CA2221085C

CA2221085C - Automatic hand washer

Info

Publication number: CA2221085C
Application number: CA002221085A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Ed Nakamura
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-01-27
Filing date: 1998-01-27
Publication date: 2001-07-24
Anticipated expiration: 2018-01-27
Also published as: CA2221085A1

Abstract

This invention relates to a motorized washing machine that will quickly clean a person's hands. It is used by switching it on and inserting both hands into the porthole openings. The rapidly moving brushes will quickly scrub the person's hands clean.
In drawings that illustrate embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 shows the machine from the front and Figure 2 shows the machine from a side view. The machine consists of a motor (1) which turns a crank assembly (2) which reciprocates the cleaning brushes (3).
A submerged pump motor (4) sprays heated wash water from the spray nozzle (5) onto both hands and the brush area.
The wash water is continually recycled until it is too dirty for reuse and is flushed into the sewer by opening the flapper valve (6). When the wash water has been dumped out the float valve (7) opens and sprays clean water into the machine interior and shuts off after the machine has refilled.
An electric heater (8) will heat the wash water to increase the cleaning action of the machine. The short bristle brush (9) is designed to clean under the fingernails.

Description

This invention is a motorized washing machine that will scrub the dirt and grease which may accumulate on a person's hands at their workplace.
In prior art, previous hand cleaning machines such as patent #3,066,336 used brushes that reciprocated parallel to the axis of the arm and had a circular opening in the bristles in which to insert a hand. The obvious problem with this design was that the circular opening in the brushes must fit the hand closely or it may not be completely cleaned. In addition, if a person's hand is quite large it may not fit into the opening safely.
Reciprocating the two brushes perpendicular to the arm axis solves these problems. Bristle tips of one brush would be in contact with bristle tips of the opposing brush with the result that the brushes are self cleaning. With no circular opening the long flexible bristles could accommodate any size hand whether large or small and the cleaning action could be concentrated in the areas which need it the most. Reciprocating the brushes perpendicular to the arm axis also allows the use of a secondary brush with short bristles designed to clean under the fingernails. A
pump will spray hot soapy water onto the person's hand while the brushes are moving. The cleaning water will be continuously reused until it is too dirty for reuse and then drained into the sewer. A float valve mechanism will flush the inside of the machine clean and shut off after it has refilled to the correct level. A thermostatically controlled heater will warm the wash water to increase the cleaning action.
In the drawings, Figure I shows the machine from the front depicting the horizontally reciprocating scrubbing brushes and the location of the round access openings through which the hands and arms are inserted and guided in between the brushes. Also depicted are the belt driven crank mechanism and electric driving motor. The driving motor may also be of the air driven type.

2 Located above the scrubbing brushes is a spray nozzle for dispersing soapy water from an electric water pump to the brush scrubbing area. Figure 2 shows the machine from a side view illustrating the reciprocating scrubbing brushes located adjacent to the hand access openings which are positioned in the upper part of the machine housing. These access openings and brushes have a unique downward slant to keep cleaning fluids draining into the machine interior. Attached to the lower edge of the bottom scrubbing brush is a short bristle brush for providing an aggressive cleaning action for the fingernails only. Illustrated in the bottom of the housing is a flapper valve for disposing dirty cleaning fluids to the sewer, a float valve mechanism for refilling the machine, a thermostatically controlled heater for heating the fluids and an electric pump for spraying cleaning fluids to the scrubbing brush area from the spray nozzle. Figure 3 shows a combined reciprocating oscillating brush cleaning motion. A double shafted motor reciprocated the cleaning brushes while another motor oscillates the brushes by means of ball swivel connecting rods.
Two round access openings guide both hands in between the brushes. Figure 4 shows a combined reciprocating rotating brush motion. A double shafted motor reciprocates the cleaning brushes by means of connecting rods with ball swivel ends. Another motor rotates the upper brush and a belt pulley arrangement rotates the lower brush. The brush shaft ends are located by bushings. Two round access openings guide the hands in between the rotating reciprocating brushes.
Air driven motors may be used instead of electric motors.
In detail, the rapidly rotating crankshaft (2) shown in Figure 1 will produce an intense scrubbing action by the brushes (3). The pump motor (4) will spray hot soapy water onto both hands and brushes (3) from the spray nozzle (5). Simply inserting both hands in between the brushes (3) to clean the area desired and withdrawing them should produce excellent results.

Bristle tips in contact with bristle tips of the opposing brush should make them self cleaning. The wash water will be continuously recycled until it is too dirty for reuse and then disposed of into the sewer by opening the flapper valve (6) as shown in Figure 2. The float valve (7) will open and spray clean water into the machine interior and shut off after the machine has refilled. An antibacterial soap will be dispensed into the clean water spray. A
thermostatically controlled heater (8) will warm the wash water to increase the cleaning action. The machine will self clean when the clean water sprays into the interior of the machine.
Figure 3 shows a reciprocating and oscillating motion combined. The machine consists of a motor (I) which reciprocates the scrubbing brushes (3) by means of a connecting rod with ball swivel ends (2). The other electric motor (4) oscillates the brushes (3) by means of a connecting rod with ball swivel ends (5). The ball swivel ends are necessary to allow multidirectional movement of the scrubbing brushes. Bushings (7) locate the shafts. In Figure 4 another alternative brush motion is illustrated. This motion is a combined reciprocating and rotating movement. The electric motor ( 1 ) reciprocates the rotary scrubbing brushes (3 ) by means of a connecting rod with ball swivel ends (2). The other electric motor (4) rotates the scrubbing brush by being directly connected to the shaft end. A belt (5) drives the brush (3).
Both shaft ends (6) are splined to allow reciprocating movement. Support bushings (7) allow the brushes to move in reciprocation as well as rotationally. Air driven motors may be used in place of electric motors (1) and (4).

Claims

What I claim as my invention is:

Claim 1. A motorized arm and hand washing machine comprising a housing defining a washing chamber comprising;

two arm and hand access opening in a wall of the housing for inserting arms and hands to be washed, a plurality of elongated opposed horizontal cleaning brushes disposed in the chamber adjacent the access openings and mounted perpendicular to the arm and hand axis, the brushes having bristles between 25 to 150 millimetres in length with the tips of the bristles of opposing brushes in contact with one another, a brush drive mechanism connected to each brush rotating at a speed between revolutions per minute and 1200 revolutions per minute for alternately reciprocating the brushes along the longitudinal axis of said brushes, driving means to drive the brush drive mechanism, a water supply line having a control valve therein and connected to a source of clean pressurized water for providing wash water to the bottom of the chamber, a submerged electric water heater in the bottom of the chamber for heating wash water, a motorized water pump submerged in the wash water for providing heated wash water to a plurality of spray nozzles located to discharge said water on the brushes, arms and hands, a flapper valve to drain dirty water into the sewer, whereby arms and hands to be washed are inserted between the driven brushes and heated wash water is sprayed thereon.
Claim 2. The motorized arm and hand washing machine of Claim 1 where in the drive mechanism is a crank mechanism.
Claim 3. The motorized arm and hand washing machine of Claim 1 wherein the drive mechanism is a reciprocating and rotating shaft mechanism for rotating and reciprocating the brushes.
Claim 4. The motorized arm and hand washing machine of Claim 1 wherein the drive means is an electric motor.
Claim 5. The motorized arm and hand washing machine of Claim 1 wherein the drive means is an air driven motor.