AU2007306611A1

AU2007306611A1 - Folding flat mop comprising a trapezoidal mop plate

Info

Publication number: AU2007306611A1
Application number: AU2007306611A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jens Deerberg; Uwe Dingert; Torsten Gratzki
Original assignee: Carl Freudenberg KG
Current assignee: Carl Freudenberg KG
Priority date: 2006-10-11
Filing date: 2007-10-10
Publication date: 2008-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2027-10-10
Also published as: EP2083666A2; AU2007306611B2; WO2008043538A2; CA2664476C; US20100064466A1; WO2008043538A3; CN101522089A; DE102007007671A1; PL2083666T3; EP2083666B1; CN101522089B; CA2664476A1

Description

WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 TRANSLATION A Flat Mop 5 Description Field of the invention 10 The invention relates to a flat mop, comprising a mop plate with a cleaning face, over which a mop cover can be stretched, and where the mop plate has two mop plate parts arranged to be foldable toward one another. 15 Background of the invention Such flat mops are generally known. The mop plate is connectable to a handle which is 20 usually hingedly attached to the upper side of the mop plate. For wet cleaning applications the mop covers, which can be soaked with a cleaning fluid, are stretched over the mop plate. The mop covers can be fastened to the mop plate by means of pockets or friction/form fit fastening elements. The mop plate is comprised of an injection mould plastic and generally has a rectangular 25 shape. The upper side of the mop plate is smooth and the cleaning face has a rib structure with the ribs generally being arranged to one another in elongated rectangles. This rib structure allows for material saving and at the same time achieves high stiffness.

WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 2 Summary of the invention 5 It is the object of the present invention to develop a flat mop which offers an improved cleaning performance in difficult-to-reach areas. The solution to the task is met by the features of Claim 1. Advantageous embodiments 10 are described in the dependent claims. The solution is offered by the mop plate being in the shape of a trapezoid. The trapezoidal shape results in two obtuse corners, which are assigned to the shorter longitudinal side, and two acute corners, which are assigned to the longer longitudinal side. By virtue of the 15 acute corners it is possible to reach and clean difficult-to-reach corner areas of the floor to be cleaned in an advantageous manner. It is feasible to arrange the ribs on the underside of the flat mop in a honeycomb manner relative to one another. In such an arrangement, in contrast with known rib structures, the ribs are not in a continuous configuration but are arranged as segments of a honeycomb. 20 This results in intermediate spaces which are defined by the length of the segments. These honeycombs form the cleaning face of the mop plate. A plate of such a design is deflection-resistant and the equal distribution of the ribs achieves uniform contact with the mop cover. This results in a uniform contact pressure of the mop cover onto the floor to be cleaned and therefore a uniform cleaning performance. In an advantageous 25 embodiment, the length of the ribs is selected such that, when viewed across the width of the mop plate, five honeycombs can be arranged in an offset configuration. A mop cover with a cleaning face comprised of a honeycomb-shaped rib structure can be manufactured by an injection moulding process particularly easily and cost-effectively.

WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 3 In this arrangement, the ribs can be designed such that they thicken when viewed from the cleaning face in the direction of the upper side of the mop cover. Therefore the mop 5 plate is very easily mouldable by the injection moulding process. The corners assigned to the longer longitudinal side of the mop plate can be bent over. The corners therefore have the form of winglets. Generally, pocket shaped mop covers are stretched onto the mop plate. For fitting the cover onto the plate, the plate parts are 10 folded together and the free ends of the plate parts are inserted into the pockets of the cover. Subsequently, the plate parts are again unfolded and locked. When the mop plate parts are folded together, their free ends are directed almost vertically downward, which, due to the high normal force, impedes the sliding of the free ends on the mop cover in the direction of the pockets. By virtue of the winglets formed 15 on the corners, the free ends of the mop plate, when folded together, do not project almost vertically downward, but point at least partially in the direction of the pockets when the mop plate parts are moved towards each other. This significantly improves the sliding process of the mop plate parts on the cover and therefore the stretching of the mop cover onto the mob plate. 20 A retention means can be arranged on the cleaning face. Depending on the floor to be cleaned, the wet cleaning process may entail high friction forces thereby causing the mop cover to slip thus resulting in impaired cleaning efficiency. By virtue of the retention means, which may be based on a friction-fit or form-fit operating principle, a slipping of 25 the mop cover is prevented. This advantageous embodiment is also feasible for other embodiments of a mop plate which go beyond the boundaries of the present invention. The retention means can be based on a friction-fit principle. Friction-fit retention means are particularly easy to manufacture by using materials having a high friction coefficient.

WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 4 In such an arrangement, the retention device can be in one plane with the ribs or project beyond these. It is also feasible to coat the ribs with an elastomer which has a high friction coefficient. The result is a planar retention means. In other embodiments, several pin-like protrusions can be disposed on the cleaning face, which, at their free ends, have a 5 material with a high friction coefficient. In this embodiment it is advantageous that the retention means on the one hand prevents the cover from slipping and, on the other hand, also prevents the cleaning device with the mop plate from sliding on the floor when it is set down without the mop cover. 10 The retention means can be embodied by elastomer elements. Elastomer elements, for instance rubber naps, can be produced simply and cost-effectively. They can also be fastened in an easy way on to the mop plates, for instance by an adhesive. The mop plate parts can be connected to each other in hinge-like manner by means of a 15 locking element, with a spring body being assigned to the locking element in such a manner that locking of the mop plate parts is achieved against the force of the spring body. In this arrangement it is advantageous that the mop plate parts, during unlocking, unfold at least to such an extent that they cannot re-lock autonomously. This simplifies the handling of the mop plate. 20 The spring body can be defined by an elastomer body. Spring bodies made of an elastomer body are particularly robust, durable and cost-effective. The side of the mop plate facing away from the cleaning face can be designed to have a 25 wave-shaped configuration. By virtue of the wave-shaped configuration, the strength of the mop plate is enhanced in the particularly heavily loaded regions. In the central region, where the handle is connected to the mop plate, a trough is formed which results in the handle connection point, and therefore also the centre of gravity of the mop plate, being particularly low.

WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 5 The mop plate can be divided such that two substantially equally sized parts are obtained. In such an arrangement, the plate parts can be hingedly arranged at an intermediate piece. By virtue of this configuration the mop plate parts are foldable in a mirror symmetrical 5 manner and in the folded state they each hang down by the same amount starting out from the intermediate piece or rather the hinged connection. This facilitates the mop cover to be stretched more easily onto the mop plate since the corners of the longer longitudinal side of the mop plate enter the pockets of the mop cover at the same time. This embodiment is particularly advantageous in conjunction with the above described 10 bent over corners, which are assigned to the longer longitudinal side of the mop plate. Brief description of the drawing 15 Embodiment examples of the flat mop in accordance with the invention are described in greater detail below by reference to the figures. Diagrammatic drawings show in Fig. I a bottom view of the mop plate according to the invention; Fig. 2 a spatial depiction of the mop plate; 20 Fig. 3 a mop plate part with locking element and spring body; Fig. 4 a mop plate with mirror-symmetrically foldable mop plate parts. 25 Detailed description of embodiments of the invention Figure I shows the mop plate 2 of a flat mop 1. The mop plate 2 is comprised of two mop plate parts 5, 6 arranged to be foldable toward one another and having a cleaning face 3, which is formed by ribs 7. The ribs 7 are arranged relative to one another in a WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 6 honeycomb manner. A mop cover with pockets (not shown) can be stretched onto the mop plate 2, where the mop cover covers the cleaning face 3 and thus comes into contact with ribs 7. The mop plate 2 has the shape of a trapezoid. A retention means I I is arranged on the cleaning face 3 and consists of four elastomer 5 elements of rubber with the retention means I I being based on a friction fit principle. The mop plate 2 consists of plastic and is manufactured by injection moulding. Figure 2 is a spatial depiction of mop plate I (TC: should read 2) as per figure 1. It is shown here that the corners 9, 10 assigned to the longer longitudinal side 8 of the mop 10 plate 2 are bent over and therefore have the shape of winglets. Furthermore, the side 14 directed away from the cleaning face 3 of the mop plate 2 is designed such that it results in having a wave-shaped configuration. In this configuration, the wave peaks are assigned to about the centre of each mop plate part 5, 6 and a trough is assigned to the centre of mop plate 2 and to the corners 9, 10. In 15 the centre of mop plate 2 there is also a holding means 15 to enable hinged connection of the mop plate 2 with a handle. Both mop plates 5, 6 are hingedly connected by a locking element 12 so that the mop plate parts 5, 6 are foldable toward one another. The locking element 12 is tiltably attached at a mop plate part 6 and overlaps a section of the other mop plate part 5 and thereby prevents the mop plate parts 5, 6 from swivelling 20 autonomously. When the locking element 12 is tilted, this section is unblocked and allows the mop plate parts 5, 6 to swivel.

WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 7 Figure 3 is a detailed view of a mop plate part 6 as per figures 1 or 2. It is shown here that there is assigned to the locking element 12 a spring body 13 consisting of an elastomer 5 body in such a way that the locking of the mop plate parts 5, 6 is achieved against the force of spring body 13. For this purpose the mop plate part 6 is assigned two spring bodies 13 in the region of the locking element 12. These spring bodies 13 are defined by semispherical rubber bodies. When the mop plate parts 5, 6 are locked by the locking element 12, the spring bodies 13 10 arranged at the mop plate part 6 are compressed and the spring bodies 13 exert a force on the other mop plate part 5. The flat mop as per any one of Claims I to 6, characterised in that said mop plate parts 5, 6 are connected to each other in hinge-like manner by means of a locking element 12, with a spring body 13 being assigned to said locking element 12 in such a manner that 15 locking of said mop plate parts 5, 6 is achieved against the force of said spring body 13. [sic]I Figure 4 shows the mop plate 2 of a flat mop 1. Mop plate 2 is comprised of two mop plate parts 5, 6 which relative to their cleaning face 3 are substantially of the same size. 20 The mop plate parts 5, 6 are hingedly attached at an intermediate piece 16 so that mop plate parts 5, 6 are foldable in a mirror-symmetrical manner. A holding means 15 for a handle is hingedly arranged in the centre of the intermediate piece 16. The cleaning face 3 of the mop plate parts 5, 6 is embodied by ribs 7, with the ribs being arranged relative to one another in a honeycomb shape. Within the scope of the embodiment as per Figure 25 4 alternatively designed cleaning faces 3 are also feasible, for instance planar surfaces. A mop cover with pockets (not shown) can be stretched on to the mop plate 2, where the mop cover covers the cleaning face 3 and is in contact with ribs 7. Mop plate 2 has the TC: Text of Claim 6 except for the claim numbering dependency WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 8 shape of a trapezoid wherein the corners 9, 10 assigned to the longer longitudinal side 8 are bent over and therefore have the shape of winglets. Furthermore, the side 14 of the mop plate 2 facing away from the cleaning face 3 can be designed in such a manner that it results in a wave-shaped configuration. 5 In this configuration, the wave peaks are assigned to about the centre of each mop plate part 5, 6 and a trough is assigned to the centre of the mop plate 2 and to the corners 9, 10. On the cleaning face 3 there is arranged a retention means I I which is comprised of four elastomer elements of rubber, whereby the retention means I 1 is based on a friction-fit principle. 10 A locking element 12 is tiltably attached at a mop plate part 6 and overlaps a section of the other mop plate part 5 and thereby prevents an autonomous swivelling of the mop plates 5, 6. When the mop plate is in the closed state, this section also overlaps the intermediate piece 16. By tilting the locking element 12, the section is freed and it is possible to swivel the mop plate parts 5, 6 about the intermediate piece 16. Mop plate 2 15 consists of plastic and is manufactured by injection moulding.

Claims

1. A flat mop (1), comprising a mop plate (2) with a cleaning face (3), over which a mop cover (4) can be stretched, and where said mop plate (2) has two mop plate parts (5, 6) arranged to be foldable toward each other, characterised in that said 10 mop plate (2) is trapezoidal.

2. The flat mop as per Claim 1, characterised in that the corners (9, 10) assigned to the longer longitudinal side (8) of said mop plate (2) are bent over. 15

3. The flat mop as per Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that a retention means (I) is arranged on said cleaning face (3).

4. The flat mop as per Claim 3, characterised in that said retention means (11) is based on a friction fit principle. 20

5. The flat mop as per Claims 3 or 4, characterised in that said retention means (11) is embodied by elastomer elements.

6. The flat mop as per any one of Claims I to 5, characterised in that said mop plate 25 parts (5, 6) are connected to each other in hinge-like manner by means of a locking element (12), with a spring body (13) being assigned to said locking element (12) in such a manner that locking of said mop plate parts (5, 6) is achieved against the force of said spring body (13). WO 2008/043538 PCT/EP2007/008802 10

7. The flat mop as per Claim 6, characterised in that said spring body (13) is embodied by an elastomer body.

8. The flat mop as per any one of Claims I to 7, characterised in that the side (14) 5 facing away from said cleaning face (3) of said mop plate (2) has a wave-shaped structure.

9. The flat mop as per any one of Claims I to 8, characterised in that said mop plate (2) is divided in such a manner that two mop plate parts (5, 6) of substantially 10 equal size are obtained.

10. The flat mop as per Claim 9, characterised in that said mop plate parts (5, 6) are hingedly arranged at an intermediate piece (16).