Patent Application
20080029981
The above as well as other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily manifest to those skilled in the art from reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when considered in the light of the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a janitorial cleaning cart, generally indicated by reference numeral 10, comprising a main body including a lower portion 12 having ground engaging rear wheels 14, 14′, and front caster wheels 16, 16′; and a spaced apart upper portion 18 having a refuse bag retaining means including fasteners 20 disposed about an opening 22 defined by a top plate 24. The top plate 24 includes hand grips 26, 26′. The hand grips 26, 26′ are spaced apart and thereby provide a space for receiving the handle of a broom, for example, while the base of the broom would be supported by the upper surface of the lower portion 12.
The top plate 24 is maintained in spaced relation from the bottom or lower portion 12 of the cart 10 by a pair of spaced apart vertically extending uprights 28, 28′.
The top plate 24 is provided with a plurality of spaced slots 30 capable of receiving an accessory retaining attachment 32. The attachment 32 includes a supporting tab 34 configured to be selectively connected to the slots 30. The opposite end of the attachment 32 is provided with a bracket 36 for selectively connecting an accessory thereto. The bracket 36 may be a quick release holder for elongate objects such as, for example, brooms, brushes, mops, and the like. The bracket 36 typically includes a shallow U-shaped channel member adapted for horizontal attachment to a supporting plate as with threaded fasteners or rivets mounted to extend through holes adapted to mate and align with apertures in the channel member. The bracket 36 includes a vertically oriented wall, and a coacting roller element support on a captive shaft which, in turn, projects horizontally from the face of the channel and may move vertically at an angle in a slot in the force of the channel so as to move the roller closer to the vertical wall as the shaft end associated roller are caused to move downwardly in the slot.
The front of the top plate 24 may be provided with a slotted opening 38 which may be employed to retain the handle of a mop, for example, which is to be utilized in conjunction with a bracket supported on the upper surface of the lower portion 12.
While the cart 10 may be produced from a number of materials, it will be appreciated that plastic materials have been found to have many satisfactory characteristics.
From the foregoing description, one ordinarily skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention and, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications to the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions.
