Patent Application
20070151057
Mops have long been employed as effective tools for a variety of cleaning applications, including for cleaning floor surfaces and for mopping and absorbing liquid from surfaces. One such common mop consists of a mop head with a plurality of strands made of fluid absorbent material. An elongated handle is normally attached to the mop head.
Mops of this type work very well when their mop head strands are dry. However, the mop becomes ineffective when the strands become saturated with fluid. To remedy this problem, various mops have evolved with features which allow the strands to be wrung out, compressed, and squeezed of fluid. For instance, the lower ends of the mop head strands on some variations of mops are secured together to facilitate turning and twisting of the strands in order to wring out fluid during the cleaning operation.
While such self-wringing mops are effective, to ensure effectiveness, the user must apply a concentrated rotational force to the cleaning head strands, while continuing to apply effort to maintain the strands in an increasingly twisted or wringed configuration. Fundamentally, mops which employ these systems, and wringable mops generally, all require the user to exert significant and constantly increasing rotational torque during the wringing process, based on a one to one mechanical advantage. That is, one turn of a handle results in one turn or twist on the mop head strands. This clearly is not efficient and often results in the user tiring before the strands are fully wringed of moisture.
In addition, as the user turns the cleaning head strands in order to wring them out, a constant rotational force must be applied to keep the strands tight and to prevent them from loosening. This force, applied through the user's hands and arms, must be maintained for several seconds until the mop head strands are fully tightened and all fluid is squeezed out. The procedure is difficult for the user, in that it first requires excessive manual effort to wring the mop head to its fully twisted position and then to maintain it in that position. The process must then be repeated many times during the entire cleaning or mopping operation.
It is thus the object of the present invention to overcome the limitations and disadvantages of prior wringable mops.
It is an object of the invention to provide a wringable mop with a fluid wringing arrangement which thoroughly wrings fluid out of the mop head strands of the mop with a minimum of manual exertion.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a wringable mop employing a fluid wringing arrangement which quickly and easily allows loosening of the mop head strands after fluid wringing is completed.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a wringable mop with a fluid wringing arrangement which is easy to operate and has a minimum of mechanical components.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a wringable mop which an be wrung out quickly and efficiently, with minimal user exertion, numerous times during the cleaning operation.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a wringable type mop which employs a simple mechanical operated gear system which provides at least a 2:1 mechanical advantage to the user.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a wringable mop which ensures that the mop head strands remain locked in their wringed positions, while the strands are being twisted and wrung out.
It is another object of the invention to provide a wringable mop which relieves the user of the manual exertion of continually applying rotational effort in order to maintain the mop head strands in a twisted configuration, during the wringing procedure.
These and other objects are accomplished by the present invention which comprises a handle and a cleaning mop head with a plurality of cleaning mop head strands of fibrous, cotton, sponge-plastic, or similarly absorbent material. The mop head strands are attached at their lower ends to a lower mop head support and at their upper ends to an upper mop head support which is attached to a rotatable outer sleeve which circumscribes the handle. An inner sleeve is secured to the handle and circumscribes the outer sleeve. It has planetary gears which mesh with a gear ring located on an internal surface of the outer sleeve. A hilt member, with gearing which meshes with the planetary gears, is rotatably mounted on the handle. Rotation of the hilt member by the user rotates the gearing of the system and the outer sleeve, creating a 2:1 mechanical advantage in ultimately rotating the mop head strands to wring them of moisture.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its design, construction, and use, together with additional features and advantages thereof, are best understood upon review of the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Mop 1 of the present invention comprises mop head 2 comprising a plurality of cleaning mop head strands 4 made of cotton, cloth, sponge-plastic, or other fluid absorbent material. Mop head strands 4 extend outwardly and downwardly from lower mop head support 6, which is connected a lower region 10 of mop handle 8. Strands 8 extend downwardly and are secured at their upper ends to upper mop head support 9.
Sleeve locking component 12 is located on mop handle 8. Component 12 is shown to be hexagonal in configuration. Inner sleeve 14 is substantially cylindrical and open through its middle to accept handle 12. Sleeve 14 does comprise lower section 16, which is hexagonal in configuration. The internal diameter of section 16 is only slightly larger than the exterior diameter of component 12. When handle 8 is inserted into the sleeve 14, section 16 is configured to be slid over and encompass component 12, forming a tight pressure fit which secures sleeve 14 over component 12 and around handle 8. Although this sleeve to handle connection system is shown to be hexagonal in shape, the connection between section 16 of sleeve 14 and handle component 12 can be made by employing any convenient polygonal configuration and is not to be deemed restricted to a hexagonal shape.
Secured to upper section 18 of sleeve 14 are planetary gears 20, 21, and 22, spaced equidistantly around sleeve 14. Outer sleeve 24 is configured to surround sleeve 14. Outer sleeve 24 is connected at its lower end 26 to upper mop head support 9. Internal gear path 28 is located around the internal surface at the upper end of sleeve 24. When sleeve 24 is positioned over sleeve 14, planetary gears 20, 21, and 22 mesh with internal gear path 28.
Hilt member 30 also circumscribes handle 8. Hilt member 30 has through opening 31, handle section 32, hilt base 34, and extension 36. Drive gearing 38 circumscribes the upper section of extension 36, nearest to base 34. Lower section 40 of extension 36 is configured to be inserted into circular space 42 of sleeve 14. Once so inserted, gearing 38 meshes with planetary gears 20, 21, and 22.
When all components of the system are assembled, handle 8 extends through opening 31 and hence through hilt member 30, through sleeves 14 and 24, past upper mop head support 9 and through mop head 2, where the handle is connected to lower mop head support 6, as shown most clearly in
In addition, since the wringing process involves tightly meshed gears, if the user releases his or her grasp of hilt member 30, the system will remain locked in place, that is, wringed mop head strands 4 will not loosen. They will remain in their wringed positions. Mop head strands 4 will only be loosen from their, in this example, counterclockwise, wringed position, by rotating or turning hilt member 30 in the counterclockwise direction. When so rotated, the gearing arrangement of the invention will operate to ultimately rotate sleeve 24 clockwise, also rotating mop head strands 4 clockwise, thereby releasing and loosening them from their wringed positions.
Certain novel features and components of this invention are disclosed in detail in order to make the invention clear in at least one form thereof. However, it is to be clearly understood that the invention as disclosed is not necessarily limited to the exact form and details as disclosed, since it is apparent that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.
