ROLLER BRUSH DEVICE

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide for a roller device that includes a housing, a handle coupled to the housing, and a drum that is disposed within the housing and rotatably coupled to the housing. The roller brush further includes a debris collection cavity, an elastic member, and a scraping end. The debris collection cavity is disposed adjacent to a rear portion of the drum. The elastic member includes a first end and a second end, where the first end is coupled to the housing. The scraping element is disposed in the housing and is coupled to the second end of the elastic member. The scraping element includes a rotating shaft coupled to the second end of the elastic member and extends tangentially relative to the drum.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under the Paris Convention to Chinese Patent Application No. 202223529780.8, filed on Dec. 23, 2022, the content of which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to devices for removing debris from surfaces, and more specifically to roller brushes.

BACKGROUND

Roller brushes (e.g., lint rollers) are devices used for removing debris (e.g., dust, lint, fluff, dandruff, hair, pet hair) from the surface of materials such as clothing, upholstery, linen, or the like. Some types of roller brushes include a cartridge having bristles that rotates within a housing of the roller brush. Applying the bristles of the cartridge onto the materials collects debris, which is then scraped by a scraper of the roller brush when the cartridge is rotated.

Conventionally, for these types of roller brushes, a size of the gap between an outer edge of the rotating cartridge and the scraper has to be adjusted manually. When the gap is relatively small, a user may need to apply additional force to clear debris through the gap, thereby rendering the rolling process labored. When the gap is relatively large, the scraper is unable to scrape smaller debris caught on the bristles of the rotating cartridge. Accordingly, there is a need for a roller brush that is effective in collecting and scraping debris while still being easy to use.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the disclosure provide for an improved roller device that is effective in collecting and scraping debris and is easy to use. In a first aspect, the roller brush includes a housing, a handle coupled to the housing, and a drum. The drum is disposed within the housing and is rotatably coupled to the housing. The roller brush further includes a debris collection cavity, an elastic member, and a scraping end. The debris collection cavity is disposed adjacent to a rear portion of the drum. The elastic member includes a first end and a second end, where the first end is coupled to the housing. The scraping element is disposed in the housing and is coupled to the second end of the elastic member. The scraping element includes a rotating shaft that is coupled to the second end of the elastic member, and the rotating shaft extends tangentially relative to the drum.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, the elastic member applies a biasing force onto the rotating shaft, which thereby applies the biasing force onto the scraping element. The scraping element then pushes the drum during a rotation of the drum when collecting debris. This is advantageous as it assists in driving the rotation of the drum, but also increases the effectiveness of the scraping element when scraping debris from the drum. This improves the user's experience and an overall efficiency of the roller brush.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, the drum comprises a shaving cloth disposed at a front portion of the drum in a first state of the drum and the rotation of the drum by a predetermined rotation angle moves the shaving cloth to be at least partially exposed to the debris collection cavity in a second state of the drum.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, the drum defines a shaving cloth cavity and a shaving cloth is disposed in the shaving cloth cavity. In some embodiments, the scraping element defines a scraping cloth cavity and a scraping cloth is disposed in the scraping cloth cavity. In some embodiments, the rotation of the drum causes the scraping cloth to shear against the shaving cloth, thereby decoupling collected debris from the shaving cloth to enter the debris collection cavity.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, the rear portion of the drum is adjacent to a rear portion of the housing, and a removably coupled panel is disposed onto the rear portion of the housing.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, the elastic member is a torsion spring having a first leg that defines the first end and a second leg that defines the second end.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, some embodiments further include a second scraping element axially opposed to the first scraping end and a second elastic member that applies a second biasing force onto the second scraping element. The second scraping element applies a second force onto the drum along the rotation of the drum relative to the housing. In some embodiments, the scraping element is disposed at a top portion of the housing and is configured to shear against a first shaving cloth of the drum in a first rotational direction. The second scraping element is disposed at a bottom portion of the housing and is configured to shear against a second shaving cloth of the drum in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, some embodiments further include a rotating handle rotatably coupled to a side of the drum. When the rotating handle is moved, the rotating handle is configured to drive the rotation of the drum relative to the housing. In some embodiments, the drum defines a rotating axis concentric to a center of the side of the drum. The rotating handle extends away from the side of the drum and is disposed eccentrically (e.g., away from the center) on the side of the drum.

For the roller brush of the first aspect, some embodiments further include a protruding element disposed on the drum. The protruding element extends away from a side of the drum and further extends at least partially through an opening in a side of the housing. The protruding element is configured to limit a rotational range of the rotation of the drum relative to the housing.

In a second aspect, the roller brush includes a housing, a handle coupled to the housing, a drum disposed within the housing and rotatably coupled to the housing, a debris collection cavity, a first elastic member, a second elastic member, a first scraping element and a second scraping element. The debris collection cavity is disposed adjacent to a rear portion of the drum. The first elastic member includes a first end and a second end, where the first end is coupled to the housing. The second elastic member includes a third end and a fourth end, where the third end is coupled to the housing. The first scraping element is disposed in the housing and is coupled to the second end of the elastic member. The second scraping element is disposed in the housing and coupled to the fourth end of the elastic member.

For the roller brush of the second aspect, the first scraping element further includes a first rotating shaft that is coupled to the second end of the elastic member, and the first rotating shaft extends tangentially relative to the drum along a first axis. The second scraping element further includes a second rotating shaft that is coupled to the fourth end of the elastic member, and the second rotating shaft extends tangentially relative to the drum along a second axis, where the first axis and the second axis intersect.

For the roller brush of the second aspect, the drum includes a shaving cloth disposed at a front portion of the drum in a first state of the drum and a rotation of the drum by a predetermined rotation angle at least partially exposes the shaving cloth to the debris collection cavity in a second state of the drum.

For the roller brush of the second aspect, the first elastic member applies a first biasing force onto the first scraping element and the second elastic member applies a second biasing force onto the second scraping element. The first biasing force and the second biasing force apply a force onto the drum along a rotation of the drum in either a first rotational direction or a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction.

For the roller brush of the second aspect, the first scraping element defines a first scraping cloth cavity, and a first scraping cloth is disposed in the first scraping cloth cavity. The second scraping element defines a second scraping cloth cavity and a second scraping cloth is disposed in the second scraping cloth cavity. In some embodiments, a rotation of the drum in the first rotational direction causes the first scraping cloth to shear against the shaving cloth, thereby scraping collected debris from the shaving cloth into the debris collection cavity and a rotation of the drum in the second rotational direction causes the second scraping cloth to shear against the shaving cloth, thereby scraping the collected debris from the shaving cloth into the debris collection cavity.

For the roller brush of the second aspect, the first elastic member is a first torsion spring having a first leg that defines the first end and a second leg that defines the second end. The second elastic member is a second torsion spring having a third leg that defines the third end and a fourth leg that defines the fourth end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the views. Moreover, components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of a roller brush, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the roller brush;

FIG. 3 is rear perspective view of a roller brush without a removably coupled panel and sides panels, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a roller brush, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 5 is a view of a portion of a housing of a roller brush, according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the disclosure are shown. The various embodiments of the disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

In referring to FIG. 1, an exterior profile of a roller brush 100 is shown, according to some embodiments. The roller brush 100 (e.g., lint roller) is a device used for removing debris (e.g., dust, lint, fluff, dandruff, hair, pet hair) from materials such as clothing, upholstery, linen, or the like. In some embodiments, the roller brush 100 includes a housing 1, a handle 68, side panels 72, and a removable panel 13.

As depicted in FIG. 1, the housing 1 defines a cylindrical profile, but may define any feasible geometric shape (e.g., rectangular, hexagonal, triangular). The housing 1 may be composed of a polymer, plastic, or any suitable material. When using the roller brush 100, the user presses the housing 1 onto the desired material and moves the housing 1 in an alternating motion (e.g., upward, and downward) to remove debris from the desired material.

The housing 1 is coupled (e.g., removably, or irremovably) to the handle 68. A user grips the handle 68 and moves the handle 68 to manipulate a position of the roller brush 100 onto the material to be brushed. As depicted, the handle 68 is cylindrical, but may define any feasible geometric shape (e.g., rectangular, hexagonal, triangular). In some embodiments, a profile is embedded into the handle that is compatible with a human hand profile, thereby allowing for the user to increase their grip onto the handle. In some embodiments, the handle is composed of a plastic material and in some other embodiments, the handle is composed of or wrapped with a soft material (e.g., leather, pleather, rubber, nylon, foam).

In some embodiments, the handle 68 includes a strap 70 disposed on a side of the handle 68 opposite to the housing 1. The strap 70 allows for the roller brush 100 to be hung while not in use.

The housing 1 further defines an aperture 12 (e.g., opening, port, cavity) on a side, for example, a rear portion, of the housing 1. The aperture 12 is profiled and dimensioned so that the removable panel 13 may be situated within the aperture 12 via a clearance fit. As depicted, both the aperture 12 and the removable panel 13 extend along a curvature of the housing 1. The user may expose and remove the collected debris by removing the removably panel 13 when coupled to the housing 1.

The removable panel 13 is coupled to the housing 1 via a release button 66. In order to remove the removable panel 13, the user actuates the release button 66 to release the removable panel 13 from the aperture 12. The user may then remove the collected debris from the aperture 12. Once completed, the user may place the removable panel 13 back onto the aperture 12 to then couple the removable panel 13 onto the housing 1 via the release button 66.

As depicted, the release button 66 is a pressable button that engages a lock mechanism between the housing 1 and the removable panel 13. However, in implementation, the release button 66 may be any mechanism known in the art for removably securing the removable panel 13 onto the housing 1. For example, the release button 66 may be a physical switch that, when rotated, releases a locking mechanism that couples the removable panel 13 to the housing 1.

In some embodiments, when decoupling the removable panel 13 from the aperture 12, the removable panel 13 may still be hingedly coupled to the housing 1 when released. In other words, the removable panel 13 is hinged to the housing 1, and to remove debris from the roller brush 100, the user simply swings the removable panel 13 open away from the housing 1 to expose the aperture 12. In this way, the removable panel 13 will stay attached to the housing and will not be misplaced and get lost.

In some embodiments, the side panels 72 are coupled to the sides of the housing 1. The side panels 72 may be profiled and dimensioned in any way to be compatible with the sides of the housing 1. The side panels 72 protect an interior of the roller brush 1 from egress while providing an aesthetic finish for the roller brush 100. In some embodiments, the side panels 72 defines a side panel aperture 74 to facilitate clearance for a rotating handle (as will be discussed in greater detail herein).

The housing 1 further defines a debris opening 11 (e.g., entrance, cavity). During usage of the roller brush 100, debris collected from the materials may enter the debris opening 11 before being scraped and falling inside the aperture 12.

In referring to FIG. 2, a front exterior profile of the roller brush 100 is shown without the side panels 72. The roller brush 100 further includes a drum 2, one or more scrapers 5, a stopping mechanism 6, sides of the drum 14, a shaving cloth cavity 22, and a rotating handle 23. Scrapers may also be referred to as scraping element.

The drum 2 is disposed within the housing 1 and is rotatably coupled to the housing 1. As depicted, the drum 2 defines a cylindrical profile, but may define any feasible geometric shape (e.g., rectangular, hexagonal, triangular) to accommodate being disposed within the housing 1. The drum 2 is partially exposed from the housing and is configured to rotate within the housing 1. The drum 2 may be rotated by a user applying the drum 2 onto a material and rolling the roller brush 100 onto the material, thereby causing the drum 2 to rotate in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The drum 2 may also be rotated via the rotating handle 23. As discussed herein, the user may drive the drum 2 to rotate by actuating the rotating handle 23 in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

The stopping mechanism 6 includes a protrusion 61 and a groove 62. In some embodiments, there is a single stopping mechanism 6, while in other embodiments, there is a stopping mechanism 6 for each side of the roller brush 100. The protrusion 61 is disposed eccentrically (i.e., off center) on the side 14 of the drum 2, and when there is a rotating handle 23, the protrusion 61 is disposed between the side 14 of the drum 2 and the rotating handle 23. After the drum 2 rotates by a predetermined angle, the protrusion 61 makes contact (e.g., abuts, is interfered by) the groove 62. The groove 62 is profiled within the side of the housing 1 and is configured to limit a rotation of the drum 2 in both the clockwise direction and counterclockwise direction.

The rotating handle 23 is coupled to the drum 2 and extends from a side 14 of the drum 2. The rotating handle 23 is disposed eccentrically (i.e., off center) of the side 14 of the drum 2. In some embodiments, the rotating handle 23 defines a concave profile 76 to improve a grip of the user when rotating the drum 2. A user may turn the rotating handle 23 (e.g., clockwise, and counterclockwise) to rotate the drum 2.

Now referring to FIG. 3, a rear portion of the roller brush 100 is illustrated without the removable panel 13 and sides panels 72. The stopping mechanism 6 is also illustrated on the side of the roller brush 100 without the rotating handle 23. As the removable panel 13 is not illustrated, the aperture 12 is thereby exposed. The drum 2 includes a debris collection cavity 21. As discussed in greater detail in FIG. 4, debris that is collected from the materials being brushed is collected within the debris collection cavity 21. The user may then remove the removable panel 13 to expose the debris collection cavity 21 and remove the collected debris.

Now referring to FIG. 4, a cross-sectional view of the roller brush 100 is shown, according to some embodiments. The roller brush 100 further includes an elastic member 78, one or more scrapers 5. A first end of the elastic member 78 is coupled to the housing while a second end of the elastic member 78 is coupled to the scraper 5. In some embodiments, the elastic member 78 is a torsion spring. In these embodiments, a first leg of the torsion spring defines the first end of the elastic member 78 and a second leg of the torsion spring defines the second end of the elastic member 78. In some embodiments, the elastic member 78 is composed of elastomers such as rubber (e.g., natural rubber, silicon rubber, nitrile rubber, urethane rubbers, chloroprene rubber, ethylene vinyl acetate rubber), nylon, silicon, or any other suitable elastic material. The elasticity provided by the elastic material and/or the torsion spring provides a biasing force onto the elastic member 78 and thereby also applies a biasing force onto the scraper 5. The scraper 5 includes a rotating shaft 80 coupled to the second end of the elastic member 78. The rotating shaft 80 extends tangentially relative to the drum 2.

The biasing force created by the elastic member 78 causes the scraper 5 to be biased via the rotating shaft 80. The scraper 5 then maintains this biased state when pressing onto the drum 2 during the rotation of the drum 2 in the debris collection process. This is advantageous as it assists in driving rotation of the drum 2, but also increases the effectivity of the scraper 5 when scraping debris from the drum 2. This improves a user experience and an overall efficiency of the roller brush 100.

As depicted in FIG. 4, there are two scrapers 5 on a top portion and a bottom portion of the exposed drum 2 (i.e., exposed outside of the housing 1). In these embodiments, a top scraper 5 of the two scrapers 5 is configured to shave or scrape off the debris collected on the drum 2, when the drum 2 rotates in a first rotational direction. A bottom scraper 5 of the two scrapers 5 is configured to shave or scrape off the debris collected on the drum 2, when the drum 2 rotates in a second rotational direction opposite of the first rotational direction.

In some embodiments, there is a single scraper 5 disposed at a bottom, top, or rear portion of the drum 2. In some embodiments there are more than two scrapers 5. For example, there are two scrapers 5 disposed at the top portion and the bottom portion of the exposed drum 2, and a third scraper 5 disposed at a rear of the drum 2 that is unexposed. Each of the two scrapers 5 include a rotating shaft 80 that extends tangentially to the drum 2 along a first axis and a second axis, respectively. The first axis and the second axis intersect at a certain point. In other words, the two scrapers are not parallel to each other.

Each of the one or more scrapers 5 may include a scraping cloth cavity 51 and a scraping cloth 4 disposed within the scraping cloth cavity 51. The thickness of the scraping cloth 4 may exceed a depth of the scraping cloth cavity 51 so that the scraping cloth 4 is exposed above a top surface of the scraping cloth cavity 51. This arrangement may improve a shearing capability of the scraper 5 during the rotation of the drum 2. The scraping cloth 4 may consist of any suitable material for shearing debris from the bristles of the drum and may be a replaceable component.

The drum 2 further includes one or more shaving cloths 3 and shaving cloth cavities 22 that are at least partially exposed (i.e., exposed outside of the housing 1) during a first state of the drum 2. During the first state of the drum 2, the one or more shaving cloths 3 and shaving cloth cavities 22 are disposed at a front portion of the drum 2 and are configured to collect debris from materials. The shaving cloth 3 may consist of any suitable material for collecting debris from materials and may consists of bristles that extend away from the drum 2. A thickness of the shaving cloth 3 may exceed a depth of the shaving cloth cavity 22 so that the shaving cloth 3 is exposed above a top surface of the shaving cloth cavity 22. This arrangement may improve a debris collection capability of the drum 2 during the rotation of the drum 2.

During a second state of the drum 2 (e.g., after the drum 2 has rotated by a predetermined rotation angle), after the drum 2 has collected debris via the shaving cloth 3, the debris enters the debris opening 11 at a top portion of the exposed drum 2 or at a bottom portion of the exposed drum 2. During the second state of the drum 2, the drum 2 is partially exposed to the debris collection cavity 21. The collected debris is then shaved or scraped off of the drum 2 by the scraper 5 via the scraping cloth 4 and enters into the debris collection cavity 21. As discussed in reference to FIG. 3, after the user has collected a sufficient amount of debris, the user may remove the removable panel 13 and remove the collected debris from the debris collection cavity 21.

Now referring to FIG. 5, a portion of the housing 1 of the roller brush 100 is shown with certain components omitted. As depicted, the scrapers 5 extend along a circumference of the drum 2. As described in greater detail above, the user may press onto the rotating handle 23 to rotate the drum 2 within the housing 1 in an alternating clockwise and counterclockwise direction. Alternatively, the user may press the exposed portion of the drum 2 onto a desired material and then rotate the drum 2 in an alternating clockwise and counterclockwise direction. The protrusion 61 limits a degree of rotation, in both the clockwise and counterclockwise direction, by contacting the groove 62 (see FIG. 3).

Although the disclosure is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the disclosure.

Claims

1. A roller brush, comprising: a housing;a handle coupled to the housing;a drum disposed within the housing and rotatably coupled to the housing;a debris collection cavity disposed in a rear portion of the drum;an elastic member comprising a first end and a second end, the first end being coupled to the housing; anda scraping element disposed in the housing and coupled to the second end of the elastic member.

2. The roller brush of claim 1, wherein the scraping element comprises a rotating shaft that is coupled to the second end of the elastic member, and the rotating shaft extends tangentially relative to the drum; and wherein the elastic member applies a biasing force onto the scraping element, and the scraping element applies a force onto the drum along a rotation of the drum relative to the housing.

3. The roller brush of claim 1, wherein the drum comprises a shaving cloth disposed at a front portion of the drum in a first state of the drum and the rotation of the drum by a predetermined rotation angle moves the shaving cloth to be at least partially exposed to the debris collection cavity in a second state of the drum.

4. The roller brush of claim 3, wherein the drum defines a shaving cloth cavity, and a shaving cloth is disposed in the shaving cloth cavity.

5. The roller brush of claim 4, wherein the scraping element defines a scraping cloth cavity, and a scraping cloth is disposed in the scraping cloth cavity.

6. The roller brush of claim 5, wherein the rotation of the drum causes the scraping cloth to scrape against the shaving cloth, thereby decoupling collected debris from the shaving cloth to enter the debris collection cavity.

7. The roller brush of claim 1, wherein the rear portion of the drum is adjacent to a rear portion of the housing, and a removably coupled panel is disposed onto the rear portion of the housing.

8. The roller brush of claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a torsion spring comprising a first leg defining the first end and a second leg defining the second end.

9. The roller brush of claim 1, further comprising: a second scraping element axially opposed to the first scraping end; anda second elastic member that applies a second biasing force onto the second scraping element; wherein the second scraping element applies a second force onto the drum along the rotation of the drum relative to the housing.

10. The roller brush of claim 9, wherein: the scraping element is disposed at a top portion of the housing and is configured to shear against a first shaving cloth of the drum in a first rotational direction; andthe second scraping element is disposed at a bottom portion of the housing and is configured to shear against a second shaving cloth of the drum in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction.

11. The roller brush of claim 1, further comprising a rotating handle rotatably coupled to a side of the drum, wherein, when the rotating handle is being moved, the rotating handle is configured to drive the rotation of the drum relative to the housing.

12. The roller brush of claim 11, wherein: the drum defines a rotating axis concentric to a center of the side of the drum; andthe rotating handle extends away from the side of the drum and is disposed eccentrically on the side of the drum.

13. The roller brush of claim 1, further comprising a protruding element disposed on the drum, the protruding element extending away from a side of the drum and further extends at least partially through an opening in a side of the housing, the protruding element being configured to limit a rotational range of the rotation of the drum relative to the housing.

14. A roller brush, comprising: a housing;a handle coupled to the housing;a drum disposed within the housing and rotatably coupled to the housing;a debris collection cavity disposed in a rear portion of the drum;a first elastic member comprising a first end and a second end, the first end being coupled to the housing;a second elastic member comprising a third end and a fourth end, the third end being coupled to the housing;a first scraping element disposed in the housing and coupled to the second end of the elastic member; anda second scraping element disposed in the housing and coupled to the fourth end of the elastic member.

15. The roller brush of claim 14, wherein: the first scraping element comprises a first rotating shaft that is coupled to the second end of the elastic member, the first rotating shaft extends tangentially relative to the drum along a first axis;the second scraping element comprises a second rotating shaft that is coupled to the fourth end of the elastic member, the second rotating shaft extends tangentially relative to the drum along a second axis; andthe first axis and the second axis intersect.

16. The roller brush of claim 14, wherein the drum comprises a shaving cloth disposed at a front portion of the drum in a first state of the drum and a rotation of the drum by a predetermined rotation angle exposes the shaving cloth at least partially to the debris collection cavity in a second state of the drum.

17. The roller brush of claim 14, wherein: the first elastic member applies a first biasing force onto the first scraping element;the second elastic member applies a second biasing force onto the second scraping element;andthe first biasing force and the second biasing force apply a force onto the drum along a rotation of the drum in either a first rotational direction or a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction.

18. The roller brush of claim 17, wherein: the first scraping element defines a first scraping cloth cavity;a first scraping cloth is disposed in the first scraping cloth cavity;the second scraping element defines a second scraping cloth cavity; anda second scraping cloth is disposed in the second scraping cloth cavity.

19. The roller brush of claim 18, wherein: a rotation of the drum in the first rotational direction causes the first scraping cloth to shear against the shaving cloth, thereby scraping collected debris from the shaving cloth into the debris collection cavity; anda rotation of the drum in the second rotational direction causes the second scraping cloth to shear against the shaving cloth, thereby scraping the collected debris from the shaving cloth into the debris collection cavity.

20. The roller brush of claim 14, wherein: the first elastic member is a first torsion spring comprising a first leg defining the first end and a second leg defining the second end; andthe second elastic member is a second torsion spring comprising a third leg defining the third end and a fourth leg defining the fourth end.