EP0760923B1 - Chimney sweeping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Chimney sweeping apparatus for cleaning a wall (2) of a chimney flue (1), and comprising a support (11) adapted to be mounted at the tip of an actuating rod (9), and a chimney sweeping tool (12); resilient means (13) carried by said support (11) are provided and positioned for resiliently applying said chimney sweeping tool (12) on the wall (2) to be cleaned, by bearing on the wall opposite the wall (2) to be cleaned.

Description

The present invention relates to a sweeping apparatus.

As is known, a sweeping apparatus includes a sweeping tool placed at the end of an operating rod, generally made up of several elements which fit together the others depending on the height of the chimney flue to be swept, chimney sweeper that the chimney sweep applies to the wall to remove the soot.

Given the adhesion of the soot to the walls of the chimney, it is necessary, for the sweeping operation to be properly executed, apply with some effort the sweeping on said walls; we understand that it is very difficult for the chimney sweep enough to apply the sweeping tool to the walls due to the length of the operating rod.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for chimney sweep, which allows the chimney sweep to perform a sweeping with a sweeping tool which is applied with force sufficient support on the wall to be swept, regardless of the height of this wall and therefore the chimney flue.

As we also know, chimney flues, when they are of quadrangular cross section, have all their height a section which is not constant; it decreases indeed from the bottom of the chimney to the top of it; the section of duct is generally rectangular in shape and does not decrease continuously: in fact, the conduit, being constructed from elements of masonry, consists of sections each having a section constant rectangular over its entire height, the section of two sections consecutive decreasing from the bottom of the chimney to the top of the fireplace; these different rectangular sections have the same width, which corresponds to the thickness of the duct, but a length, which corresponds to the width of the duct, decreasing. Therefore, when the sweeping operation is carried out from the bottom of the chimney, the repetitions made to changes of sections constitute an obstacle to the upward progression of the sweeping tool pushed by the chimney sweep; the present invention aims to provide a tool for chimney sweeping to solve this problem, the sweeping tool according to the invention being provided with means making it possible to cross without difficulties said recents. It is specified, on this occasion, that a sweeping can be done either by pushing the sweeping tool towards the top of the flue from the bottom of the chimney, either by pulling up, from the top of the duct, the sweeping tool which will have been previously lowered into the pipe to the bottom of the chimney.

The masonry elements, with which the chimney flues, are most often juxtaposed elements and assembled, like bricks for example for the conduits of rectangular section; the jointing operation allowing this assembly results in the presence of grooves in the wall of the chimney, close to each other, and horizontal; when the tool chimney sweep has a scraper blade, generally extending in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the operating rod of the sweeping apparatus, it is understood that said grooves do not facilitate also not the sweeping operation; the present invention aims to propose a sweeping tool allowing to also solve this difficulty, the sweeping tool according to the invention being provided with means for easily crossing said grooves.

A patent has already been proposed in US-A-4,625,358 chimney sweeping device intended for sweeping a wall of a flue chimney, comprising a support arranged to allow mounting of said support at the end of an operating rod and a sweeping, elastic means carried by the support being provided to apply elasticity to the sweeping tool on the wall to sweeping, said elastic means being positioned in such a way they apply the sweeping tool to the wall to be swept taking support on a wall zone of the chimney flue opposite to the zone wall to be swept, said support being produced by means of less a wheel rotatably mounted at the end of said means elastic.

We have also already proposed, in patent US-A-4 498 212, a chimney sweeping apparatus in which a adjustment device for bringing the sweeping tool to the neighborhood of the wall to be swept for duct dimensions of different smoke; this adjustment device consists of a lever pivoting carried by the support of the sweeping tool, said lever swivel being equipped with a caster at its free end and being locked in a plurality of adjustment positions by means of a connecting rod in place between the pivoting lever and the support for the sweeping tool. Unfortunately, this device is not satisfactory, because it cannot there are only a limited number of adjustment positions so that the most of the time, or the sweeping tool is too far from the wall to sweep in which case it is not effective, or else the sweeping is too close to the wall to be swept, in which case it blocks against masonry, especially at the grooves of jointing.

The invention relates to a sweeping apparatus of the above type defined in which the elastic means are mounted so adjustable to adapt the sweeping device to the thickness of the duct chimney, for ducts with a quadrangular cross section, or at chimney flue diameter, for cross-section flues circular.

Preferably, the elastic means are produced under the form of a U-shaped wire spring, the core of which is linked to the support and whose end of the wings distant from the core is intended to bear on the opposite wall.

Advantageously, the part of the spring close to the core is fixed on a plate rotatably mounted on the support; mounting to rotation of the wafer on the support comprises a sheath, obtained by rolling a transverse edge of the wafer, in which can rotate an axis supported by a folded square integral with the support; the two wings of the folded square have facing holes, arranged at distance from the axis, and in which an adjustment rod is positioned against which the plate is brought to bear for elastic application of the sweeping tool by the spring.

Preferably, a safety wheel is carried by the support, opposite the folded bracket, near the end of the support by which the support is mounted on the operating rod.

The sweeping apparatus may be, if necessary, fitted with anti-sloping means allowing the sweeping tool to cross the redents made at changes of sections of the chimney flue; the anti-sloping means are carried by the sweeping tool; the anti-sloping means consist of an arc-shaped metal wire whose ends are fixed to the sweeping tool and whose top is applied to the support.

Preferably, the sweeping tool comprises a blade in triangular section bevel; we can provide an asymmetrical bevel having only an inclined wall placed upstream relative to the direction in which the operating rod is moved for the operation chimney sweeping; but we can also provide a symmetrical bevel by relative to the mean plane of the blade, of which it constitutes the border.

Anti-grooving means can be provided, if necessary to allow the sweeping tool to easily cross the grouting grooves for the chimney sweep; anti-grooving means are carried by the sweeping tool. According to an achievement interesting, the bevelled blade is provided at the end of the core of a T-shaped profile and the anti-groove means consist of flanges in a quarter circle arranged on either side of the soul of the T.

Alternatively, the sweeping tool is a brush chimney sweep.

Advantageously, the sweeping tool is mounted on the removable support.

To better understand the object of the invention, we will describe now, for illustrative purposes only, two embodiments shown with their variants in the drawing Annex.

• la figure 1 montre schématiquement, en élévation, un appareil de ramonage selon une première réalisation de l'invention, tel qu'il se présente dans un conduit de cheminée de section droite rectangulaire, vu partiellement en coupe ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en plan de l'appareil de ramonage de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue latérale selon III - III de la figure 2 ;
• la figure 4 est une vue en perspective d'une variante d'outil de ramonage destiné à l'appareil de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 5 est une vue schématique partielle en coupe du conduit de cheminée de la figure 1, selon V - V de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 6 est une vue en perspective partielle, à plus grande échelle, d'une partie de l'appareil des figures 1 à 3 ;
• la figure 7 est une vue latérale représentant partiellement une variante de l'appareil de ramonage selon les figures 1 à 3 ;
• la figure 8 est une vue analogue à la figure 1 d'un appareil selon une deuxième réalisation de l'invention, destiné au ramonage d'un conduit de section circulaire ;
• la figure 9 est une vue selon IX - IX de la figure 8 ;
• la figure 10 est une vue en perspective d'une variante d'outil de ramonage destiné à l'appareil de la figure 8.

On this drawing :

• Figure 1 shows schematically, in elevation, a chimney sweeping apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention, as it is in a chimney flue of rectangular cross section, seen partially in section;
• Figure 2 is a plan view of the sweeping apparatus of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a side view along III - III of Figure 2;
• Figure 4 is a perspective view of a variant of sweeping tool for the apparatus of Figure 1;
• Figure 5 is a partial schematic sectional view of the chimney flue of Figure 1, along V - V of Figure 1;
• Figure 6 is a partial perspective view, on a larger scale, of a part of the apparatus of Figures 1 to 3;
• Figure 7 is a side view partially showing a variant of the sweeping apparatus according to Figures 1 to 3;
• Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 1 of an apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention, intended for sweeping a duct of circular section;
• Figure 9 is a view along IX - IX of Figure 8;
• FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a variant of a sweeping tool intended for the apparatus of FIG. 8.

Referring to Figure 1, we see a chimney sweep 10 according to the invention as it occurs in a chimney 1 of rectangular cross section; the chimney flue 1 is shown in section along its thickness 6 which, as can be seen, is constant throughout the duct 1. The duct 1 is shown in section in Figure 5 along its width. As seen on this Figure, the conduit does not have a constant width over its entire height; two sections each having a constant width, over their entire height, are shown in this figure, a section having a width 7 and a section having a width 8, the width 8 being smaller than the width 7; the width of the different sections decreases progressively that one rises in the conduit; these different widths realize, at right of said changes, repents 4; these redents 4 constitute a obstacle to the upward progression of the sweeping tool pushed by the chimney sweep during the sweeping of the wall 2 located, relative to the Figure 5, in a plane parallel to that of the figure.

The sweeping apparatus 10, better visible in Figures 2 and 3, comprises a support 11 consisting essentially of an element tubular metal, for example of square section, one end of which 16 has a tip 17 intended for mounting the support 11 on a operating rod 9; the operating rod 9, generally made up of several elements fitting into each other, can be made of polyvinyl chloride; the operating rod 9 is of circular section and the end piece 17 is a shaped end piece cylindrical, secured to the support 11, for example by welding, and fitted into the operating rod 9 at the end thereof.

On its end opposite to its end 16, the support 11 carries a sweeping tool 12; the sweeping tool 12 is mounted on the support 11 in a removable manner; for this purpose, it includes a tubular part 39, into which the support 11 is threaded and which is held relative to said support 11 by a crosspiece 40 stopped by a key 41; the tubular part 39 receives a section 36 in the form of T, secured to the tubular part 39 by welding, transversely relative to the axis of said tubular part 39.

The T-shaped profile 36 consists of a flat 42 by which the section 36 is secured to the tubular part 39 and a core 35 having an inclined wall beveled end 33 and constituting the scraper blade of the sweeping tool 12. The inclined wall 33 is placed upstream relative to the direction in which the rod is moved maneuver 9 for the sweeping operation. The operation of sweeping can be carried out either by pushing the tool 12 upwards, either by pulling it down, so that the inclined wall 33 is in each case suitably positioned, the sweeping tool 12 can be turned over, in relation to the position it occupies in the figures 1 to 3; holes 43 passing through the tubular part 39 are also provided at the other end of this tubular part 39 to cooperate, when the tool 12 is turned over, with the corresponding holes of the support 11, the fixing being done as previously by the establishment of the crosspiece 40 and the key 41.

In the vicinity of its end 16, the support 11 carries a folded square 22, better visible in Figure 6, having wings 23, 24; the wings 23, 24 support an axis 21 extending transversely by relative to the support 11, parallel to the inclined wall 33 of the blade at bevel 32; a plate 19, one edge of which has been rolled up to produce a sheath 20, is rotatably mounted relative to the support 11 by engagement of the axis 21 in the sleeve 20 and in the holes 44, 45 corresponding wings 23, 24.

Elastic means constituted by a wire spring in U-shaped are fixed to the plate 19 by rivets or bolts 46, 47 by the part of the spring close to the core 14 of the spring in the form of U. The ends of the wings opposite the core 14, of the wire spring 13, carry a pin 58 at the ends of which are rotatably mounted two casters 18. The wings 23, 24 of the folded bracket 22 are provided with holes 25 opposite, arranged at a distance from the axis 21, in which is positioned an adjustment rod 26 against which the plate 19 is brought to bear.

When the tool 12 is in the working position in the duct 1, as shown in FIG. 1, the beveled blade 32 is in application to the wall 2 to be swept, applied with a force due to the compression of the spring 13, this compression being obtained by cooperation of the rollers 18 with the wall 48 of the conduit 1 opposite the wall 2 being swept; the position of the adjusting rod 26 being adjustable, by choosing the pair of holes 25 in which said rod 26 adjustment is introduced, it is possible to adapt the sweeping 10 to the thickness 6 of the chimney duct 1.

To facilitate the movement of the sweeping apparatus 10 in the chimney duct 1, a safety roller 27 is provided at the end 16 of the support 11, on the same side, relative to the support 11, that the beveled blade 32, that is to say on the side opposite to that on which the folded square 22 is placed.

To prevent the redents 4 of the chimney duct 1 from interfere with the sweeping operation, the sweeping apparatus 10 is provided with anti-redent means 28: these anti-redent means 28 are constituted a relatively rigid arc-shaped metal wire 29, the ends 30 are fixed to the sweeping tool 12, for example by nuts 49, 50, in the vicinity of the inclined wall 33 of the bevelled blade 32; according to the example shown, the top 31 of the wire 29 in the shape of an arc is close to the support 11, see in contact with it, thanks to a bending of the wire 29; but, of course, said anti-redent means 28 made up of wire 29 could be planar, and extend in a plane parallel to the support 11; the anti-sloping means 28 are placed, by relative to the beveled blade 32, like the inclined wall 33, downstream by relative to the direction of movement of the sweeping apparatus 10, when the sweeping operation; thanks to this provision, when appears, during this operation, a redent 4, the contact of the sweeping 11 with the redent 4 is first carried out by the wire 29 which, given its arched shape, moves the tool laterally sweeping 12 away from the redent 4; this is true regardless of direction of sweeping chosen, since the anti-redent 28 means, worn by the sweeping tool 12, are returned at the same time as the blade bevel 32.

To prevent the horizontal grooves 5 of the conduit 1 from chimney does not interfere with the sweeping operation, the sweeping device 10 is provided with anti-groove means 34: these anti-groove means 34 consist of flanges 37 in a quarter circle arranged parallel to the sweeping direction, on both sides of the support 11; these flanges 37 extend between the plate 42 and the beveled blade 32; in line with the beveled blade 32, the flanges 37 extend to vicinity of the inclined wall 33; the flanges 37, in the form of a sector circular about 90 °, limit the introduction of the beveled blade 32 in the grooves 5 and facilitate its passage.

The sweeping tool 12 described so far has a blade at bevel 32; alternatively, the sweeping tool 12 may include a sweeping brush 38, such as that shown in Figure 4; a such brush consists of bristles 59 carried by a plate 52 which itself carries a tubular part 53 for mounting on the support 11; the plate 52 is provided with passages 54 for mounting the anti-redent means 28; of course, such a sweeping tool crosses, without no difficulty, the grooves such as grooves 5 and, therefore, it it is not necessary to provide it with anti-grooving means.

According to the variant of Figure 7, the folded bracket 22 is mounted adjustable in position along the support 11; for this purpose, the folded bracket 22 is provided with a notch 61 allowing it to overlap the support 11 and define extensions 60 to the wings 23 and 24, said extensions 60 being pierced with holes 55 which, when the folded bracket 22 is placed astride the support 11, are visible holes 56 with which the support 11 is provided; the solidarity of the square folded 22 with the support 11 is carried out by placing in the holes in look 55 and 56 of the fixing means such as screws and nuts; the holes 56 of the support 11 are arranged along the support 11 in a quantity sufficient to allow various positions of the folded bracket 22.

Good results, for chimney flues 1 whose width is between 15 and 50 cm approximately, were obtained with chimney sweepers having geometric characteristics following. The caster 27 was 300 to 400 mm apart from the blade 32; the caster 27 had a diameter of 30 mm, the blade 35 a height of About 35 mm and its inclined wall 33 a height of the order of 5 mm; the width of the branch 42 of the T-shaped profile 36 was 35 to 40 mm approximately; the metallic wire 29 constituting the anti-redent means had a diameter of 6 mm; the rollers 18 had a diameter between 60 and 80 mm; the projection, on the support 11, of the distance from the axis 58 of the rollers 18 to the axis 21 around which is mounted in rotation the plate 19 was of the order of 300 mm; the distance 57 (FIG. 3) from the support 11 from the point of a caster 18 furthest from said support 11 was approximately 120 to 300 mm for the external adjustment positions of the wafer 19, the apparatus being at rest.

Referring now to Figures 8 to 10, we see that 100 are designated as a whole chimney sweeper according to a second embodiment of the invention, this device being intended to a chimney flue 101 of circular cross section. Such chimney flues generally have no discontinuity of section of the type of those which have been illustrated in FIG. 5 in showing redents 4. As a result, it is no longer necessary to match the sweeping tool of the apparatus according to the invention with means anti-redents 28 as was the case for the device corresponding to Figures 1 to 7.

The sweeping apparatus 100 includes a support 111 identical to the support 11 of the device of FIG. 1; this support 111 is fixed to the end of an operating rod 109 by an end piece 117 formed on one of its ends 116. At its end opposite to that which is connected to the rod 109, the support 111 carries a chimney sweep 112, which is detachably fixed on the support 111; at for this purpose, said tool 112 comprises a tubular part 112a of section square, which is fitted into the end of the support 111 and which is held relative to said support by a cylindrical cross member 140 stopped by a key. The tubular part 112a bears, on one of its faces, a circular sector 112b, the mean plane of which is perpendicular to the axis of the support 111 and whose border is formed in bevel 112c; the edge of this sector 112b follows the wall of the duct 111 over an angular opening of approximately 160 ° and constitutes the blade sweeping of the sweeping tool 112; the bevel is made symmetrically with respect to the mean plane of the circular sector 112b with an angle of 45 ° to this plane.

The support 111 is provided, as in the first described embodiment of a safety roller 127 carried by the end 116 of the support 111. Furthermore, also as in the first embodiment according to the invention, the support 111 comprises a spring 113 identical to spring 13 of the first embodiment, this spring 113 carrying at its end two rollers 118, the mounting of which on the spring 113 is the same as that of the rollers 18 on the spring 13 of the first achievement. The spring 113 is connected to the support 111 at the by means of an adjustment system identical to system 23, 24, 25, 26 described in detail for the first embodiment, this system of adjustment being, as a whole, designated here by the reference 125.

The mode of use of the device of figure 8 is exactly the same as that of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 to 7 and, by therefore, will not be repeated in detail.

In place of the sweeping tool 112 which has just been described, it is possible to use a sweeping tool consisting of a brush, such as the one shown in Figure 10 and which is designated, as a whole, by the reference 212. The tool 212 comprises a tip 212a intended to be inserted inside the end support 111; a circular sector 212b is joined to this end piece 212a, perpendicular to the axis of said end piece, and leads to its periphery rigid brush bristles 212c, which are intended for scraping the wall of the chimney flue 101.

Alternatively, provision may be made for the sweeping tool 112 is susceptible to a certain angle of deflection around the cross member 140 which ensures its attachment to the support 111. In this case, the end of the support 111 is hollowed out on those of its faces, which located on the side of the casters 118 and 127, to allow the movement of the tubular part 112a relative to the support 111, said support being in the region of the cross member 140 reduced to two wings parallel which support the ends of said crosspiece. We do in so that the angular movement of the tool 112a around the axis, that constitutes the cross-member 140, either limited on either side of the position mean, which is that shown in Figure 8; the tubular part 112a is subjected to the action of a spring (not shown in the drawing) which tends to bring the tubular part 112a in the axis of the support 111. In this way, if the sweeping tool 112 is pushed outside the cylindrical chimney flue, it is always possible, thanks to the flexibility of the joint 140, to reintroduce the sweeping tool in the conduit by pulling, in the opposite direction, on the rod 109.

Claims (8)

1. Chimney sweeping apparatus intended for sweeping the wall of a chimney duct (1, 101), comprising a support (11, 111), designed to allow the said support to be mounted on the end of an operating rod (9, 109), and a sweeping tool (12, 112), elastic means (13, 113) carried by the support being provided in order to lay the sweeping tool (12, 112) elastically onto the wall to be swept and being positioned in such a way that they lay the sweeping tool (12, 112) onto the wall to be swept, by coming into bearing contact on a wall zone of the chimney duct (1, 101) opposite the wall zone to be swept, the said bearing contact being made by means of at least one wheel (18, 118) mounted rotatably at the end of the said elastic means (13, 113), characterized in that the said elastic means (13, 113) are mounted adjustably in order to adapt the chimney sweeping apparatus (10, 110) to the cross-sectional dimensions of the chimney duct, a safety wheel (27, 127) carried by the support (11, 111) being arranged on that side of the support which is opposite that where the said elastic means (13, 113) are located.
2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the elastic means (13, 113) are produced in the form of a U-shaped wire spring, of which the part adjacent to the web (14) is connected to the support and of which that end of the wings which is distant from the web (14) is intended to come into bearing contact on the opposite wall.
3. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 or 2, characterized in that that part of the spring (13, 113) which is adjacent to the web (14) is fastened to a plate (19) mounted rotatably on the support (11, 111).
4. Apparatus according to Claim 3, characterized in that the plate (19) is mounted rotatably on the support (11, 111) about a shaft (21) supported by a bent angle piece (22) integral with the support (11, 111), the two wings (23, 24) of the bent angle piece (22) comprising holes (25) facing one another, which are arranged at a distance from the shaft (21) and in which is positioned an adjusting bar (26), against which the plate (19) is brought into bearing contact in order to lay the sweeping tool (12, 112) elastically in place by means of the spring (13, 113).
5. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the chimney sweeping apparatus (10) is equipped with anti-step means (28) allowing the sweeping tool (12) to cross the steps (4) produced at the changes in cross-section of the chimney duct (1).
6. Apparatus according to Claim 5, characterized in that the anti-step means (28) consist of an arcuate metal wire (29), the ends (30) of which are fastened to the sweeping tool (12) and the vertex (31) of which is laid onto the support (11).
7. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the sweeping tool (12) comprises a bevelled blade (32) of triangular cross-section, the inclined wall (33) of which is located upstream in relation to the direction in which the operating rod (9) is displaced for the chimney sweeping operation.
8. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that anti-groove means (34) are provided in order to allow the sweeping tool (12) to cross the joint-pointing grooves (5) of the chimney duct (1) without difficulty.

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