Dryer for floor mats

Abstract

A portable machine uses two pairs of rollers to squeeze water from a carpet piece, such as a wet floor mat from a car. A motor provides a driving force to the lower rollers and the upper rollers are driven by frictional engagement with the lower rollers. After passing through the two sets of rollers, the mat exits the back of the machine and falls into a basket. After processing by the machine, the car mat is substantially dry and able to be placed into a car interior without fear of mold formation. The machine may use

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The instant application is based upon provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/330,640, filed Oct. 26, 2001.

Floor mats in a vehicle are used to protect the interior of the automobile. They often match the color of the interior and are subjected to the most wear and tear from the occupants of the vehicle. When completely worn out, they can be easily replaced, unlike the interior carpet.

Occupants of the vehicle often cause the car mats to become dirty, stained and in need of cleaning. When the exterior of the car is washed, the vehicle owner may want to have the car floor mats cleaned. This is especially true when a car is “detailed”, and both the interior and exterior of a car are thoroughly cleaned.

Floor mats are essentially pieces of carpeting and are cleaned similar to carpeting. After cleaning, the floor mat is wet and needs to be dried before being placed back in the vehicle because, once in the vehicle, the enclosed environment of the vehicle interior will cause the mat to dry slowly. In this time, the floor mat can cause a musty, moldy odor in the vehicle.

Often, floor mats have in-grained dirt needing more agitation and cleaning action. In this instance, it is advantageous to use a brush, allowing the bristles to agitate the pile of the floor mat to loosen dirt to result in a more thorough cleaning.

It is therefore necessary to have an apparatus for drying a floor mat after a cleaning process.

It is an object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats after they have been cleaned.

It is another object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats that is mobile.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a machine having bristles for removing dirt from car mats.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a machine for quickly and easily cleaning floor mats with roller type bristles.

It is another object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats that can be coin operated.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats that is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading the disclosure of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a portable machine using two pairs of rollers to squeeze water from a wet floor mat. A motor provides a driving force to the lower rollers and the upper rollers are driven by frictional engagement with the lower rollers. After passing through the two sets of rollers, the mat exits the back of the machine and falls into a basket. After processing by the machine, the car mat is substantially dry and able to be placed into a car interior without fear of mold formation.

The motor may be used to drive a roller having bristles. A roller in front of the roller having bristles receives the floor mat and pulls the mat through the machine. The roller having bristles moves faster than the front rollers, allowing the bristles to agitate the pile of the car mat. A pressure plate disposed above the rollers having bristles insures contact between the mat and bristles. A second roller having bristles may also be used to further enhance the cleaning effect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a exploded view of the housing of the dryer for floor mats;

FIG. 2 a is a left side view of the dryer with the left panel removed;

FIG. 2 b is a front view of the dryer;

FIG. 2 c is a right side view of the dryer with the right panel removed;

FIG. 3 a is an exploded view of the bottom roller assembly;

FIG. 3 b is a view of the sprocket and spring slack adjuster;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the top roller assembly;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the bottom roller assembly of the embodiment having brushes;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the top roller assembly of the embodiment having rollers; and

FIG. 7 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of a machine having bristles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The housing of the mat dryer for car floor mats is seen in the exploded view of FIG. 1. A frame 20 is supported by legs 28. A left panel 21 is attached to the left side of the frame 20 and a right panel 23 is attached to the right side of the frame 20. A cover 24 is attached to the front of the frame 20 to form an enclosure. The left panel is equipped with an On/Off switch 22 and an Emergency On/Off switch 26. The On/Off switch 22 can be connected to a coin slot to make the machine coin operated.

A view of the left side of the dryer for car floor mats is seen in FIG. 2a. A motor 30 is attached to the left side of the frame 20 and drives a pulley 32. A V-belt 35 connects the driven pulley 32 to an eight-inch pulley 41.

The front of the dryer for car floor mats is shown in FIG. 2b. The legs 28 can be supported upon leg levelers. A basket 29 receives the mats after passing through the device. The eight-inch pulley 41 driven by the motor 30 is attached to a drive shaft 43 extending across the length of the dryer to the right side, as will be described later. An on/off switch 37 operates the motor 30 and the front cover 24 of the enclosure has a feeder slot 25 for receiving wet car floor mats.

The right side of the device can be seen in FIG. 2c. A 12-tooth sprocket 45 is connected to the right end of drive shaft 43 driven by motor 30. A chain 47 connects the sprocket 45 to a gear reducer 49. The gear reducer 49 is connected to sprockets 77, one connected to each of the bottom rollers by way of drive chain 50. A slack adjuster 63, tensioned by a spring 65, insures the sprockets 77 are efficiently driven by the drive chain 50.

The bottom roller assembly is clearly seen in FIG. 3. A front roller 71 and rear roller 72 are identical 2½ inch outer diameter rollers and held to the sides of the frame 20 by ¾ inch flange bearing 75. Attached to the right side of both the front roller 71 and rear roller 72 are 28-tooth sprocket 77. Between the rollers is the drive shaft 43 driven by the eight-inch pulley 41. On the right side of the drive shaft 43 is the 12-tooth sprocket 45, as was described in reference to FIG. 2. Between the front and rear rollers 71, 72 is a steel plate 80 supporting the car floor mat as it travels between the rollers. The slack adjuster and tensioning spring 65 are best seen in FIG. 3b.

The top rollers are seen in reference to FIG. 4. A front top roller 81 and a rear top roller 82 are spaced from each other the same distance as the front and rear bottom rollers 71, 72. The top rollers 81, 82, like the bottom rollers 71, 72, are attached to the sides of the frame 20 by a ¾ inch flange bearing 75. The top rollers 81, 82 are driven by frictional contact with the bottom rollers 71, 72. All of the rollers are formed by a steel shaft with a rubber body. The rubber body has enough resilience to allow the passage of a floor mat between the upper and lower roller of each pair but apply enough pressure to remove water from the mats.

A water assembly 90 is positioned within the machine between the front cover 25 and the front top and bottom rollers 71, 81. The water assembly has a pipe 91 provided with a valve 92 for controlling the flow of water. The base of the pipe 91 is provided with a swivel joint 93 allowing the assembly to be pivoted out of the machine when the front guide panel 24 and top panel 25 are opened. The pipe 91 leads to a top sprayer 96 and bottom sprayer 98. A mat passes between the top sprayer 96 and bottom sprayer 98 and jets in the top and bottom sprayers are directed toward the mat. If the mat is already cleaned and wet before entering the machine, the spray assembly can be turned off.

Bristles may be provided on the rollers to clean the floor mats. The bottom roller assembly for the device having the bristles is shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the same mechanism is used to transfer power from the motor to the rollers. The pulley 41 is connected to the driven roller 143. This roller is provided with bristles and has a 14 tooth sprocket 145 attached to the opposite end. Chain 50 connects the 14 tooth sprocket to gear reducer 49. The gear reducer is form by a 54 inch sprocket concentric with a 11 tooth sprocket. The gear reducer 49 in turn drives a 54 inch sprocket 149 attached to the front roller 71 and an 18 tooth sprocket attached to a rear roller 172 by a chain 47. The rear roller 172 is also provided with bristles. The large gear 149 attached to the front roller 71 and the smaller gears attached to the driven roller 143 and rear roller 172 cause the bristle rollers to move at a greater rotational speed than the front roller 71. The differential in speed allows the bristles to moves faster than the floor mat passing through the machine. The relative speeds of the rollers may easily be changed by changing the size of the sprockets on each roller.

FIG. 6 shows the top roller assembly used in conjunction with the bristle rollers of FIG. 4. The assembly includes a top roller 171 supported on bearing 75. The top roller is normally in frictional engagement with the bottom roller and is turned thereby. A floor mat placed between the upper and lower rollers moves backwards towards the bristle rollers. A pressure plate 182 is positioned above the bristle rollers and insures that the floor mat is pushed against the bristle rollers allowing for efficient agitation.

Similar to the first embodiment, after processing, the floor mat drops into a receiving basket. Also similar to the first embodiment, the driven roller 143 may be substituted with a simple shaft.

The second embodiment of a machine using bristles is seen in FIG. 7. The mat is placed on plate 202. Once placed on the plate, it is grabbed and moved forward by conveyor belt 204. The mat is held tightly between the conveyor belt and plate and advanced through the machine. The mat first encounters two spray nozzles 206, 208. The first spray nozzle provides water under high pressure. The second spray nozzle provides chemicals, such as a cleaner, from the holding tank 210. In addition to automobile car mats, the device can be used for carpet runners, such as those used in office building lobbies and elsewhere.

After passing the spray nozzles, the mat passes over brushing rollers 212. The rollers may be driven in any suitable manner. Although two rollers are shown, any number may be used. The brushing rollers agitate the mat in order to remove debris, especially that which may be embedded in the fibers of the mat. After cleaning by the rollers, the mats pass over a final spray nozzle 214 to rinse the mat of any loose debris and residual chemicals.

After the last spray nozzle, the mat passes over a vacuum port 216. The vacuum port leads to a vacuum tank 218 serving as not only the vacuum source but also as a holding tank for liquid removed by the vacuum. An overflow tank 222 receives excess liquid from the vacuum tank. Lastly, before exiting the machine, the mat passes over an exhaust port 220. The exhaust port is for the vacuum tank so that the air passing through the vacuum tank is exhausted at the mat to further the drying process.

While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, variations and modifications would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. The invention encompasses such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A device for cleaning, comprising a housing having a front, rear, left side and right side, said front receiving an article to be cleaned;a first roller oriented horizontally in said housing;a second roller parallel to and above said first roller;a third roller behind said first roller, said roller having bristles;a motor rotating said rollers.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a pressure plate above said third roller for holding said article against said third roller.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a fourth roller having bristles behind said third roller.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said motor is connected to a first end of said third roller.

5. The device of claim 4, further comprising a fourth roller having bristles behind said third roller;a first sprocket attached to a second end of said roller;a gear reducer;a first chain connecting said first sprocket to said gear reducer;a second sprocket attached to said first roller;a third sprocket attached to said fourth roller; anda second chain connecting said gear reducer to said second and third sprockets.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein said first and third sprockets are smaller than said second sprocket.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said second roller is rotated by frictional contact with said first roller.

8. A device for cleaning, comprising a housing having a front, rear, left side and right side, said front receiving an article to be cleaned;a first plate oriented horizontally in said housing;a conveyor belt parallel to and above said first roller;at least one roller having bristles below the plate, the bristles extending through an aperture in the plate,a first spay nozzle before the at least one roller, anda second spay nozzle after the at least one roller.

9. The device of claim 8, further comprising a vacuum port in the first plate, the vacuum plate attached to a vacuum source.

10. The device of claim 9, further comprising a vacuum exhaust in the first plate.

11. The device of claim 10 wherein the vacuum exhaust is after the vacuum port.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one roller having bristles is two rollers having bristles.

13. The device of claim 8 further comprising a third spray nozzle before the at least one roller.