Patent Application
20140013531
The present disclosure relates to a floor cleaning tool comprising a working surface having an elevated portion and a sloping side surface.
There are many different types of floor cleaning tools. Mops with sponge or strip of fabric are commonly used for wet cleaning floors. Brooms with bristles are used for dry cleaning. Floor cleaning tools with an overlying cleaning sheet have become a common way of cleaning floors. In these types of cleaning systems, the wipe may be wet or dry for either wet cleaning or dry cleaning. Floor cleaning tools with overlying cleaning sheets are pushed over the floor, and one common problem is that the leading edge of the cleaning sheet becomes loaded with dirt and debris while the inner portions of the cleaning sheet are not fully utilized for cleaning. Structured sheet can be used to give localized lift to allow for more utilization of the cleaning sheet, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,691,760. However, structured sheets can be more expensive to make that flat sheets.
The disclosed floor cleaning tool has a working surface with an elevated portion, a sloping surface, and ribs that provide structure to an overlying cleaning sheet to improve the surface area utilized for cleaning. The ribs can also provide some stability during use of the tool, which has a sloping surface.
In one embodiment, the floor cleaning tool comprises a working surface of a first material having an elevated portion and a recessed point adjacent a perimeter forming a height, a sloping surface extending from the elevated point to the recessed point, and a plurality of ribs of a second material, which is more deformable than the first material, wherein the ribs are raised on the sloping surface.
In one embodiment, the floor cleaning tool comprises a working surface comprising a first sloping side, a second sloping side, and a linearly extending elevated portion separating the first sloping side from the second sloping side, a first rib on the first sloping surface, nonparallel with the elevated portion, a second rib on the second sloping surface, nonparallel with the elevated portion.
While the above-identified drawings and figures set forth embodiments of the invention, other embodiments are also contemplated, as noted in the discussion. In all cases, this disclosure presents the invention by way of representation and not limitation. It should be understood that numerous other modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art, which fall within the scope and spirit of this invention. The figures may not be drawn to scale.
The floor cleaning tool 100 includes a working surface 110 that is the surface intended to make contact with the surface to be cleaned. It is understood that a cleaning sheet 200 (
The working surface 110 includes a perimeter 150. It is understood that any number of sizes and shapes for the perimeter 150 could be used for the cleaning tool 100, such as round, square, triangular, rectangular. In this embodiment, the perimeter 150 includes a leading edge 152 forming a point 154 and a trailing edge 156 that is a concave portion 158. It is understood that the floor cleaning tool 100 can be used in any number of directions but that generally the leading edge 152 is the typical edge that is leading during cleaning. The point 154 allows the cleaning tool to easily clean into corners. The concave portion 158 allows for scooping and retention of large particles of dirt or debris and to clean up against curved surfaces such as toilets.
To better allow for full utilization of the entire working surface 100 during cleaning, the working surface 110 is not overall in a flat plane, but has a sloping surface 120 to prevent dirt and debris from only loading at a leading edge of the cleaning sheet. The working surface 110 has an elevated portion 130 and a recessed point 132. In one embodiment, the elevated portion 130 is the lowest or most protruded part on the working surface 110. In one embodiment, the recessed point 132 is adjacent a perimeter 150 of the working surface 110. A height forms between the elevated portion 132 and the recessed point 132 on the working surface 110. In one embodiment, the height is at least 1 mm; in one embodiment, the height is at least 5 mm; in one embodiment, the height is at least 10 mm.
The elevated portion 130 can be in a number of arrangements. In one embodiment, the elevated portion 130 is a single point on the working surface, such as shown in
In one embodiment, there may be one elevated portion 130, such as shown in
The elevated portion 130 may extend entirely across the working surface 110, such as shown in
Depending on the arrangement of the elevated portion 130, the sloping surface 120 can have a variety of configurations. For example, the sloping surface 120 may be planer. Also, one or more sloping surfaces 120 maybe included. As shown in
In the embodiment, such as shown in
At least one rib 122 is raised on the sloping surface 120. If there are more than one sloping surfaces 120 typically each sloping surface 120 will include at least one rib 122. The ribs 122 extend outward from the sloping surface 120 to provide some stability to the working surface 110 to prevent pivotal rocking about the elevated portion 130. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 extend from the sloping surface 120 less than the height created between the elevated portion 130 and the recessed point 132. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 extend at least 0.5 mm. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 extend at least 1 mm. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 extend at least 1.5 mm. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 extend less than 50 mm. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 extend less than 10 mm.
The ribs 122 can take on a number of constructions. In one embodiment, the working surface 110 is constructed of a first material and the ribs 122 are constructed of a second material, which has material properties different than the first material. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 are constructed of a material that is more deformable than the first material of the working surface 110, which is desirable as the ribs 122 make contact with the surface being cleaned. In one embodiment, the ribs 122 are constructed of foam, sponge, woven, knitted, nonwoven, or resilient plastic. In one embodiment, the working surface is constructed of foam, sponge, plastic, metal, or wood. In one embodiment, unlike typical cleaning tools used with overlying cleaning sheets, the sloping surface 120 of the cleaning tool 100 is generally rigid and does not include a cushioning foam. This significantly helps to reduce cost of manufacturing the cleaning tool 100.
The ribs 122 can take on a number of different arrangements on the working surface 110. In one embodiment, such as shown in
Specifically for
In the embodiment shown in
In the embodiment shown in
It is understood that various combinations of the different structures and arrangements of working surfaces, sloping surfaces, ribs, and elevated portions can be interchangeable used together.
The cleaning tool 100 typically would be used with an overlying cleaning sheet. The cleaning sheet maybe a woven, knitted, foam, nonwoven material or combinations of one or more material. The cleaning sheet may include oils or adhesives to aid in picking up and retaining dust, dirt and particles. The cleaning sheet may be reusable, disposable, or semi-disposable. The cleaning sheet may be provided dry for dry cleaning, wet for wet cleaning, or dry that the user adds water to for wet cleaning. If used for wet cleaning the cleaning sheet will typically include a surfactant, which may be anionic, nonionic, cationic or a combination thereof. Anionic surfactants include alcohol sulfates and sulfonates, alcohol phosphates and phosphonates, alkyl sulfates, alkyl ether sulfate, sulfate esters of an alkylphenoxy polyoxyethylene ethanol, alkyl monoglyceride sulfate, alkyl sulfonate, alkyl benzene sulfonate, alkyl ether sulfonate, ethoxylated alkyl sulfonate, alkyl carboxylate, alkyl ether carboxylate, alkyl alkoxy carboxylate. Nonionic surfacetants include ethoxylated alkylphenol, ethoxylated and propoxylated fatty alcohols, polyethylene glycol ethers of methyl glucose, ethoxylated esters of fatty acids Alkyl polyglucoside—capryl glucoside (Glucopon 215UP), decyl glucoside (Glucopon 225DK), coco-glucoside (Glucopon 425N), lauryl glucoside (Glucopon 625UP), an aqueous solution of alkyl glucosides based fatty acid alcohol C9-C11 (APG 325N), and sodium laureth sulfate & lauryl glucoside & cocoamidopropyl betaine (Plantapon 611L), Fatty alcohol polyglycolether—Dephypon LS54, Dehypon LT104. Cationic surfactants include aminoamide, quaternary ammonium salt, Aminoamides—stearamidopropyl ethyldimonium ethosulfate, stearamidopropyl PG-dimonium chloride phosphate, Quaternary ammonium salts—cetyl ammonium chloride, lauryl ammonium chloride, ditallow dimethyl ammonium chloride.
Although specific embodiments of this invention have been shown and described herein, it is understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the many possible specific arrangements that can be devised in application of the principles of the invention. Numerous and varied other arrangements can be devised in accordance with these principles by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the structures described in this application, but only by the structures described by the language of the claims and the equivalents of those structures.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 61/669,876 filed Jul. 10, 2012.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61669876 | Jul 2012 | US |
