GB2189156A - Ball-cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Ball-cleaning apparatus comprises a housing, the upper part of which a contains a motor (2) connected by a transmission means (3) to a cleaning band or belt, the band or belt being arranged in the lower part of the housing in such a manner, in use, as to make frictional contact with the surfaces of a plurality of balls (12) placed in a container (11) disposed in said housing beneath said band or belt. The container (11) may comprise a tray provided with individual compartments for each ball. The housing may contain a reservoir (5) for a cleaning medium which is accessible from the exterior of the housing and which has a delivery means (7) which feeds the cleaning medium to the surface of the cleaning band or belt (4), from which it is transferred to the balls themselves during the cleaning process. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Ball-cleaning apparatus This invention relates to a ball cleaning apparatus particularly but not exclusively for the cleaning of snooker, pool or billiard balls prior to use. Formerly, balls used for playing snooker or billiards were cleaned by hand either by washing or by polishing in a dry condition, to remove chalk, fingermarks and the like, it being necessary to handle each ball separately to prepare them for use. Such a process is extremely time consuming, especially in playing snooker, where a complete set of twenty-two such balls have to be cleaned between successive games.

According to the invention, a ball-cleaning apparatus comprises a housing, the upper part of which contains a motor connected by a transmission means to a cleaning band or belt, the band or belt being arranged in the lower part of the housing in such a manner, in use, as to make frictional contact with the surfaces of a plurality of balls placed in a container disposed in said housing beneath said band or belt.

In one embodiment of the invention, the container for retaining the balls during operation of the apparatus comprises a tray provided with individual compartments for each ball and the arrangement is such that when the tray is located in the housing, the balls are themselves contacted frictionally by the cleaning band or belt which is driven by the motor to pass from one side of the tray to the other.

In another embodiment of the invention, the housing contains a reservoir for a cleaning medium which is accessible from the exterior of the housing and which has a delivery means which feeds the cleaning medium to the surface of the cleaning band or belt, from which it is transferred to the balls themselves during the cleaning process.

According to another aspect of the invention, the housing contains a drying means.

Preferably, in another feature of the invention, the container is inserted through a hinged panel provided in the housing and control means are provided to supervise operation of the apparatus.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is arranged to be mounted in a fixed location and in such an embodiment, the tray is inserted through a hinged panel on one side of the housing, the front of the housing in this embodiment may also have a control panel in which the control means are mounted to supervise operation of the apparatus.

In an alternative embodiment of the apparatus, the apparatus is designed to be hand-held and the housing may have an extended handle portion to which is fitted a control switch and the lower portion of the housing is in the form of an apron which surrounds the tray when in the operational position, one side of the housing being hinged to enable the insertion and extraction of the ball-containing container.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a vertical section through a ballcleaning apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention, showing the apparatus intended to be fixed to a stationary work station, for the cleaning of smooker or billiards balls and Figure 2 is a plan view of a ball-retaining container in the form of a tray associated with the stationary embodiment of this invention.

As can be seen from Fig. 1, the housing which contains the ball-cleaning apparatus consists of a main portion 1, which encloses a motor 2. One side of this part of the housing is extended forwardly to form an apron 8 and the housing contains a reservoir 5 for a cleaning fluid, the reservoir being filled through an aperture 6 and having a discharge means 7 for a purpose to be described below.

The main portion of the housing is provided with a cable entry 13, supplying electric power to the motor 2, the opposite side of the housing above the apron 8 containing a control panel 15 on which the ncessary control means for supervising operation of the apparatus are mounted.

The motor 2 is provided with a transmission means 3 through which an endless cleaning band or belt 4 is arranged to be driven; as can be seen from the drawing, the belt 4 is in the form of an endless member which in this example is caused to travel in an anticlockwise direction as seen in the drawing.

The lower part of the housing including the apron 8 is formed with a lower border or skirt, the side of the skirt below the apron 8 being formed as a hinged panel 10 which is shown in Fig. 1 in the raised position. The apparatus is dimensioned to receive a ball-retaining tray 11 which, contains a plurality of pockets in which the balls to be cleaned and designated by the reference numeral 12 in the drawings, are located. In use, the tray 11 is inserted into the apparatus and the hingedpanel 10 is lowered into contact with the adjoining edge of tray 11 in such a manner that the tray is fully enclosed with the balls which are located in the individual pockets in contact with the cleaning belt 4.Operation of a control switch will start the motor 2 which causes the belt 4 to travel over and in contact with the balls 12 in the tray 11, causing them to rotate in a clockwise direction and to be polished by the belt as it travels across them.

If required, a controlled supply of a cleaning fluid can be fed from the reservoir 5 on to the belt 4 and if desired, a drying arrangement (not shown) can be provided so that when the process is complete the tray 11 is withdrawn from the apparatus with the cleaned and dried balls ready for further use.

In this embodiment also, the housing is provided with ventilation apertures 14 to enable the apparatus to be kept at a working temperature. The apparatus can be attached to a fixed location for example by securing it through the rear wall of the housing to an appropriate surface.

In the case of the stationary embodiment, two or more of the apparatus may be located side-by-side and in a further optional feature of the invention, the apparatus may be operated by the insertion of coins by the user.

Typically, the lower part of the housing is fourteen inches in each dimension and fits completely over a tray containing the snooker or billiard balls with an appropriate clearance for example of two inches all round. In the hand-held version of the apparatus, this clearance enables an operator to move the apparatus backwards and forwards or to the left and to the right, to ensure thorough cleaning. The clearances are necessary to ensure that during cleaning, the balls are not forced out of their pockets in the tray which is itself of a standardized size. The height of the cleaning belt above the tray is determined such that when the tray is properly located in the apparatus, the belt is in appropriate frictional contact with the adjoining ball surfaces.

Typically, the tray is twelve inches along each side and the cleaning belt is of a corresponding width. It is essential that the material of which the belt is made does not deface or mark the ball surface during the cleaning process and preferably in this connection, a cloth-based belt would be most- suitable.

Nevertheless, in view of the pressure which is applied to the belt in pressing against the balls for the cleaning process, the belt should be as free as possible from unnecessary stretching or extension. For ease of manufacture, the housing may be a plastics moulding, and in a further feature of the invention, the lower part of the housing forming the surrounding skirt for the tray, is arranged to form a close engagement with the tray to provide a secure location.

The hand-held version may have its housing extended, in the region of the fluid reservoir, to provide a hand grip for greater stability during the manual cleaning process, this being unnecessary where the apparatus is fixed to a firm location in which the tray 11 is positively located during operation of the apparatus on closure of the hinged front panel 10.

In the case of a coin-operated embodiment of the apparatus, the housing may contain a timer mechanism which will cease operation of the apparatus after the expiry of a predetermined period.

The apparatus of this invention enables a thorough-cleaning process to be carried out while the balls are positively located in their tray, in which they can be either stored for future use or taken directly to the playing table as may be required. The further advantage of the invention is that it eliminates all handling of the balls and thus the possibility of contamination for example by fingermarks, grease and the like.

Claims (7)

1. A ball-cleaning apparatus comprising a housing, the upper part of which contains a motor connected by a transmission means to a cleaning band or belt, the band or belt being arranged in the lower part of the housing in such a manner, in use, as to make frictional contact with the surfaces of a plurality of balls placed in a container disposed in said housing beneath said band or belt.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container for retaining the balls during operation of the apparatus comprises a tray provided with individual compartments for each ball and the arrangement is such that when the tray is located in the housing, the balls are themselves contacted frictionally by the cleaning band or belt which is driven by the motor to pass from one side of the tray to the other.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the housing contains a reservoir for a cleaning medium which is accessible from the exterior of the housing and which has a delivery means which feeds the cleaning medium to the surface of the cleaning band or belt, from which it is transferred to the balls themselves during the cleaning process.

4. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the housing contains a drying means.

5. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container is inserted through a hinged panel provided in the housing.

6. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein control means are provided to supervise operation of the apparatus.

7. A ball-cleaning apparatus, substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to the accompanying drawings.