AU761826B2 - Sweeping implement - Google Patents

Description

WO 01/05292 PCT/AU00/00848 1 SWEEPING IMPLEMENT This invention relates to an implement for removing waste from a surface by passing the implement over the surface in a sweeping motion. It is particularly applicable, though not limited to, high frequency use applications, such as in hair salons, where the floor is required to be swept often.

Conventional brooms are known to have certain deficiencies, such as, for example, bristles becoming detached from the broom head and creating additional refuse to be cleaned up. The bristles can also be difficult to clean as particles of dirt and other refuse become lodged between the bristles. These particles can gather and coagulate to such an extent that the broom becomes unusable and/or unhygienic.

Further, uneven distribution of bristles and the very nature of the bristles themselves can result in substantial amounts of particles and refuse not being collected by the broom, and several passes may be required to sufficiently clear the floor of refuse.

It has been known to provide an elastomeric strip as the working surface of a cleaning device, which is well known in the form of a wiper blade device in which a sharp edge is provided to be scraped along the surface to be cleared. This type of device is generally used in "wet" applications to remove excess liquid from a smooth surface. These types of devices are generally inapplicable to use in "dry" applications as the working surface is subject to high rates of wear, and the edge cannot be properly maintained in these circumstances. Further, the blade can "grab" or hop on a dry surface, or can flex undesirably, under which circumstances refuse being swept can pass under the blade, reducing the effectiveness of the implement. In particular, some sweeping implements include a wide elastomeric strip. This elastomeric strip is designed to form a contacting edge that conforms to the surface to be swept. The elastomeric strip therefore deforms when in use.

The contacting edge may be part of a wider strip that deforms in use so that a thin section is in contact with the surface to be swept. This is particularly common in implements used to remove or move water, where the edge is useful in ensuring that the surface, once swept over, is dry and does not have streaks. Thick contacting edges require significant downforce to achieve a squeezing action and can cause the implement to skip or judder as it is dragged along the surface.

Further, wide strips are difficult to use in both directions due to the juddering during use.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one or more of the above disadvantages of known sweeping devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a sweeping implement including a body, an elongate handle mounted to said body and first and second strips of a resilient polymer material mounted to said body, wherein: said strips have respective flat working surfaces and are so positioned on said body that said working surfaces can be in surface-to-surface contact with a flat surface to be swept; and said strips are sufficiently rigid that in sweeping movement of said implement over said flat surface to be swept surface-to-surface contact between said working surfaces and said surface to be swept is maintained.

This provides the advantage that the whole width of each strip is in contact with the surface to be swept, and during the sweeping action, part of the strip does not lift off or deflect. This is particularly important when trying to sweep hair, as the cylindrical nature of the hair results in the fibres rolling when being swept.

If the strip deflects, part of the width of the flat working surface leaves the floor, and material such as hair can more easily roll under and behind the strip in contact.

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It is preferred that said first strip extends generally transversely to said preferred working direction and that left and right ends of said first strip are located forward of intermediate parts of said first strip relative to said preferred working direction thereby to form a collection zone for swept material ahead of said first strip. That is, the tendency of swept material to pass around the ends of the implement is reduced. For example, at least said first strip may be of arcuate shape in plan view with a concave side of said arcuate shape facing forward in said preferred working direction.

The second strip provides a secondary trap for swept material, as well as providing a second surface which enables the surfaces to be kept parallel to the surface to be swept.

In one embodiment of the sweeping implement, a central part of said body protrudes forwardly of a rearmost part of said first strip and said handle is secured to said body on said central part of said body. In this case, said first strip may follow generally the shape of an arc in plan view with a concave side of said arc facing forward in said preferred working direction, save that a central section of said first strip extends forwardly of said arc and is mounted to said central section of said body.

The second strip may be of arcuate shape in plan view. Further, left and right ends of said second strip may be positioned at or adjacent to left and right ends respectively of said first strip, said handle is mounted to said body by means of a pivot so that said handle is pivotable about a transversely extending pivot axis relative to said body.

The handle may be rigidly mounted to the body in known manner.

However, preferably, the handle is mounted to said body by means of a pivot so that said handle is pivotable about a transversely extending pivot axis relative to said body. This assists in sweeping under furniture items, for example. Still more preferably, said handle is mounted for pivoting about an additional axis perpendicular to said transversely extending pivot axis but is rotationally secured to said body so that said body can be oriented by a user within a defined range about an axis perpendicular to said flat surface to be swept. This is done simply by rotating the handle about its lengthwise axis.

25 For good balance of the implement, it is preferred that the transverse pivot axis is positioned longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said second strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement.

The transverse pivot axis may be positioned longitudinally behind a 30 furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said first strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement. When the first strip has ends that are ahead (in the preferred sweeping direction) of its o intermediate parts, this arrangement permits downward loading to be concentrated mainly on the first strip.

It is preferred that in use said handle is pivotable by a user to a position such that axial thrust applied to said handle is directed longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said second strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement. In use, the handle may be pivotable by a user to a position such that axial thrust applied to said handle is directed longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said first strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement.

Preferably, the strips are detachable from said body and the said body is adapted for securing thereto of replacement strips. This may be done by having the strips secured to rigid bases which are themselves able to be mounted to cooperating parts of the body.

The strips may be in the form of a closed cell foam.

Preferably the polymer includes an additive of kaolin. The kaolin may constitute between 10% and 40% of the polymer by weight. More preferably, the weight percentage of the polymer which is kaolin is approximately 22%.

Preferably, the.kaolin has a silica of the polymer strip is moved across another smooth surface in a sweeping motion. The polymer may be any rubber/elastomeric .*2 0 WO 01/05292 PCT/AU00/00848 4 material with high wear resistance, and in particular, may include neoprene or urethane.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective front view of a sweeping implement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective rear view of the sweeping implement of Figure 1; Figures 3a and 3b show an enlarged cut-away perspective view of an extrusion and polymer strip in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Figures 4a and 4b show an enlarged cut-away perspective view of an alternative extrusion and polymer strip in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Figure 5 is a perspective view from above of an alternative embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view from below of the embodiment of Figure 5; and Figure 7 is a partial perspective view of the join between blade assembly elements in an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, there is provided a sweeping implement 10 including a body portion 12, a handle in the form of elongate pole 14, and a joint 16 therebetween.

The pole 14 is attached to the body 14 via the joint 16, such that the pole 14 can pivot in two planes through a range of angles defining a cone projecting from the body portion 12.

The body has attached to its base a first strip 20 and a second strip 18.

The strips in figure 1 are arranged in an arcuate concave arrangement such that a collection zone 22 is formed in front of the concave portion of first strip 20. It should be noted that the sweeping implement 10 is adapted to sweep in one direction only. That is, the body 12 is adapted to sweep a floor by moving in a direction such that the ends 21 of the first strip 20 are foremost, and when using a sweeping motion, material is swept into the collection zone 22 where it is retained for the whole of the sweeping stroke. Thus, a floor surface would be swept with a WO 01/05292 PCT/AU00/00848 zigzag motion of the sweeping implement 10 to cover the whole of the floor surface. At the end of such a motion, the swept material is held within the collection zone, where it may be transferred into, for example, a bin.

A further feature of the curved strips 18 and 20 is that they assist in keeping the entire length of the strips in contact with the floor. The sweeping implement 10 is adapted to sweep floors that are substantially flat, such as marble, floorboards, linoleum or tile. The strips 18 and 20 are thereby kept in constant contact with the floor over the whole width of the strip due to their curved shape, even when the body 12 is being rotated during sweeping.

Assisting in keeping the strips 18 and 20 in contact with the floor is the joint 16 which is of the universal type. The universal joint 16 allows the body 12 to pivot with respect to the pole 14, so that the user can direct the body 12 under objects such as furniture while allowing the first strip to collect material in the collection zone, and also while keeping both strips 18 and 20 in contact with the floor.

The specific construction of the blade members 22 is discussed below in relation to Figures 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b.

The universal joint member 16 is formed by a spherical member 24, held rotatably in place by pins 26. A generally U-shaped member 28 is rotatably connected to the spherical member 24 by pins (not shown) attached at opposite sides of the spherical member 24 such that the U-shaped member 28 is able to rotate with respect to the spherical member 24 about an axis which crosses, perpendicularly, the axis created by pins 26. An extension 30 of the U-shaped member 28 is configured to allow attachment of the pole 14.

As a result of the connection between the spherical member 24 and the body 12, and the connection between the U-shaped member 28 and the spherical member 24 rotating about a common point (the crossing point of the two axes), the body 12 of the sweeping implement is readily rotated by simple rotation of the pole 14 from the end thereof which is remote from the body 12 of the sweeping implement Turning now to Figure 3, there is shown a construction of the blade member assembly 18/20 (the assembly is the same for both blade member assemblies 18 WO 01/05292 PCT/AU00/00848 6 and 20). The assembly 18/20 is made up of three components, a polymer strip 32, a lower extrusion 34 and an upper extrusion 36.

The lower surface 38 of the polymer strip 32 forms the flat working surface of the sweeping implement 10, that is, the surface which is in contact with the surface to be swept. As can be seen, this surface 38 is substantially flat across its width, and is designed to be essentially parallel with the surface to be swept when in use in both length and width directions. The width of the strip 38 is in the present embodiment approximately 13mm. Other widths as applicable may be used.

The polymer strip 32 is held within the lower extrusion 34 by a glue or similar attachment means, and the lower extrusion 34 is held in place with respect to the upper extrusion 36 by virtue of the cooperating features of the respective extrusions. The extrusions 34, 36 may be formed of metal, plastic, or other suitable material. The cooperating forms of the respective upper and lower extrusions 36,34 allow removal of the polymer strip 32 from the body 12 for replacement if necessary, for example if the polymer strip 32 becomes worn or damaged.

Figure 3a shows the upper and lower extrusions 36,34 in a flush configuration, whilst Figure 3b shows the lower extrusion 34 (bearing the polymer strip 32) partially removed from the upper extrusion 36. Figures 4a and 4b show similar views of a different embodiment of the blade assembly 18/20, with similar features being marked with the same reference numeral.

This embodiment is useful in allowing replacement of the strips, however another version where the strip is attached directly to the body would also function well.

The ends of the strip 18 and 20 are joined at a point, which allows the sweeping implement 10 to remove material from corners. The shape of the body 12 also allows the sweeping implement 10 to be pushed into the corners to better remove material from the floor.

Turning now to the embodiment of Figures 5 and 6, this embodiment provides a main body 112, which is formed of two components, the upper portion 115 and the lower portion 117. The main body may be attached via recess 119 to a universal joint and pole member (not shown). This embodiment shows the WO 01/05292 PCT/AU00/00848 7 provision of a leading edge blade member assembly 120 and a trailing edge blade member assembly 118.

The leading edge blade member assembly 120 includes a protrusion into the collection zone in the form of a reverse bulge portion indicated generally by the numeral 121, and it can be seen that the central curved portion of the bulge portion 121 is the leading section of the bulge portion 121 when the sweeping implement 110 is moved in the forward direction indicated by arrow 123. The addition of the reverse bulge portion 121 allows the recess 119 and hence the universal joint (not shown) to be positioned more easily forward of the centre of balance of the sweeping implement head 112. This in turn biases any downward force applied to the sweeping implement head 112 to the leading edge blade member assembly 120, encouraging the leading edge to maintain contact with the surface being swept, and increasing the effectiveness of the operation of the implement 110.

The positioning of the joint 16 behind the leading edge and in front of the middle of the trailing edge of the first strip 20 provides sufficient pressure on the trailing edge to ensure that contact with the floor is maintained during sweeping.

Preferably, the joint is arranged so that more pressure can be applied to the front or first working surface.

The embodiment illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 can also be provided in the form of a single solid mold body.

In a further embodiment, shown partially in Figure 7, the leading edge blade assembly 120 and the trailing edge blade assembly 118 are connected at their extremities. That is, the outer ends of the respective blade assemblies 118, 120 are joined to prevent ingress of refuse into the space between the leading edge blade assembly 120 and the trailing edge blade assembly 118. As shown in Figure 7, the respective blade assemblies are configured such that the two blades meet and extend to a common point, indicated generally by numeral 25. This is achieved by producing the blade assemblies 118, 120 with a bevelled edge as shown. In this way, the respective bevelled edges of the blade assemblies 118, 120 can be configured as shown in figure 7 to provide better refuse retrieval from corners and other edges where the sweeping implement is to be used.

WO 01/05292 PCT/AU00/00848 8 With regard to the material from which the polymer strip 32 is formed, the applicant has attempted to construct a sweeping device in accordance with the above description, using numerous different types of polymer strips. In each case, the applicant found that these were not effective in the capacity of being able to provide a flat surface which was able to slide smoothly across the surface to be swept.

After significant research and testing, the applicant discovered that a particular polymer composition of ethylene propylene diene monomer (also known as ethylidene norbonene) was effective in the manner required by the invention.

The applicant also found that the use of an additive, kaolin a clay-like substance including a significant level of silica assisted in making the polymer strip effective for the purposes of the invention. The addition of the kaolin improves impact resistance and wear qualities.

In the composition found to have most utility, a low grade kaolin additive including approximately 25% silica by weight was used. The kaolin additive formed approximately 22% of the material of the polymer strip by weight.

The stiffness of the polymer to be used is approximately 20-40 PSI for a deflection. A material found to be useful in the present case is closed cell foam 12300, medium density, as sold by Monroe Rubber and Plastic, Inc, of Michigan.

The applicant has also proposed the addition of a fibrous "pile" onto the blade assemblies to allow sweeping of areas which have uneven or grooved surfaces, such as tiled areas. The pile would be arranged to form a flat working surface having a width consistent with that shown for the polymer strip in the figures of the present invention.

Generally, the sweeping implement may be used in a variety of different applications, including wet and dry sweeping. For wet sweeping, the device may be used to quickly gather fluids and direct them to a suitable disposal point such as a drain.

Claims (19)

1. A sweeping implement including a body, an elongate handle mounted to said body and first and second strips of a resilient polymer material mounted to said body, wherein: said strips have respective flat working surfaces and are so positioned on said body that said working surfaces can be in surface-to-surface contact with a flat surface to be swept; and said strips are sufficiently rigid that in sweeping movement of said implement over said flat surface to be swept surface-to-surface contact between said working surfaces and said surface to be swept is maintained.

2. A sweeping implement according to claim 1 wherein said first strip extends generally transversely to said preferred working direction and wherein left and right ends of said first strip are located forward of intermediate parts of said first strip relative to said preferred working direction thereby to form a collection zone for swept material ahead of said first strip.

3. A sweeping implement according to claim 2 wherein at least said first strip is of arcuate shape in plan view and a concave side of said arcuate shape faces forward in said preferred working direction.

4. A sweeping implement according to claim 2 wherein a central part of said body protrudes forwardly of a rearmost part of said first strip and said handle is secured to said body on said central part of said body.

A sweeping implement according to claim 4 wherein said first strip follows generally the shape of an arc in plan view with a concave side of said arc facing forward in said preferred working direction, save that a central section of said first strip extends forwardly of said arc and is mounted to said central section of said :1 body.

6. A sweeping implement according to any one of claims 3 to 5 wherein said second strip is of arcuate shape in plan view.

7. A sweeping implement according to claim 6 wherein and left and right ends of said second strip are positioned at or adjacent to left and right ends respectively of said first strip.

8. A sweeping implement according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein said handle is mounted to said body by means of a pivot so that said handle is pivotable about a transversely extending pivot axis relative to said body.

9. A sweeping implement according to claim 8 wherein said handle is mounted for pivoting about an additional axis perpendicular to said transversely extending pivot axis but is rotationally secured to said body so that said body can be oriented by a user within a defined range about an axis perpendicular to said flat surface to be swept.

A sweeping implement according to claim 8 or 9 wherein said transverse pivot axis is positioned longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said second strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement. .OoOO

11. A sweeping implement according to claim 8 or 9 wherein said transverse oooo pivot axis is positioned longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said first strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement.

12. A sweeping implement according to claim 8 or 9 wherein in use said handle is pivotable by a user to a position such that axial thrust applied to said handle is directed longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said second strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement. 11

13. A sweeping implement according to claim 8 or 9 wherein in use said handle is pivotable by a user to a position such that axial thrust applied to said handle is directed longitudinally behind a furthest forward part of said first strip and ahead of a rearmost part of said first strip relative to said preferred sweeping direction of said implement.

14. A sweeping implement according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein said strips are detachable from said body and wherein said body is adapted for securing thereto of replacement strips.

A sweeping implement according to any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein a said strip is formed of a closed cell foam material.

16. The implement of any one of claims 1 to 15 wherein at least the working surface of a said strip is formed from ethylene propylene diene monomer.

17. The implement of claim 16 wherein said ethylene propylene diene monomer contains kaolin clay.

18. The implement of claim 17 wherein said ethylene propylene diene monomer contains kaolin clay between 10% and 40% by weight.

19. The implement of claim 18 wherein the ethylene propylene diene monomer contains 22% kaolin clay by weight. The implement of any of claims 17 to 19 wherein the kaolin clay contains about 25% silica by weight. DATED this 27th day of March 2003 SEMAR PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS 290 BURWOOD ROAD HAWTHORN VICTORIA 3122 i AUSTRALIA P15647AUPC CJH/RLT/DHS/PCP