EP0011055B1

EP0011055B1 - A floor wiping implement

Info

Publication number: EP0011055B1
Application number: EP79830041A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Margherita Casentini
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1978-10-31
Filing date: 1979-10-26
Publication date: 1983-10-05
Also published as: DE2966273D1; ATE4855T1; EP0011055A1

Abstract

Implement for washing the floor and wiping off water therefrom or similar surfaces, comprising a handle (1) and a body (3) with a pentagonal basis (13) having substantially trangular cross-sections of a short height and forming a front edge (5) with a flne blade which is connected to a back rib portion (10) of greater thickness which centrally projects upwardly and backwardly with a tubular projection (6) including the cylindrical seat (7) for gripping a rigid handle (1) formed with at least one section the body (3) being made of an elastomeric or plastic, slightly elastic material and incorporating reinforcement means, at least two teeth or fines (12) for the locking of the floor-cloth (14) being provided at the sides of the coupling seat (6) the handle (1).

Description

The present invention relates to a floor wiping implement comprising an elongate body of elastomeric material, removably connected to a handle. The implement, in a first utilization mode, along with a floor-cloth, serves to wash the floor and in a second utilization mode, serves to wipe off the water which has been spilled on the floor or which can arrive thereon through windows or window-doors, or balconies or due to other reasons.
For cleaning work big brushes of wood or of plastics are commonly used, the former having broomcorn bristles and the latter having a plurality of fine plastics teeth.
The former have the drawback of being heavy and large so that they cannot pass under the furniture which is easily damaged in case of collision.
Furthermore, they enable the washing of the floor only with the help of a wet floor-cloth.
The big brushes of plastics are lighter but less efficient and have a shorter useful life as well as sizes substantially equal to those of the wood brushes so that they suffer the same drawbacks as them. Furthermore, the grip of the plastics bristles on the floor-cloth is much worse than that exerted by the broomcorn bristles so that the operation is less efficient.
Other implements with metallic pincers have been provided which clamp the floor-cloth by means of two metallic rod grip members. This type of implement, however, is heavy, expensive and has a very reduced working area on the floor so that a brief strip of cloth only works on the floor when using this type of implement. Furthermore, with this type of implement, much time is required for opening and clamping the pincers grip members, for taking off the floor-cloth and for the rinse thereof. A scraping and wiping tool has been also disclosed in US-A-2 586 472 which consists of an elongate body, square in cross section and made of moderately hard material and which has a sharp scraping and wiping edge. This known implement (from which the prior art portion of claim 1 is known) can be used only as a scraping and wiping tool, it cannot be used for the washing of the floor. DE-A-7 319 209 discloses a broom whose body has rows of teeth for retaining a cloth wrapped around the body. DE-C-426 506 discloses a wooden scrubber which is grooved to retain a cloth wrapped therearound. Bayonet connections to connect handles to cleaning implements are well known, see e.g. CH-A-63 532, US-A-2 527 256.
The implement of the present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the known implements designed for the same purposes and provides for a large working area on the floor.
The present invention is characterized in that: the body incorporates reinforcing means and is plate-like with a rear face and a rough substantially pentagonal front face;

the rear face includes a longitudinal stiffening rib whose central part forms a tubular projection receiving one end of the handle;
the lower edge of the body, which edge contacts the floor when the implement is used to wipe off water from the floor with the front face maintained at right angles to the floor, is in cross section wedge shaped tapering inwardly-downwardly with a small acute angle at the apex to make the edge elastically deformable;
at least one tooth or fin extends from the rib on each side of the tubular projection, upwardly and rearwardly with respect to the plane of the front face; and the teeth or fins and the rough front face are adapted to retain a floor-cloth wrapped around the body when the implement is used to wash the floor.

The reinforcing means of the body may be an internal metallic reinforcement at the central portion of the body so that the main portion of the body _"is substantially rigid, but the sharp front edge thereof is elastically deformable and, in the second above mentioned utilization mode, can slide on and wipe the floor by pression in order to remove the water therefrom, whilst leaving a practically dry surface after its passing.
The main substantially flat front face of the implement body is rough so that this roughness, in combination with the teeth or fins, provides for firmly retaining a floor-cloth, while at the centre of the upper portion of the implement body a sleeve projection is provided into which said one end of a rod forming the grippable handle can be inserted. To this purpose this sleeve includes a cylindrical cavity shaped so as to form the seat for fitting coupling means on the handle that can be thus easily removed and fitted so as to reduce to a minimum the overall dimensions of the implement.
The dimensions of the implement can be varied according to the place of use thereof. In implements for domestic use, the dimensions can be less than those of implements for the cleaning of school, hospital and public places. The implement is very low so as to be easily passed under the furniture. It is made of an elastic material as not to cause any damage even if it is handled without care.
Furthermore, when the implement is used in the second utilization mode, it can clean with the help of a floor cloth also the very narrow areas and those near the walls, while, when it is used without floor-cloth, it permits the quick wiping away of the water on the floor towards a collecting point, leaving practically dry surfaces after it has passed.
A very important advantage of the implement is due to the fact that its cleaning is easy and complete and can be carried out by a simple washing only, since it is not provided with internal or hollow portions where the dirt can hide.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will appear more apparently in the following description of an embodiment thereof with reference to the annexed drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the implement;
Fig. 2 is a front view of the implement.
Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are cross-sections taken along the lines A-A, B-B and C-C, respectively, of Figs. 1 and 2;
Fig. 6 shows the cross-section X-X of the implement along the axis of the handle when the implement is used to wipe off the water; and
Fig. 7 is a side view of the implement in the second position with the floor cloth applied thereon.

The implement comprises a handle 1 (Figs. 6 and 7) which can be provided with two diametrically opposed teeth 2 projecting radially from the end 1 a thereof. These teeth 2 provide for a bayonet joint with this body 3 so as to render demountable the implement. Obviously the handle 1 could also be arranged for a screw or press connection to the body 3.
Furthermore the handle 1 could also be formed by a plurality of sections which can be releasably coupled to each other. The body 3 is made of an elastomeric material such as vulcanized rubber or similar and includes an internal stiffening reinforcement element 4. The body 3 has a main substantially plane surface 13 of a shape of a very flattened pentagon and is provided at the front portion thereof with a wedge shaped edge 5 substantially triangular in cross-section.
At the upper central portion the body 3 is provided with a tubular projection 6 which includes a cylindrical cavity 7 shaped so as to allow the insertion and the releasable locking of the end 1 a of the handle 1 which can be made of wood, plastics or metal and possibly is composed of sections in order to be disassemblable. To this purpose, in case of a bayonet joint the cavity 7 of the sleeve portion 6 is provided with two longitudinal grooves 8 which are able to receive the teeth 2 and are connected to an annular groove 9. Therefore the handle 1 has to be inserted so that the teeth 2 first are aligned with the grooves 8 and then penetrate therein until the end 1 a comes to the limit stop and the teeth 2 come to the groove 9. By rotating the handle 1 the teeth 2 are restrained in this groove 9 where they are locked, due to the fact that the handle 1 is dimensioned so as to be frictionally introduced in the cavity 7 causing a slight deformation of the elastic material of which the body 3 of the implement is made. From the part of the body 3 opposite to the main surface 13 a stiffening rib 10 projects outwardly backwards, which is connected with transversal reinforcement portions 11 and from which at least one respective tooth 12 projects at each side of the sleeve 6. These teeth are provided for gripping the floor-cloth 14 (Fig. 6) which is used along with this implement. The body 3 has the main surface 13 provided with knurlings, ribs or holding members to grip the body of the floor cloth.
The implement provides two utilization modes as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7.
A floor-cloth can be wound around the implement 3 (Fig. 7) by wrapping one of the end portions thereof around the sleeve 6 and locking it on the teeth 2 so that the floor cloth 14 is astride of the implement. In utilization mode implement is used for washing the floor like a conventional brush but with the advantage of it being very short so that it can easily be passed under furniture, considering that the axis of the handle is inclined with respect to the face 13.
Furthermore the front blade edge 5 is considerably elastic and flexible so that in case of collision with the furniture it cannot cause any damage. As already mentioned, the floor-cloth 14 is wound around the implement 3 so that on lifting the latter, also the floor cloth is raised.
Therefore, on passing from a working area to another one the floor-cloth does not need to be touched, it being sufficient only to maintain the implement raised from the floor.
In the utilization mode illustrated in Fig. 6 for conveying the water towards a collecting area, the implement without floor-cloth rests on the floor on the blade edge 5 and is an elastic blade which wipes away the water from the floor pressing thereon so that the floor is wiped by the passing of the implement. In this utilization mode the implement can also be used for wiping away rain drops from any smooth surface. It is apparent that in order to increase the durability of the implement and to simplify the construction thereof a metallic reinforcement including the coupling seat could be provided within the projection 6, this reinforcement being embedded in the body 3 during the moulding.

Claims

1. A floor wiping implement comprising an elongate body (3) of elastomeric material, removably connected to a handle (1), characterised in that: the body (3) incorporates reinforcing means (4) and is plate-like with a rear face and a rough substantially pentagonal front face (13); the rear face includes a longitudinal stiffening rib (10) whose central part forms a tubular projection (6) receiving one end of the handle; the lower edge (5) of the body, which edge contacts the floor when the implement is used to wipe off water from the floor with the front face (13) maintained at right angles to the floor, is in cross section wedge shaped tapering inwardly-downwardly with a small acute angle at the apex to make the edge elastically deformable; at least one tooth or fin (12) extends from the rib (10) on each side of the tubular projection, upwardly and rearwardly with respect to the plane of the front face; and the teeth or fins (12) and the rough front face are adapted to retain a floor cloth (14) wrapped around the body when the implement is used to wash the floor.

2. An implement according to claim 1, wherein said one end of the handle (1) is provided with a pair of diametrically opposite radially projecting teeth (2) and the internal wall of the tubular projection (6) is provided with a pair of diametrically opposite grooves (8) extending parallel to the axis of the tubular projection and connected to a circumferential groove (9) adapted to receive the handle teeth (2) for coupling the handle to the body.