EP0149705B1 - A roughened cleaning sponge particularly for delicate surfaces, and manufacturing method therefor - Google Patents

A roughened cleaning sponge particularly for delicate surfaces, and manufacturing method therefor Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0149705B1
EP0149705B1 EP84106989A EP84106989A EP0149705B1 EP 0149705 B1 EP0149705 B1 EP 0149705B1 EP 84106989 A EP84106989 A EP 84106989A EP 84106989 A EP84106989 A EP 84106989A EP 0149705 B1 EP0149705 B1 EP 0149705B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
sponge
fabric
core
covering
loops
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP84106989A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0149705A2 (en
EP0149705A3 (en
Inventor
Mario Mantica
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
F.I.L.P.A. S.R.L.
Original Assignee
Filpa Srl
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Filpa Srl filed Critical Filpa Srl
Priority to AT84106989T priority Critical patent/ATE38141T1/de
Publication of EP0149705A2 publication Critical patent/EP0149705A2/en
Publication of EP0149705A3 publication Critical patent/EP0149705A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0149705B1 publication Critical patent/EP0149705B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L—DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L1/00—Cleaning windows
    • A47L1/06—Hand implements
    • A47L1/15—Cloths, sponges, pads, or the like, e.g. containing cleaning agents
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L—DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L13/00—Implements for cleaning floors, carpets, furniture, walls, or wall coverings
    • A47L13/10—Scrubbing; Scouring; Cleaning; Polishing
    • A47L13/16—Cloths; Pads; Sponges
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L—DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L17/00—Apparatus or implements used in manual washing or cleaning of crockery, table-ware, cooking-ware or the like
    • A47L17/04—Pan or pot cleaning utensils
    • A47L17/08—Pads; Balls of steel wool, wire, or plastic meshes

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a roughened cleaning sponge particularly for delicate surfaces, and to a method of manufacturing it.
  • the roughened sponge of this invention is particularly useful for cleaning scratch vulnerable surfaces, such as the surfaces of stainless steel objects, or objects coated with a thin layer of plastics like cooking pots and pans, or motor vehicle windshields.
  • scratch vulnerable surfaces such as the surfaces of stainless steel objects, or objects coated with a thin layer of plastics like cooking pots and pans, or motor vehicle windshields.
  • Such objects in fact, while having inherently hard surfaces, are quite vulnerable to scratching since this would jeopardize their proper use or operation.
  • either felt-like rags are currently utilized or sponges incorporating scraping fillers, e.g. diamond powders, as well as roughened sponges including a core of a sponge-like material and a roughening outer cover for kitchen applications, and those same abrasive filled sponges and known hard rubber scrapers for windshield cleaning applications.
  • scraping fillers e.g. diamond powders
  • the sponge strip sometimes associated with the same can provide accurate cleaning, because the sponge strip is supported, like the hard rubber blade, in a rigid strip-like structure which cannot accommodate the windshield crowning. Further, the provision of a handle on such scrapers makes them unwieldy.
  • the cited prior sponges including a roughened covering are essentially of two types.
  • a first sponge type comprises a core formed from a non thermoplastic foamed material and a fabric portion, also formed from non-thermoplastic materials, which is wrapped and sewn around the core. This construction has the disadvantage of involving manual processing and being time consuming.
  • the roughened sponges of the second type comprise a sponge-like core of a non-thermoplastic material and a fabric covering of a thermoplastic material.
  • the fabric is here in the form of a tubing. Manufacture provides for manual introduction of the sponge-like insert into its outer sheath and sealing of its ends.
  • the sealing is practically of a linear type and of somewhat limited strength owing to the small amount of thermoplastic material available for the purpose, in practice just that provided by the yarns of the roughening fabric.
  • thermoplastic material available for the purpose, in practice just that provided by the yarns of the roughening fabric.
  • prior sponges tend in use to open up at the sealed ends which are constantly under stress from the sponge core tending to expand.
  • GB-A-2 063 058 discloses scouring pads formed by an outer tubular cover member and an interior sponge core body consisting both of thermoplastic plastics.
  • the cover member consists of a plurality of rows of knitted stitches, each of which defines an outwardly facing friction edge area.
  • the sponge core In its resting position outside the cover member, that is before to be inserted in said cover member, the sponge core has a cross section which is smaller than the cross section of the interior chamber of the cover member, so that when accommodated in the cover member the sponge core is not firmly biased against the latter.
  • GB-A-2 063 058 teaches to press by means of an assembly compression the cover member accommodating the sponge core body for filling out said cover member with the sponge core and to connect or fuse the end wall areas of both the cover member and the sponge core body with lateral thin and flexible ribs or strips by means of integration elements. Said lateral strips should anchor therefore the cover member and the sponge core body together to prevent a relative shifting between said sponge core body and the cover when the pad is in use and afford access of the pad to inaccessible areas.
  • said lateral strips or ribs are flexible and thin they are not fit for acting as efficient cleaning tools or scrapers, that is for removing hard or stuck deposits from the objects to be cleaned. Due to the geometrical shape of said thin lateral ribs they are not even fit for cleaning areas having corners, recesses or ridged, as often occur in cooking utensils, in pot handles and so on.
  • the knitted stitches of the net-like web forming the cover member have a closed configuration and lie substantially in a plane, so that the cleaning efficiency is rather soft.
  • the disclosed manufacturing method starts with an insertion step for inserting the sponge core in the sleeve but it is silent about the manner how to carry out said insertion.
  • DE-A-1 503 794 discloses a cleaning pad comprising outer layers formed by non-woven fibers unregularly spread and fixed by means of an adhesive and an internal sponge layer with a thickness of about 3 mm, consisting of thermoplastic plastics and serving as thermosealing means for connecting the internal layer with the outer ones. For this reason it is necessary to form a perimetral band. For kitchenware is provided a rectangular form.
  • the cleaning pads disclosed in said DE-A-1 503 794 have substantially a two-dimensional structure and therefore two large cleaning surfaces. Due to the low density of the spread non-woven fibers the cleaning effect is rather soft and the perimetral sealed bands must be narrow and thin in order to be flexible enough for permitting a flexibility of said cleaning pads.
  • the use of non-woven fibers requires further the use of an adhesive for anchoring said fibers.
  • the proposed manufacturing method involve compulsory a rather sensible quantity of waste material.
  • Another object of this invention is to provide a method of manufacturing sponges according to the invention, which can afford a fast sponge production rate without waste, the sponges obtained with this method requiring no further processing or finishing steps.
  • the fabric tubing is a knit fabric, that is having a smooth weft and warp yarns projecting therefrom into loops of a given length and only protruding from one side with respect to the weft, a portion of the loops being cut off to provide two respective scraping piles. Said cut off portions of the loops amounting approximately to 40% of the total loop number.
  • the projecting loops are arranged to protrude inwardly of the tubular fabric blank.
  • the heat sealed end bands or strips have a crosswise dimension in the range from about 5 to 10 mm, this sealing providing for a compacting sealing application of compression under heat to both the thermoplastic material of the roughening fabric and thermoplastic material of the sponge-like core.
  • the width of said sealed strips would be about 7 mm.
  • the outer edges of the heat sealed strips stand out of the roughened sponge longitudinal sides, in the finished condition of the sponge, thus affording full access- ability to the remotest of the areas or corners to be cleaned.
  • the method of this invention for the manufacture of roughened cleaning sponges according to other aspects of the invention, is characterized by the steps set forth in the characterizing part of claim 6.
  • the following specifications are those of particular embodiments of the inventive method.
  • the heat sealing receptacles or impressions are such as to form, during the heat sealing process, outer end corner edges which protrude from the longitudinal sides of the finished cleaning sponge.
  • an advantage of this invention proposal resides in the provision of an extremely simple and rapid manufacturing procedure which requires no finishing steps for the manufactured sponges.
  • a further advantage of the sponges of this invention is that optimum filling of the roughening fabric with the sponge core is achieved, which positively avoids the formation of void pockets between the sponge and covering such as would result in unwanted wrinkles on the sponge surface in use.
  • the cleaning sponge is generally indicated at 1 and comprises, in a manner known per se, a core 2 of a sponge-like or expanded material, and an outer fabric covering with roughening functions, indicated at 3.
  • both the sponge core 2 and roughening fabric 3 are formed from a thermoplastic plastics, that is one accepting heat sealing or ultrasonic welding.
  • the thermoplastic material, both for the roughening fabric and sponge core, is selected to simultaneously provide for heat sealing of the ends and the formation of a scraping means directly from the materials utilized, without involving any insert or supporting elements.
  • the fabric employed is a tubular or hose fabric with looped warp yarns, or knit fabric, which loops, in the preferred embodiment indicated, are arranged to face inwards as shown in Figure 6.
  • polyester yarn has been used for the weft and polypropylene yarn for the warp, the yarns having a diameter on the order of 0.2 mm, while the loops had a height of about 3 mm and a length between the loop legs of about 1 mm.
  • the number of opened, or cut off, loops amounted to about 40% of the loop total.
  • the height of the sponge core was 2.5 mm.
  • That heat sealed band has a considerable width, e.g. a width of 7 mm, and a thickness adequate to provide, on one side, optimum scraping rigidity, and on the other side, a favorable flexing ability in use of the sponge.
  • the material displacements which result in the formation of the corner edges 4a and flaps 4b, protruding laterally, are accomplished forcibly on heat sealing through the use of correspondingly shaped receptacles or impressions in the heat sealing jaws, or alternatively, by changing the pressure value selected therefor.
  • a preassembled blank of a considerable length e.g. 5 m.
  • both the fabric 3 and initial portion of the sponge sectional blank 2 By grasping with one's hands, at the end 5b, both the fabric 3 and initial portion of the sponge sectional blank 2, a pulling force is applied to simultaneously withdraw from the lining tubing 5 both the outer fabric 3 and inner sponge sectional blank 2, which is automatically positioned within said fabric, as shown in Figure 10.
  • the starting blank formed by the fabric 3 and sponge core 2 is indicated at 6 in Figure 11.
  • Shown schematically at 7 in Figure 12 are the lines of action of heat sealing jaws for the formation of the sealed bands 4.
  • Indicated at 8 are the areas of fabric material 3 and sponge material 2 which, during the heat sealing step, are displaced and compressed into the sealed bands 4.
  • the same may be produced either as single or double seams, or even simultaneously on two adjacent sponges. In the latter case, the common band, of double the thickness, will be separated by means of a blade element or the like.
  • thermoplastic materials such as, for the weft yarn, polyamides, Nylon (R), Algodon (R), polyethylene, polypropylene, raffia, and the like, while for the warp yarn, polyethylene, Nylon (R), polyester, Algodon (R), etc., may be used, and deviations from the specified dimensions may be made.
  • Substantial to the invention is the incorporation of the sponge within the roughened covering of scraping means, which advantageously provide for the sponge sealing. All this without involving any additional finishing steps.
  • Heat sealing could be replaced by an ultrasonic or any other suitable sealing process.
  • sponges may be provided with sealed bands having different profiles, as indicated in Figures 13, 14, or sponges be provided with peripherally extending sealed bands, as shown in Figure 15, or with intermediate sealed spots, as shown in Figure 16, or in the form of a padded element, etc.
  • the manufacturing method could be automated by replacing the manual withdrawal of the fabric and sponge core from the lining tubing with some automatic withdrawal procedure.

Landscapes

  • Cleaning Implements For Floors, Carpets, Furniture, Walls, And The Like (AREA)
  • Shaping Of Tube Ends By Bending Or Straightening (AREA)
  • Polarising Elements (AREA)
  • Cleaning In General (AREA)
EP84106989A 1983-12-22 1984-06-19 A roughened cleaning sponge particularly for delicate surfaces, and manufacturing method therefor Expired EP0149705B1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT84106989T ATE38141T1 (de) 1983-12-22 1984-06-19 Aufgerauhter reinigungsschwamm, insbesondere fuer empfindliche oberflaechen und herstellungsverfahren dazu.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT2432483 1983-12-22
IT24324/83A IT1194534B (it) 1983-12-22 1983-12-22 Spugna per pulizia irruvidita,in particolare per superfici delicate e procedimento per la produzione della stessa

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0149705A2 EP0149705A2 (en) 1985-07-31
EP0149705A3 EP0149705A3 (en) 1985-08-21
EP0149705B1 true EP0149705B1 (en) 1988-10-26

Family

ID=11213102

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP84106989A Expired EP0149705B1 (en) 1983-12-22 1984-06-19 A roughened cleaning sponge particularly for delicate surfaces, and manufacturing method therefor

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0149705B1 (da)
AT (1) ATE38141T1 (da)
CA (1) CA1249109A (da)
DE (1) DE3474768D1 (da)
DK (1) DK296884A (da)
IT (1) IT1194534B (da)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2018036617A1 (de) 2016-08-23 2018-03-01 Alfred Kärcher Gmbh & Co. Kg Flächen-bearbeitungsgerät, kombination aus flächen-bearbeitungsgerät und wanne und verwendung

Families Citing this family (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2192327A (en) * 1985-12-12 1988-01-13 S R Holbrook Limited Cleaning pad
GR1001143B (el) * 1992-03-16 1993-05-24 Konstantinos Katris Σφουγγαρι οικιακης και βιομηχανικης χρησεως.
EP0600829A1 (de) * 1992-12-02 1994-06-08 Karl Martin Reinigungsschwamm
DE9312458U1 (de) * 1993-08-19 1993-10-21 Schulze, Dagmar, 96148 Baunach Reinigungsschwamm für die manuelle Reinigung
US5671498A (en) * 1995-04-04 1997-09-30 Martin; Timothy J. Scrubbing device
AU7526396A (en) * 1996-06-27 1998-01-14 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company Cleaning article and method of making same
ES2143420B1 (es) * 1998-06-05 2000-12-01 Saiz Manuel Munoz Util para la limpieza del calzado.
US6687941B2 (en) 1999-04-09 2004-02-10 Alain Edouard Billat Device for simultaneously cleaning and drying surfaces made of glass and other materials
FR2791879B1 (fr) * 1999-04-09 2001-07-06 Alain Edouard Billat Dispositif de nettoyage et de sechage simultanes pour vitres, meubles et objets analogues
ITMI20122209A1 (it) * 2012-12-20 2014-06-21 Orlandi Spa Kit di spugne per la pulizia delle superfici in vetro
CN114209259A (zh) * 2021-12-31 2022-03-22 日照美添生活用品有限公司 一种耐用型压合清洁块及其生产工艺

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1245242A (en) * 1967-04-26 1971-09-08 John Peter Brennan Improvements in or relating to cleaning pads
FR2112593A5 (da) * 1970-07-10 1972-06-23 Molena Ag
US3802024A (en) * 1972-06-20 1974-04-09 L Fenster Polishing package with applicator pad
US4052238A (en) * 1975-06-25 1977-10-04 Acs Industries, Inc. Method of making a scouring pad or the like
US4287633A (en) * 1979-11-19 1981-09-08 George Gropper Cleaning pad

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2018036617A1 (de) 2016-08-23 2018-03-01 Alfred Kärcher Gmbh & Co. Kg Flächen-bearbeitungsgerät, kombination aus flächen-bearbeitungsgerät und wanne und verwendung

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA1249109A (en) 1989-01-24
EP0149705A2 (en) 1985-07-31
EP0149705A3 (en) 1985-08-21
IT8324324A0 (it) 1983-12-22
ATE38141T1 (de) 1988-11-15
DK296884A (da) 1985-06-23
IT1194534B (it) 1988-09-22
DK296884D0 (da) 1984-06-18
DE3474768D1 (en) 1988-12-01

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