is coupled to the
shafts 12, 12A through gearing 15 as shown in detail in FIG. 2, and
whose input is via cable 9 from either a mains supply or a reduced
voltage supply. Conveniently the motor 13 to d.c. operated and a
small transformer-rectifier is incorporated. Alternatively
semi-conductor components may be used to control the operation of
the motor 13 which in this case may be either a.c. or d.c.
operated.
The butt portion 10B of the housing 10 forms a reservoir for a
cleaning liquid and this liquid is conveyed by means of a simple
pump 16 and a conduit 17 connected to a reservoir outlet port 17A
to theopen ends of each of the hollow shafts 12, 12A, the fluid
reaching the cleaning elements 11, 11A by means of perforations 18
(FIG. 1) in the walls of the shafts 12, 12A. It will be noted that
each of the connections between the conduit 17 and the hollow
shafts 12, 12A includes a rubbing seal 20 mounted on a flange 21 of
the housing 10, whereby loss of liquid is prevented. A trigger
mechanism 22 is provided as a control means to actuate the pump 16
and the reservoir is provided with a plug 23 for filling
purposes.
In operation when the switch 19 is turned to the ON position the
two cleaning elements 11, 11A are caused to rotate and a slat to be
cleaned is inserted between the elements so that both sides thereof
are cleaned simultaneously. For ensuring maximum efficiency in this
respect the elements 11, 11A are shaped in a complementary manner
to the usual contour of a venetian blind slat, but it will be
appreciated that this feature is optional and may be modified or
omitted at will.
With the slat in position the apparatus is simply moved along the
length of the slat, cleaning liquid being applied as required as
would be known to the operator. The cleaning liquid is released
simply by actuation of the trigger mechanism 22. It will be noted
that by virtue of the simplicity of the apparatus thus far
described the slat need not be removed from the remainder of the
venetian blind; in other words the slats may be cleaned in situ by
virtue of the hand-held operation of the apparatus.
In order to dry the cleaned slat the two elements 11, 11A may be
replaced by fresh elements and the process repeated without the use
of cleaning liquid. To achieve the replacement of the elements of
the shafts 12, 12A may themselves be releasable or may have
releasable element-carrying portions.
Numerous modifications may be made to the above-described
embodiment, for example the reservoir may be a completely
detachable component, being connected to the remainder of the
housing by means of screw threads or by a bayonnet connection.
Conveniently, as is illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 3, the
reservoir may be a sealed canister containing cleaning fluid under
pressure, the canister being for one-time use, and having a valved
pressure-sealed port for receiving a conduit which is coupled to
the slat-cleaning element. In this case the pump 16 of FIG. 1 is
omitted but the trigger mechanism 22 is adapted to operate the
valved conduit.
As is illustrated in FIG. 4, the housing 10 may incorporate
releasable splash guards 40, 41 mounted on opposite sides of the
two cleaning elements 11, 11A in order to minimise the quantity of
cleaning liquid which is thrown outwardly from the elements 11, 11A
due to centrifugal action during use. The guards 40, 41 may, if
desired, be included in the apparatus described with reference to
FIG. 1.
The motor 13 may be arranged to impart linear reciprocal vibratory
motion to the elements 11, 11A, preferably longitudinally of their
length, in which case the elements 11, 11A would not require to be
symmetrical about their longitudinal axes.
Where a pair of cleaning elements 11, 11A are provided they may be
arranged to move in opposite directions, whether linearly or
rotationally, or they may be moved in the same directions.
Furthermore, more than one pair of cleaning elements may be
provided and preferably a plurality of pairs of such elements are
provided for cleaning a plurality of slats simultaneously.
By way of illustration the embodiment described with reference to
FIG. 1 of the drawings may have a motor which has an output shaft
rotatable at 3,000 r.p.m. and the gearing 15 may be 3:1 reduction
gearing so that the two cleaning elements are rotated at about
1,000 r.p.m. in the same direction. Furthermore, the elements are
conveniently about 2 inches in length and mounted on shafts, which
have their axes spaced by an amount within the range 1 - 2 inches.
An ammonia-based liquid cleaner has been found to be suitable.
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