Patent Grant
8590096
The invention is directed to the field of cleaning apparatus and, more particularly, to the field of household cleaning apparatus for cleaning household surfaces, such as floors, countertops and the like.
Cleaning one's house is generally considered a bothersome chore and requires a great deal of intensive manual labor. An unpleasant aspect of that chore is coming in physical contact with the germs, dirt, and cleaning agents used in the process which entails handling and disposing of soiled paper towels, sponges, cleaning cloths or fabric cleaning materials.
Many who would prefer to maintain their homes in good order are put off by the realities of the chore, including cleaning the cleaning equipment, as well as handling and disposing of soiled cleaning products.
There have many approaches to dealing with the problem, and many have centered on using disposable cleaning apparatus, such as “toilet wands” sold under the Clorox brand name. The proliferation of such individually tailored products, however, has led to a further complication.
There are many specialized types of products needed to clean a house thoroughly. For example, a product useful for cleaning wood surfaces, such as wooden tabletops and parquet floors may not be suitable for cleaning glass windows or granite countertops. Glass cleaning products are not suitable for cleaning tile floors. The toilet wands mentioned previously are useful for the task for which they are intended, but are not useful in cleaning appliances or windows, and so on. Many of the specialized products are part of specialized, and incompatible, proprietary systems, so that they require the use of individualized apparatus for use, meaning that each system may have it own handle, its own container for holding suitable cleaning products, etc. This means that one interested in maintaining a household in good order has to maintain a supply of different and incompatible cleaning products and equipment, which can lead to unwanted clutter and difficulty is storing the many different products.
There is therefore a need in the art for apparatus which will provide for the sanitary handling of soiled cleaning products, as well as providing a system for cleaning different surfaces while allowing for the efficient and economical storage of different types of cleaning products suitable for cleaning the variety of household surfaces present in any home.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a system for housing and storing cleaning equipment, as well as for using that cleaning equipment, that represents an improvement over known cleaning equipment.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and apparatus for cleaning that includes a universal applicator that can be used with a plurality of different types of cleaning products.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a cleaning system and apparatus in which a user may pick up a new cleaning product, use the cleaning product and dispose of the soiled cleaning product after use, all without the need to physically touch the chemical cleaning product or dirty used product either before or after usage.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a cleaning system and apparatus in which a handle may be stored together with a housing for holding a cleaning product, for compactness and efficiency.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a cleaning system which compactly and efficiently provides for the storage of cleaning products specially tailored for cleaning many different types of surfaces.
In accordance with these and other objects of the invention, there is provided: an applicator for use in cleaning surfaces, the applicator comprising: a bottom surface; a handle disposed above the bottom surface; means for releasably attaching a pad to the bottom surface; and an actuator, accessible from the handle, for actuating the means for releasably attaching the pad to the bottom surface. The means for releasably attaching preferably has a plurality of feet which move between a first position outside the applicator to a second position within the applicator. When the feet are in the first position they can contact a cleaning pad. The feet include means (such as a hook-and-loop fastener) for gripping the cleaning pad, so that when the feet are in the first position, which is the at-rest position, they grip the cleaning pad. When the feet are moved to the second position, they release the pad, allowing for the disposal thereof without having to touch the soiled pad.
In a further preferred embodiment, the pads are stored in a housing which is configured to interact with the feet so that the applicator may be stored attached to the housing, thereby providing a convenient and efficient configuration for transportation and/or storage.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
In the drawings:
a and 5b are top plan view of selected ones of the interior components of the applicator of
A system in accordance with the invention is shown in
Applicator 12 is shown in more detail in
Lower portion 26 includes a downwardly depending skirt portion 32 having a plurality of apertures 34 therein.
Applicator 12 further includes a lower handle 36 having a rear channel portion 38 which is configured to mate with front channel portion 28 of handle 22, forming a channel 40 therebetween. A plunger 42 having a tail 44 is positioned within channel 40, and is capable of moving along and within channel 40. The interior of channel 40 is preferably configured to provide a limit on the upward movement of plunger 42 therewithin, as by having a ledge (not shown) therein. Plunger 42 is therefore formed in a fashion which is complementary to channel 40, such as by having a lip 45 thereon, to abut the ledge within channel 40. Other means for limiting the upwards movement of plunger 42 along channel 40, such as by forming plunger 42 in a substantially frusto-conical shape, as shown, and having the inner portion of channel 40 shaped in a complementary fashion. A spring 46 urges plunger upwards while a guide 48 secures plunger 42 within channel 40 at the bottom end of channel 40.
Applicator 12 further includes a cover 50 having a plurality of upwardly facing flanges 52 which define openings 54 (best seen in
Applicator 12 also includes a plurality of links 66 having feet 68. Links 66 are configured to move outwardly from applicator 12 when drive plate 60 moves along guideway 56, 58 towards stop 62. Feet 68 are positioned to align with openings 54 and apertures 34, so that feet 68 slide into applicator 12 as plunger 42 is depressed and out of applicator 12 as plunger 42 is released. The movement of links 66 is shown best by a comparison of
The various components of applicator 12 may be assembled in any desired and convenient fashion as is well within the ability of one of ordinary skill in the art as a matter of design choice. In the preferred embodiment, however, guide 48 is screwed to cover 50 by screws 70 and cover 50 is secured to handle 22 by screws 72. Lower handle 36 is preferably attached to handle 22 by means of mating snap fit connections 74, 76. The attachment of lower handle 36 to handle 22 may be further effected or assisted by adhesive, or other means for connection such as sonic welding.
Once assembled, applicator 12 is at rest. Spring 62 urges drive plate 60 along guideway 56, 58 away from stop 62. This force causes drive plate 60 to exert pressure on tail 44 to urge plunger 42 upwards. This force is assisted by the direct upwards action of spring 46. Plunger 42 is therefore urged upwards to the extent of travel along channel 40 permitted by the interaction of the ledge (not shown) within channel 40 and lip 45. The top of plunger 42 will extend to a desired position above or slightly below the top of channel 40 so that it may be easily contacted by a user. In the at-rest position with plunger 42 at its furthest upwards extent, drive plate 60 is at its furthest extent away from stop 62 (
In use, applicator 12 is used with pad 18 to clean various different kinds of surfaces. For this purpose, there are preferably many different kinds of pads 18, all of which have the same basic configuration, as shown in
Different types of pad 18 may have different purposes, such as pads for cleaning glass, tile, etc. In any case, it is preferred if the individual pads 18 are impregnated with a cleaning solution, whether liquid, mixture, suspension or solid abrasive as desired. The pads themselves are preferably made of a paper or paper-like material having a “fuzzy” surface. This is so the material of which the pads are made may act as the loop portion of a hook-and-loop fastener for ease of attachment to applicator 12. To provide the hook of the hook-and-loop fastener, a hook material 78 is preferably affixed to the ends of feet 68. Each pad includes a bottom portion surrounded by a collar portion 80 so that the exterior dimension, of pad 18 is larger than that of the bottom of cover 50 of applicator 12. Collar portion 80 extends beyond the edges of applicator 12 and includes corrugations 82 which give an unused pad 18 a shape reminiscent of a coffee filter, so that pads 18 may be stacked and nested one within another within bucket 14.
Depending upon the preferred nature of pad 18, it may not be feasible to manufacture the entire pad 18 out of a “fuzzy” material, to act as the loop portion of the hook-and-loop fastener. In such embodiments, each pad may include an additional strip of loop material 82 positioned on collar portion 80.
Applicator 12 may now be used.
In use, a user will place the bottom of cover 50 of applicator 12 on the top of the top-most pad 18 within bucket 14. If a modest amount of downward force is exerted on pad 18, collar portion 80 will naturally tend to move in the direction of arrow 84 (
At this point, plunger 42 is in its fully extended position, and feet 68 are located outside of applicator 12. The secure attachment provided by hook-and-loop fastener 78, 82 allows unfettered use of pad 18 for its intended cleaning purpose. Once the user is done with that particular pad 18, the user simply places applicator 12 above any trash receptacle, and depresses plunger 42, retracting feet 68 within applicator 12, allowing hook material 78 and loop material 82 to disengage and pad 18 to fall, untouched, into the trash.
Thus, the user may deploy, use and dispose of pad 18 without ever having to contact pad 18 and expose him- or herself to the (potentially) caustic cleaning material of an unused pad, or to the soiled, used, pad.
The design of bucket 14 is shown in more detail in
In some embodiments, it may be desired to increase the reach of applicator 12, for example to make cleaning a floor, wall or ceiling easier. To this end, pole 16 may be provided. Pole 16 is preferably telescoping, in any known fashion, such as by having several lengths of tube 96 connected by conventional locks 98. Pole 16 further includes a foot 108 configured to go into slide 30 of applicator 12 where it may be secured by snapping into a detent 110. Preferably, foot 108 is pivotably attached to tubes 96 at a pivot point 112 for ease of movement.
Applicator 12 and the various components thereof are preferably made of any moldable plastic. The preferred plastic is a polypropylene co-polymer.
Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4031673 | Hagelberg | Jun 1977 | A |
| 7159265 | Soller et al. | Jan 2007 | B2 |
| 20080115302 | Kilkenny et al. | May 2008 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130042425 A1 | Feb 2013 | US |
