CN112739247A

CN112739247A - Floor treatment machine

Info

Publication number: CN112739247A
Application number: CN201980043083.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 西蒙·威尔特
Original assignee: Numatic International Ltd
Current assignee: Numatic International Ltd
Priority date: 2018-04-27
Filing date: 2019-04-23
Publication date: 2021-04-30
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-23
Also published as: EP3784102B1; GB201806900D0; GB2573161A; ES2966731T3; EP3784102A1; GB2573161B; PL3784102T3; CN112739247B; WO2019207289A1; US20210076894A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of floor treatment machines for scrubbing, polishing, sanding or calendering floors. One or more driven rotatable working heads (e.g., scrub brushes) are provided in these machines to whip the floor surface. There is provided a walk behind floor treatment machine comprising: a base section provided with and supported by at least one rotatable working head for treating a floor; a handle portion for steering or guiding the machine in a working direction of travel and adapted to be pivotable relative to the base portion; drive means for rotating the working heads relative to the base section, floor-engaging wheel means for supporting the handle section, the wheel means having a substantially transverse axis of rotation to allow travel in a working direction, the wheel means being coupled to the base section by a linkage mechanism which allows vertical movement of the base section and associated working heads relative to the wheel means but provides transverse restraint to limit or prevent yaw of the base section relative to the wheel means, wherein a lower region of the handle section is pivotally connected to the wheel means by a hinged joint, the arrangement being such that the handle section can be manipulated to act on the wheel means to yaw steer the wheel means about a yaw axis defined by floor-engaging contact portions of the wheel means, yaw of the wheel means yaw the base section yaw in response to the yaw steer, and wherein a handle pivot locking mechanism is provided, wherein adopting the predetermined handle portion orientation allows the one or more locking features to act on the one or more corresponding restraining features to prevent pivotal movement of the handle portion relative to the base portion. The predetermined handle orientation may be a vertical orientation. In a predetermined orientation, the locking feature is aligned with the restraint feature to allow interengagement, and when the orientation is not achieved, the misalignment prevents engagement of the features.

Description

Floor treatment machine

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of floor treatment machines for scrubbing, polishing, sanding or calendering floors. In these machines, one or more driven rotatable working heads (e.g., scrub brushes) are provided to whip the floor surface. In particular, the present invention relates to a walk-behind machine provided with a handle for steering and guiding the machine as it travels over a floor surface.

Background

EP2832277(i-mop GmbH) discloses a hand-held wet floor scrubber having two side-by-side working heads, each comprising a disc-shaped floor brush. There is a rear squeegee and associated suction drive and reservoir for collecting liquid from the floor surface. The brushes support the weight of the machine and counter-rotate to provide propulsion. The suction drive is arranged on the handle part of the machine together with a washing liquid container for feeding the washing liquid dispenser. The handle has dual pivots that allow the handle to move up and down as well as side-to-side. A problem with these machines is that the elongate handle should conveniently be fixed vertically to resist movement along two axes when not in use, without having to lean against another object.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention seeks to provide a handle securing mechanism which effectively secures a floor treatment machine handle to prevent the handle from pivoting along one or both axes.

These and other objects are achieved by various aspects of the present invention, as will be apparent from the following description.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a walk behind floor treatment machine comprising:

a base section provided with and supported by at least one rotatable working head for treating a floor;

a handle portion for steering or guiding the machine in a working direction of travel and adapted to be pivotable relative to the base portion;

a drive means for rotating the working head relative to the base section,

a floor engaging wheel arrangement for supporting a handle portion, the wheel arrangement having a substantially transverse axis of rotation to allow travel in a working direction, the wheel arrangement being coupled to the base portion by a linkage mechanism which allows vertical travel of the base portion and associated working head relative to the wheel arrangement but provides a transverse constraint to limit or prevent yaw of the base portion relative to the wheel arrangement.

A lower region of the handle portion is pivotably connected to the wheel means by a hinged joint, the arrangement being such that the handle portion can be manipulated to act on the wheel means to deflect the wheel means about a yaw axis defined by a floor-engaging contact of the wheel means, the deflection of the wheel means causing the base portion to deflect in response to the yaw steering.

A handle pivot locking mechanism may be provided wherein a predetermined handle portion orientation is employed to allow one or more locking features to act on one or more corresponding restraining features to prevent pivotal movement of the handle portion relative to the base portion. The predetermined handle orientation is preferably a vertical or substantially vertical orientation.

In a predetermined orientation, the locking feature is aligned with the restraint feature to allow interengagement. Conversely, when orientation is not achieved, misalignment prevents engagement of the features.

The locking feature is one or more detent features and the restraining feature is one or more notch features, one of the features being associated with the base portion or the linkage mechanism and the other of the features being associated with the handle portion.

The pivoting of the handle may be up/down pivotable about a transverse axis and the feature serves to secure the handle portion against pivoting relative to the transverse axis.

Preferably, a user operable locking mechanism actuator is provided which must be operated to allow the locking and restraint features to interact with each other. The actuator may then be operated to unlock the feature to release the handle portion.

The wheel means may comprise a wheel, roller or ball, preferably a single wheel, roller or ball, disposed at a lower region of the handle portion. The wheel arrangement preferably has a fixed transverse axis of rotation.

In one aspect, the linkage comprises at least one strut, one end region of which is provided with a tilt pivot connection to the wheel arrangement, which connection is coaxial with the axis of rotation of the wheel arrangement, and wherein the other end region of the strut is attached to the base portion.

The post may be provided with a convex upper surface provided with a notch feature and the pawl feature is connected to a lower region of the handle portion for travel in an arc corresponding to a profile corresponding to the convex upper surface, the arrangement being such that the pawl feature can slide over the convex surface during up/down pivoting of the handle portion about the transverse axis.

A locking actuator may be provided to displace or push the pawl feature against the surface such that when the pawl feature and recess feature are aligned, the pawl feature projects into the recess to lock movement of the handle portion.

In a preferred arrangement, there are two posts disposed in a substantially parallel arrangement on either side of the wheel arrangement, and two corresponding detent features, one for each post. Two detent features may be provided by the respective downwardly extending prongs of the locking member fork.

The convex surface is provided at its opposite ends with end stops that limit the travel of the pawl along the contour of the convex post to limit lateral pivoting of the handle portion to the upper and lower arc boundaries.

The other end region of the strut may be attached to the base portion via a tilt pivot connection. The aforementioned tilt pivot connection allows the base portion to travel vertically relative to the wheel assembly.

The one or more rotatable work heads typically support the base portion on the floor surface by a linkage mechanism that allows the work head to travel vertically in a floating relationship relative to the wheel assembly.

The articulation joint allows the handle to pivot side-to-side about the joint about an axis perpendicular to the transverse axis of the pivot. The side-to-side pivot of the articulation joint is disposed at a location spaced vertically/rearwardly from the transverse pivot.

A side-to-side pivot locking mechanism is provided in which a travel member (tracker) entry restraint feature associated with a handle portion prevents side-to-side pivoting. In a preferred aspect, the traveler is a retractable shuttle housed in a lower end region of the handle portion. The shuttle is movable from a retracted position that allows side-to-side pivoting of the handle portion to an extended position, and in the extended position, the distal end of the shuttle is constrained between cheek features that prevent side-to-side pivoting of the handle portion.

The cheek feature may define a substantially vertical housing to accommodate a distal end of the shuttle, the shuttle traveling axially relative to the handle portion such that the handle is a dead center of the side-to-side handle range of motion when the distal end of the shuttle is constrained.

The traveler can act on the locking member forks so that when side-to-side pivoting is locked, pivoting of the transverse handle portion is locked.

The locking member fork and traveler are connected by a pin and track engagement that provides a vertical pin-constrained and limited lateral pin freedom corresponding to side-to-side handle portion pivoting. The track is preferably in the form of an arc.

Movement of the traveler toward the restrained state can cause the pin to act on the track restraint, and wherein the track is disposed in the locking member fork such that movement of the traveler moves the fork into notch engagement.

In this arrangement, both handle portion pivot axes may be locked simultaneously, conveniently with the handle portions in a substantially vertical orientation.

The traveler or shuttle can be spring biased such that when actuated, the traveler/shuttle is urged toward its restraint position.

The distal end of the handle portion is provided with a transversely oriented handgrip for gripping by a user's hand on each side of the handgrip. The upper end region of the handle portion may be provided with a handle position locking mechanism actuator.

The wheel means may comprise wheels, rollers or balls which are single or co-axial adjacent pairs. Preferably there is a single wheel, roller or ball, most conveniently located in the lower region of the handle portion. The wheel arrangement may preferably have a fixed transverse axis of rotation (when placed on the floor). In other words, no caster is rotating. However, the wheel or roller may be adapted to be tilted one turn (and thus it is tilted about an axis coaxial with the direction of travel).

The articulated joint may comprise a yoke accommodating the wheels, rollers or balls of the wheel arrangement, the yoke preferably pivoting about a wheel rotation axis.

The side-to-side pivot may be provided on an upper bridge portion of the yoke. The side-to-side pivot may include a U-section bracket that rotates 90 degrees relative to the yoke and receives the lower end of the handle, with a pivot pin bridging the bracket cheeks.

The base section and associated working head may be provided in the front region of the machine. The wheel arrangement may be provided at the rear of the working head and base section by a linkage mechanism, the linkage mechanism link extending between the wheel arrangement and the base section (preferably substantially in the centre of the machine or in a central region of the base section).

In a preferred aspect of the invention, the machine is a wet scrubbing machine. The wet scrubbing machine may be provided with a cleaning liquid reservoir and a cleaning liquid delivery outlet. Preferably, a scraper liquid collector is provided, which is coupled to the machine by a tail linkage. The linkage mechanism may allow the squeegee collector to travel up/down relative to the wheel assembly. The trailing linkage is preferably pivotably coupled to the wheel arrangement coaxially with the transverse axis of the wheel arrangement. The machine may be provided with a squeegee suction drive and a dirty liquid collection reservoir.

The blade collector can adopt a transport (or storage) configuration in which the blades pivot downwardly and hang from a trailing linkage (wheels/rollers on the floor) or fold vertically upwardly away from the floor.

Forward propulsion of the machine is preferably provided by rotation of the working head. For transversely mounted rollers, the direction of rotation control moves forward or backward. For a preferred disc-shaped working head rotating about a vertical axis, the propulsion can be provided by using two counter-rotating working heads. For a single such working head, the user may turn the handle slightly to rotate the working head slightly, which will result in improved traction on one side of the working head, which will cause forward propulsion if that side is the return swivel side.

The drive means may comprise one or more motors carried by the base section and coupled to the working head. In a preferred arrangement, there are two substantially disc-shaped working heads disposed side by side and oriented for rotation about respective vertical axes of rotation. Conveniently there are two motors, each motor being located above its associated working head. Other arrangements are possible, such as a single motor driving both heads via pulleys, chains or gear sets. For simplicity, a single motor is preferred for each head. The dual motors are configured and/or controlled to counter-rotate the work heads relative to each other to provide propulsion. Scrub brush driven machines are well known in the art. For example, a single brush may be sensed to be driven by tilting the machine (base section) onto the back side of a rotating disc-like, floor-facing working head.

The machine of the invention is preferably a walk-behind machine. For ease of handling and guidance, the distal end of the handle portion may be provided with a transversely oriented handgrip for gripping by the user's hand on each side of the handgrip. The handle may be provided with a speed control lever and a cleaning liquid dispensing actuator.

Drawings

The following is a description, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of one way of carrying out the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an upper three-quarter perspective view of a floor scrubbing dryer according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial cutaway perspective view of the floor scrubbing dryer of fig. 1.

Fig. 3a is a front partial cross-sectional view of a handle and wheel assembly used in the scrub dryer with the handle locking mechanism shown in an unlocked configuration.

FIG. 3b is a three-quarter partially cut-away front perspective view of the handle and wheel assembly of FIG. 3 a.

FIG. 4a is a front partial cross-sectional view of the handle and wheel assembly, but with the handle lock mechanism in a locked configuration.

FIG. 4b is a three-quarter partially cut-away front perspective view of the handle and wheel assembly of FIG. 4 b.

Detailed Description

In fig. 1, a floor scrubbing dryer in accordance with the present invention is shown generally at 10. The machine comprises an elongate handle portion 12 of rectangular cross-section. The handle portion 12 includes a top end region and a bottom end region. A handle 13 is mounted transversely through the aperture in the region of the top end of the handle portion 12. A control unit (not shown) is also provided in the tip region. During use, a user walks behind the machine and uses the handle 13 to guide it over the floor surface to be cleaned.

The bottom end region of the handle portion 12 is pivotally attached between the upstanding ears of a generally U-section mounting bracket 14. The pivot is oriented fore and aft to enable side-to-side rotation of the handle portion relative to the bracket 14 about pivot axis 1 (as indicated by arrow A, A'). This axis 1 is substantially perpendicular to the length of the handle portion 12 and allows the handle to swing laterally from side to side about the bottom end of the handle portion.

The bracket 14 has a lower region configured as a fork or yoke 17 formed by two spaced downwardly extending cheeks. The guide wheel 18 is located between the cheeks and is mounted for rotation about an axis (not shown) coaxial with the axis 2. The wheel has a central hub and a circumferential solid rubber tire. The shaft allows the mounting bracket, fork and handle portion to pivot forward/rearward, up/down through an arc about a transverse axis 2 provided by the shaft.

In this embodiment, the wheel 18 is arranged to be rotatable about a single axis (axis 2) and otherwise fixed in position. However, in other embodiments, wheels 18 may be configured to tilt one turn to the left or right as a user maneuvers machine 18 around a floor surface. This may improve operation of machine 10. The same inclination may be applied to other wheel arrangements that may be used, such as rollers or balls.

As shown in fig. 2, a pair of elongate, forwardly extending, spaced apart, parallel mounting struts 21 are pivotally attached at their rear end regions to opposite respective sides of the axle 19 projecting from either side of the wheel 18. The front end region of each post is attached to a pair of upstanding, spaced apart generally trapezoidal vertical supports 22 formed on a rectangular work base 23. The attachment is made by means of a pivot connection 24 having a transverse pivot axis of rotation.

The rear end regions of the struts are each formed with a generally semi-circular (convex) ridge 43, the edge of which defines the upper convex surface 40. The surface has the limits of

steps

41 and 42 at the front and rear. The central portion of the surface is formed with a square opening (or recess) 44.

Within the bracket 14 and between the ears of the bracket is a fork member 45, which fork member 45 is provided with two depending

prongs

46, 47. The lower end of each prong is sized to fit into the notch 44 in the strut ridge. The distal end face of each protuberance abuts the upper convex surface of the pillar protuberance as shown in fig. 2.

The bridging portion of the fork member is formed with an apertured elongate curved track 48, the elongate curved track 48 having a radius defined by its distance below the handle portion pivot axis 1 (pivot pin 49). The upper surface of the fork member is formed with a recessed saddle (saddle)56, the saddle 56 being located at the lower end 57 of the shuttle (shuttle) 50. The shuttle is an elongate vertically oriented block which is housed within a cavity defined at the lower end region 51 of the handle portion, as best shown in figure 3 a. The lower end of the shuttle carries a track pin 52, which track pin 52 extends into the curved track 48. The central region of the shuttle is formed with a vertical oval bore 53 which accommodates the pivot rod 49 of axis 1. The handle portion is pivotable side-to-side about the pivot pin 49, the extent of which is limited by the arc of travel of the rail pin in the rail 48.

The upper end of the shuttle is attached to a cable 54. A coil spring 55 is received in the upper end of the cavity. As shown in fig. 3a and 3b, the spring is compressed and acts between the top end of the shuttle and the diaphragm of the cavity, while the shuttle is held retracted by the cable 54. As shown in fig. 4a and 4b, the shuttle is a sliding fit in the cavity and can travel down the limited extent of the oblong hole when the cable constraint is released. As shown in fig. 4a, a pair of inner cheeks 56, 57 (fig. 4a) of the prong 17 of the carriage 14 define an aperture into which the shuttle can impact when the handle portion and shuttle are oriented vertically. Entry into this hole at the lower end of the shuttle will fix or lock the handle portion in the vertical orientation (relative to the pivot axis 1).

In parallel, the downwardly moving shuttle also displaces the fork members downwardly via the pins acting on the lower edge of the track 48. If the handle portion is vertical with respect to the pivot axis 2 (shaft 19), the fork prongs 46, 47 engage with the notch 44 in the upper edge of the strut 21. This secures the handle in the vertical orientation.

In this manner, a single actuation may be used to secure the handle portion against fore-aft pivoting and side-to-side pivoting.

Returning to FIG. 1, the base portion supports two motors, a left scrub motor 25 and a right scrub motor 26, side-by-side thereon. The left and right scrub brushes 27, 28 are attached to respective rotors (not shown) of the dependent motor below the base portion 23. The left and right scrubbers are mounted to the rotor using conventional means such as a hub or spider (not shown).

Each

scrub brush

27, 28 comprises a disc-shaped base portion 29 and an annular array of fibre brushes 30 secured to the underside of the base portion. The scrub brushes are arranged to be able to rotate in opposite directions and about parallel vertical axes as shown in fig. 1, which may provide forward or backward propulsion.

A squeegee collector 30 is pivotally mounted to the rear of the wheel 18. Two parallel rear pivot arms are provided which are coaxially mounted on the axle 19. This allows the collector to follow the surface undulations and also allows it to fold upwards when not in use. Collector 30 includes elongated lenticular scraper collector arms of conventional design. The interior of the blade (suction chamber) defined between the front and rear blades is in fluid communication (via port 31) with a suction drive (not shown) which may be mounted on the handle portion 12 or base portion 23, in order to carry and draw waste water through the scrub brush.

The waste water sucked from the suction chamber is stored in a water tank (not shown). The suction drive and water tank may be located above the scrubber base portion, or on the handle portion 12, or at another convenient location on the machine 10.

In the foregoing description and the associated drawings, we have not shown features that would normally occur but are not essential to the core aspects of the invention. These include cleaning liquid reservoirs and dispensers, suction drives for blade collectors or dirty water reservoirs fed by blade collectors. These are well known to those skilled in the art and therefore will not be described in detail herein. For a polisher or calender, etc., such an assist feature may not be needed.

Claims

1. A walk behind floor treatment machine comprising:

drive means for rotating the working head relative to the base section,

a floor engaging wheel arrangement for supporting the handle portion, the wheel arrangement having a generally transverse axis of rotation to allow travel in the working direction, the wheel arrangement being coupled to the base portion by a linkage mechanism that allows the base portion and associated working head or heads to travel vertically relative to the wheel arrangement but provides a transverse constraint to limit or prevent the base portion from yawing relative to the wheel arrangement,

wherein a lower region of the handle portion is pivotably connected to the wheel means by a hinged joint, the arrangement being such that the handle portion can be manipulated to act on the wheel means to yaw steer the wheel means about a yaw axis defined by a floor-engaging contact of the wheel means, the yaw of the wheel means causing the base portion to yaw in response to the yaw steer, and

wherein a handle pivot locking mechanism is provided, wherein a predetermined handle portion orientation is employed to allow one or more locking features to act on one or more corresponding restraining features to prevent pivotal movement of the handle portion relative to the base portion.

2. The floor treatment machine of claim 1, wherein the predetermined handle orientation is a vertical orientation.

3. The floor treatment machine of claim 1 or 2, wherein in the predetermined orientation, the locking feature is aligned with the restraint feature to allow interengagement, and misalignment prevents engagement of the feature when the orientation is not achieved.

4. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein locking features are one or more detent features and one or more of the restraining features are one or more notch features, one of the features being associated with the base portion or linkage and another of the features being associated with the handle portion.

5. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein the pivoting of the handle is an up/down pivoting about a transverse axis, and the feature is to secure the handle portion against pivoting relative to the transverse axis.

6. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein the wheel arrangement comprises a wheel, roller or ball, preferably a single wheel, roller or ball, provided at a lower region of the handle portion.

7. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein the wheel arrangement has a fixed transverse axis of rotation.

8. Floor treatment machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the linkage comprises at least one strut, one end region of which is provided with a tilting pivot connection to the wheel arrangement, which connection is coaxial with the axis of rotation of the wheel arrangement, and wherein the other end region of the strut is attached to the base part.

9. The floor treatment machine of claim 8, wherein the or each post is provided with a convex upper surface provided with the notch feature, and the pawl feature is connected to a lower region of the handle portion so as to travel in an arc corresponding to a contour of the convex upper surface, the arrangement being such that the pawl feature can slide over the convex surface during up/down pivoting of the handle portion about the transverse axis.

10. The floor treatment machine of claim 9, wherein a locking actuator urges the detent feature against the surface such that when the detent feature and the notch feature are aligned, the detent feature protrudes into the notch to lock movement of the handle portion.

11. The floor treatment machine of any of claims 8 to 10, wherein there are two of the posts disposed in a generally parallel arrangement on either side of the wheel arrangement, and two respective detent features, one for each post.

12. The floor treatment machine of claim 11, wherein the two detent features are provided by respective downwardly extending prongs of a locking member fork.

13. The floor treatment machine of any of claims 9-12, wherein the convex surface is provided with end stops at opposite ends thereof that limit travel of the pawl along a convex post profile to limit lateral pivoting of the handle portion to upper and lower arc boundaries.

14. The floor treatment machine of any of claims 8-13, wherein another end region of the strut is attached to the base portion via a tilt pivot connection.

15. The floor treatment machine of claim 14, wherein the tilt pivot connection allows the base portion to travel vertically relative to the wheel arrangement.

16. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more rotatable working heads support the base portion on a floor surface using the linkage mechanism, the linkage mechanism allowing the working heads to travel floatingly vertically relative to the wheel arrangement.

17. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein the articulation joint allows side-to-side pivoting of the handle about the joint about an axis perpendicular to the pivot transverse axis.

18. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein the side-to-side pivot of the articulation joint is disposed at a location vertically spaced from and above a transverse pivot.

19. The floor treatment machine of claim 17 or 18, wherein a side-to-side pivot locking mechanism is provided, wherein a traveler entry restraint feature associated with the handle portion prevents side-to-side pivoting.

20. The floor treatment machine of claim 19, wherein the traveler is a retractable shuttle housed in a lower end region of the handle portion, the shuttle being movable from a retracted position that allows side-to-side pivoting of the handle portion to an extended position in which a distal end of the shuttle is constrained between cheek features that prevent side-to-side pivoting of the handle portion.

21. The floor treatment machine of claim 20, wherein the cheek feature defines a generally vertical housing for receiving the distal end of the shuttle, the shuttle traveling axially relative to the handle portion such that when the distal end of the shuttle is constrained, the handle is a dead center of a side-to-side handle range of motion, the cheek feature configured to be an interior face of a locking member fork.

22. The floor treatment machine of any of claims 12 to 21, wherein the traveler acts on the locking member forks such that when the side-to-side pivoting is locked, pivoting of the transverse handle portion is locked.

23. The floor treatment machine of claim 22, wherein the locking member forks and traveler are connected by a pin and track engagement that provides vertical pin constraint and limited lateral pin freedom corresponding to side-to-side handle portion pivoting.

24. The floor treatment machine of claim 23, wherein movement of the traveler towards the restrained state causes the pin to act on a track wall, and wherein the track is disposed in the locking member fork such that movement of the traveler moves the fork into notch engagement.

25. The floor treatment machine of any of claims 19 to 24, wherein the traveler or shuttle is resiliently biased such that when actuated, the traveler/shuttle is urged toward its restraint position.

26. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein a distal end of the handle portion is provided with a transversely oriented handgrip for gripping by a user's hand on each side of the handgrip.

27. The floor treatment machine of any of the preceding claims, wherein an upper end region of the handle portion is provided with a handle position locking mechanism actuator.