This U.S. patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to: India Application No. 202121026945, filed on Jun. 16, 2021. The entire contents of the aforementioned application are incorporated herein by reference.
The disclosure herein generally relates to gloves, and, more particularly, to a glove for cleaning objects.
Washing and cleaning of objects is repetitive day to day task. Washing units available in the market may fail to clean objects properly and are very expensive There are many handheld scrubbing units that are available in the market. However, these scrubbing units have their own limitations and may not be suitable to do all functions. For instance, manual scrubbers in the form of gloves deal with only scrubbing job. Further, automation-based dishwashing gloves also do not address the cleaning problem fully. For instance, there could be some areas of the objects that are not easily reachable due to certain shape-specific constraints of the objects, and even if some of the available gloves manage to reach all areas of the objects they may still fail to clean the objects as desired due to limitations of these kind of gloves.
Embodiments of the present disclosure present technological improvements as solutions to one or more of the above-mentioned technical problems recognized by the inventors in conventional systems. For example, in one aspect, there is provided a glove for cleaning one or more objects. The glove comprises a plurality of sensors positioned on at least one layer of the glove; a first finger fitted with a nozzle at a fingertip thereof, wherein the nozzle is configured to discharge water being facilitated by an inlet pipe connected to the nozzle, and wherein the flow of water is activated and controlled using a first sensor from the plurality of sensors; an outlet to dispense cleansing fluid comprised in a fluid chamber, the fluid chamber being mounted on the glove, wherein the cleansing fluid is released from the fluid chamber and controlled using a second sensor from the plurality of sensors; and at least one second finger configured to be inserted into a first detachable power-driven scrubber, wherein the first detachable power-driven scrubber is configured to controllably rotate in one or more directions based on an activation of a third sensor from the plurality of sensors to clean an object, and wherein the first detachable power-driven scrubber is configured to clean the object based on at least one of (i) discharge of controlled flow of water being facilitated by the nozzle using the first sensor from the plurality of sensors, and (ii) dispensing of controlled flow of the cleansing fluid from the outlet, using the second sensor from the plurality of sensors. In an embodiment, position of the outlet is oriented in at least one direction of the power-driven scrubber being operated.
In an embodiment, the first detachable power-driven scrubber comprises: a housing comprising a first end and a second end; a cutout configured to accommodate the at least one second finger; a hole that extends from the first end through the second end of the housing; a drive shaft to be inserted into the hole, wherein the drive shaft comprises a first end and second end; a first pulley and a second pulley mounted at the first end and the second end of the drive shaft respectively; a set of radial bearings, each radial bearing from the set of radial bearings is positioned between the first end and the second end of the housing and the drive shaft respectively, wherein the set of radial bearings are configured to hold the drive shaft in the housing; a set of grooves comprised on the first end and the second end of the housing; a set of strip bearings, each strip bearing from the set of strip bearings is fitted in a corresponding groove from the set of grooves; and an endless scrubber belt comprising a first side and a second side. The endless scrubber belt comprises a first timer belt and a second timer belt at the first side and the second side, respectively. Each of the first timer belt and the second timer belt comprises teeth. In an embodiment, the endless scrubber belt is driven by the first pulley and the second pulley.
In an embodiment, the drive shaft is connected to, and operated by a motor via a flexible transmission cable. The motor is configured to transmit rotary motion to the drive shaft to rotate in the one or more directions. In an embodiment, when the drive shaft rotates in the one or more directions the first pulley and the second pulley are configured to drive each of the first timer belt and the second timer belt such that the endless scrubber belt rotates or oscillates around the set of strip bearings to clean the object.
In an embodiment, the endless scrubber belt comprises a plurality of bristles.
In an embodiment, the movement of the endless scrubber belt triggers at least one of (i) rotation of the plurality of bristles, and (ii) formation of foam based on contact of the plurality of bristles with at least one of the controlled flow of water and the cleansing fluid.
In an embodiment, the first detachable power-driven scrubber further comprises a scrubber locking strap to lock and release the first detachable power-driven scrubber when the at least one second finger is inserted into or removed from the first detachable power-driven scrubber.
In an embodiment, the first detachable power-driven scrubber further comprises a connector that is configured to connect a second detachable power-driven scrubber.
In an embodiment, the connector comprises an enclosure comprising a pinion gear and a drive gear attached to the pinion gear. The pinion gear is coupled to the radial bearing comprised at the second end of the housing.
In an embodiment, rotation of the drive shaft enables driving motion of the pinion gear and the drive gear to enable rotation of the second detachable power-driven scrubber connected thereto for cleaning at least one of the object or another object.
In an embodiment, the glove further comprises at least a pair of lock nuts to lock the first pulley and the second pulley at the first end and the second end of the drive shaft, respectively.
In an embodiment, the first detachable power-driven scrubber further comprises one or more drain holes, wherein the one or more drain holes are configured to drain at least one of liquid particles and dirt particles deposited in the cutout.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles.
Exemplary embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Wherever convenient, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. While examples and features of disclosed principles are described herein, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. It is intended that the following detailed description be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.
Conventionally, cleaning of objects has been proposed by use of gloves wherein objects need to be pre-washed manually. However, the level of cleaning is not spotless. Electric scrubbers have also been proposed in solving the scrubbing problem but are not efficient. There are many handheld scrubbing units that are available in the market. However, these scrubbers have their own limitations and may not be suitable to do all functions. For instance, manual scrubbers in the form of gloves deal with only scrubbing job. Further, automation-based dishwashing gloves do not address the cleaning problem fully. For instance, there could be some areas of the objects wherein reaching small areas are a challenging and cleaning the objects may not be possible as desired due to limitations of these gloves. For example, typically there are dish washers for cleaning utensils which are fully automatic machines. In some of the dishes wherein the content is struck in an unexpected region or in an unexpected manner, cleaning becomes challenging as the adherence is so high due to surface properties of the utensil and due to such constraints, the dish utensil does not get cleaned and manual cleaning in preferred way. Embodiment of the present disclosure provide a glove that integrates a detachable power-driven scrubber. The power-driven scrubber is configured to controllably rotate in one or more directions based on an activation of a sensor to clean an object. The glove further includes sensing mechanisms for controlled flow of water discharge and controlled flow of cleansing fluid dispense that enables the detachable power-driven scrubber to clean the object. Rotation of the detachable power-driven scrubber is controlled and driven by a drive shaft that transmits rotary motion/torque generated by a motor coupled thereto. A scrubber locking strap is provided on the glove for lock and release of the detachable power-driven scrubber accordingly.
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
Reference numerals of one or more components of the gripper apparatus as depicted in the
The glove 100 further comprises at least one second finger 114 that is configured to be inserted into a first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 (also referred as a first power-driven scrubber and interchangeably used herein). As can be realized, a typical glove consists of sections to accommodate respective fingers of a hand. Therefore, it can be observed from
The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 comprises a housing 118 wherein the housing 118 comprises a first end 118A and a second end 118B. The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a cutout 120 (also referred as an oval shape hollow cylindrical space and interchangeably used herein. End users wearing the glove 100 can insert their fingers into respective sections (e.g., finger holders as known in the art) of the glove 100. Once inserted, the respective fingers can be inserted into the cutout 120 or oval shape hollow cylindrical space of the housing 118.
The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a hole 122 that extends from the first end 118A through the second end 118B of the housing 118. The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a drive shaft 124 that is inserted (or to be inserted) into the hole 122. The drive shaft 124 comprises a first end 124A and a second end 124B. The first end 124A and the second end 124B may also be referred as first drive shaft end and second drive shaft end respectively for better understanding and clarity to distinguish in comparison to the first end 118A and the second end 118A of the housing 118. The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a first pulley 126A and a second pulley 126B. The first pulley 126A is mounted on (or fixed to) the first end 124A of the drive shaft 124 and the second pulley 126B is mounted on (or fixed to) the second end 124B of the drive shaft 124. The second pulley 126B is shown in solid line circle for which the exploded view of the second pulley 126B is shown at the top right side of
The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a set of grooves 130A-N comprised on the first end 118A and the second end 118B of the housing 118. A set of strip bearings 132A-N are further provided in the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 wherein each strip bearing from the set of strip bearings 132A-N is fitted in a corresponding groove from the set of grooves 130A-N. For instance, say the strip bearing 132A is fitted in the groove 130A and the strip bearing 132B is fitted in the groove 130B. It is to be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art or person skilled in the art that instead of strip bearings, the first detachable power-drive scrubber 116 may comprise a set of roller bearings, and such implementation of bearing arrangements in the first detachable power-drive scrubber 116 shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises an endless scrubber belt 134 comprising a first side 134A and a second side 134B. The endless scrubber belt 134 comprises a first timer belt 136A and a second timer belt 136B at the first side 134A and the second side 134B respectively, as shown in
The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a scrubber locking strap 140 (also referred as locking and releasing unit and interchangeably used herein) to lock and release the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 when the at least one second finger 114 is inserted into or removed from the cutout 120 of the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116. Furthermore, the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises a connector 142. The connector 142 and components comprised in the connector 142 are depicted in a broken line representation block as shown in
Referring to
The first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises at least a pair of lock nuts 152A-B to lock the first pulley 126A and the second pulley 126B at the first end 124A and the second end 124B of the drive shaft 124, respectively. In other words, the first lock nut 152A is configured to lock the first pulley 126A being mounted at the first end 124A of the drive shaft 124 and the second lock nut 152A is configured to lock the second pulley 126B being mounted at the first end 124A of the drive shaft 124. Moreover, the drive shaft 124 is connected to, and operated by a motor (not shown in
Moreover, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, to clean the object water may be facilitated from a water container, wherein a motor and pump mechanism may be implemented by the present disclosure to pump the water from the water container (e.g., such as a bucket) to the inlet pipe 108 which facilitates to the nozzle 106. The motor may be supplied power via mains supply of a premise (e.g., say power unit at a kitchen) to enable pumping of water from the container and facilitate the water through the inlet pipe 108 at the nozzle 106. The nozzle 106 along with the motor and pump mechanism may serve as a jet spray unit and control the flow of water through the nozzle 106 for cleaning the object(s).
Similarly, motor driving the drive shaft 124 for controlled rotation of the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 may be powered by batteries or any other suitable powering means (or powering units), thus making the glove 100 compact and portable apparatus. Further, the glove 100 may be customized or designed to incorporate (rechargeable) battery(ies) (or mount battery(ies)) on the surface of the glove 100 to operate the motor/drive shaft and generate rotary motion for the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 for rotation/oscillation. Though the battery(ies) are not shown in FIGS., it is to be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art or person skilled in the art that glove 100 may comprise battery(ies) and such arrangement/customization of the glove 100 shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The position of the battery(ies) on the glove 100 may be such that the glove 100 may be incorporated with one or more pins to recharge the battery(ies) when needed. Position of the pins may be such that the glove 100 may be docked into a charging unit (not shown in FIGS.) to charge the battery(ies) to provide power to the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116. One end of the pins may be in contact with corresponding pins/powering elements of the charging unit and other end of the pins may be in contact or connected to the battery(ies) for charging the battery(ies) comprised therein.
Further, the first detachable power-driven scrubber 116 further comprises one or more drain holes 156A-B at one end of the housing 118. The one or more drain holes 156A-B are configured to drain at least one of liquid particles and dirt particles deposited in the cutout 120. The liquid particles, such as water, cleansing fluid, foam formed during cleaning the objects, may be accumulated in the cutout 120 either during the use of the glove 100 or when not in use. Similarly, dirt particles may be deposited in the cutout 120 either during the use of the glove 100 or when not in use. The drain holes 156A-B enable removing of the liquid particles and/or dirt particles, in one example embodiment.
In an embodiment, the present disclosure may implement one or more motors to enable the first and second detachable power-driven scrubbers 116 and 144 clean the object. The one or more motors as described herein may either be an integral part of the glove 100 or be externally connected to the glove 100 via the controller as depicted in
The written description describes the subject matter herein to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the embodiments. The scope of the subject matter embodiments is defined by the claims and may include other modifications that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other modifications are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have similar elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims or if they include equivalent elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
It is to be understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer-readable means having a message therein; such computer-readable storage means contain program-code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or mobile device or any suitable programmable device. The hardware device can be any kind of device which can be programmed including e.g., any kind of computer like a server or a personal computer, or the like, or any combination thereof. The device may also include means which could be e.g., hardware means like e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g., an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software processing components located therein. Thus, the means can include both hardware means and software means. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented in hardware and software. The device may also include software means. Alternatively, the embodiments may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g., using a plurality of CPUs.
The embodiments herein can comprise hardware and software elements. The embodiments that are implemented in software include but are not limited to, firmware, resident software, microcode, etc. The functions performed by various components described herein may be implemented in other components or combinations of other components. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can comprise, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The illustrated steps are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the manner in which particular functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (including equivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of those described herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. Such alternatives fall within the scope of the disclosed embodiments. Also, the words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term “computer-readable medium” should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., be non-transitory. Examples include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, hard drives, CD ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.
It is intended that the disclosure and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of disclosed embodiments being indicated by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202121026945 | Jun 2021 | IN | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20040250333 | Friedman | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20170049076 | Takla | Feb 2017 | A1 |
20180214586 | Louis | Aug 2018 | A1 |
20180242796 | Moffitt | Aug 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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209300323 | Aug 2019 | CN |
102126472 | Jun 2020 | KR |
WO2016056007 | Apr 2016 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230013192 A1 | Jan 2023 | US |