Patent Application
20180296059
The present disclosure generally relates to cleaning apparatus, and in particular to dust mops incorporating a mop head with a dust gathering assembly such as, for example, a plurality of dust gathering yarns or a reusable dust gathering pad.
Dust mops are well known for cleaning in and about homes and commercial and industrial buildings. Such mops generally employ a plurality of individual dust gathering yarns connected to a mop head, although reusable dust gathering pads (often known by the trade name “Swiffer®”) are also included in this category of cleaning tool. Generally, a user will pass the mop head over a surface that requires cleaning. The mop head (either the individual dust gathering yarns or the dust gathering pad) will then take up dust that is on the surface. Dust mops are also used to clean other material from a surface, such as paper clippings, sand, and other debris.
Generally, a prior art dust mop will be constructed as is illustrated in
One issue that arises frequently when a dust mop is used is that very light debris, such as paper clippings, when mopped up will be driven upwards and over the dust mop, instead of being taken up by the mop head. This causes janitorial workers to have to go over the same area multiple times, resulting in additional labor.
One object of the disclosure is to provide an improved dust mop assembly.
Another object of the disclosure is to provide a dust mop that will pick up very light material instead of driving the very light material over the dust mop.
Another object of the disclosure is to provide an improved dust mop assembly incorporating a deflector disposed at the front of the mop head mount.
Yet another object of the disclosure is to provide a deflector that can be installed on existing dust mops.
Other advantages of this disclosure will be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art. It should be understood, however, that a system or method could practice the disclosure while not achieving all of the enumerated advantages, and that the protected disclosure is defined by the claims.
An improved dust mop assembly is disclosed. In particular, the disclosed dust mop assembly includes a deflector positioned so as to deflect light debris, such as paper, that is driven up by the usage of the mop, thereby allowing the user to more easily gather the debris. The disclosed dust mop assembly comprises a mop head having a top surface and a bottom surface, with a dust gathering assembly being coupled to the bottom surface of the mop head. The dust gathering assembly can be, for example, a plurality of dust gathering yarns or a reusable dust gathering pad. A pole is coupled to the top surface of the mop head, and a deflector is coupled to the dust mop assembly; preferably, towards the front of the dust mop assembly.
In an additional embodiment of the disclosed dust mop assembly, the mop head further comprises a center support disposed on a top surface of the mop head at approximately the center of the mop head. The deflector, the pole, or both the deflector and the pole are coupled to the mop assembly using one or more clamps coupled to the center support. The clamps can be, for example, a friction clamp or a spring-loaded hinge clamp.
Although the characteristic features of this disclosure will be particularly pointed out in the claims, the invention itself, and the manner in which it may be made and used, may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views and in which:
Turning to the figures, and to
The deflector 142 can be formed vertically (straight up and down), or it can be disposed so that it extends outwards; i.e., so that the top of the deflector extends outwards towards the leading edge of the dust mop. Alternatively, the deflector 142 can also be disposed so it extends inwards; i.e., so that the top of the deflector extends inwards away from the leading edge of the dust mop.
a-c depict another embodiment of the disclosed dust mop assembly which is generally designated as 300.
It should be noted that the spring-loaded hinge clamp 326 can couple to various portions of the frame, such as the front or the back.
The primary advantage of this embodiment is that it allows for an existing dust mop to be modified rather than an entire new assembly being created. However, only those installations that utilize a structure amenable to spring-loaded hinge clamp 326 will be able to be retrofitted with the disclosed deflector.
This embodiment has similar advantages to the that of
The foregoing description of the disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form disclosed. The description was selected to best explain the principles of the present teachings and practical application of these principles to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the disclosure in various embodiments and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure not be limited by the specification, but be defined by the claims set forth below. In addition, although narrow claims may be presented below, it should be recognized that the scope of this invention is much broader than presented by the claim(s). It is intended that broader claims will be submitted in one or more applications that claim the benefit of priority from this application. Insofar as the description above and the accompanying drawings disclose additional subject matter that is not within the scope of the claim or claims below, the additional inventions are not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more applications to claim such additional inventions is reserved.
