GB2249022A - Scrubbing/polishing/polish stripping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Portable scrubbing/polishing/polish stripping apparatus comprising a hand-held electrically driven power unit 2, a rotary scrubbing/polishing/stripping head 3 remote from the power unit 2, and a rigid hollow shaft 4 extending between the power unit 2 and the head 3. A flexible drive cable, by means of which rotary motion may be transmitted from the power unit to the head, extends along the passage within the shaft 4. Such apparatus is easy to use as the head can be placed at the required position on the floor or other surface and driven by the hand-held power unit under operator control, and the operator is not required to carry out scrubbing or polishing or polish stripping on hands and knees. <IMAGE>

Description

"Scrubbinq/Polishinv/Polish Stripping Apparatus" This invention relates to scrubbing/polishing/polish stripping apparatus, and is concerned more particularly, but not exclusively, with such apparatus for scrubbing or polishing floors or for stripping polish from floors.

A wide range of floor maintenance equipment is available for both commercial and domestic use.

Particularly when designed for commercial use, floor maintenance machines are often large, sophisticated in design and expensive. They may also be designed to be multi-functional in floor cleaning tasks. Such machines require a minimum labour input, but are inappropriate for performing certain tasks, such as cleaning or polishing in confined spaces or close to a wall or corner. Other types of floor maintenance equipment are simply cleaning utensils which, although they can be used in confined spaces and close to a wall or corner, are labour intensive and laborious to use.

It is an object of the invention to provide novel scrubbing/polishing/polish stripping apparatus which can be used in applications in which conventional equipment cannot be used or in which use of such equipment is difficult or laborious.

According to the present invention there is provided portable scrubbing/poishing/polish stripping apparatus comprising a hand-held electrically driven power unit, a rotary scrubbing/polishing/stripping head remote from the power unit, a rigid shaft extending between the power unit and the head, and drive means by means of which rotary motion may be transmitted from the power unit along the shaft to the head.

Such apparatus is easy to use as the scrubbing/polishing/stripping head can be placed at the required position on the floor or other surface and driven by the hand-held power unit under operator control.

Furthermore the shaft interconnecting the power unit and the head may be of such a length as to permit operation of the apparatus in the standing position so that the operator is not required to carry out scrubbing or polishing or polish stripping on hands and knees. This will also distance the operator from harmful fumes or bacteria. The apparatus may be provided with interchangeable scrubbing and/or polishing and/or polish stripping fitments to increase its versatility. Also such apparatus can generally be used safely in wet conditions since there is little danger of live parts being contacted by water or cleaning fluid.

It is preferred that the drive means is constituted by a flexible drive cable which is coupled at its ends to the power unit and the head respectively and which extends along a passage within the shaft.

Furthermore a handle is preferably mounted on the shaft to assist in movement of the head over a surface to be scrubbed or polished or stripped. The handle may be adjustable in position along the shaft to suit the operator. This means that the apparatus can be used comfortably by operators of different heights.

It is also preferred that the scrubbing/polishing/stripping head is connected to the shaft by an angle drive unit by means of which rotary motion about the shaft axis is converted to rotary motion about a transverse axis, which is preferably at right angles to the shaft axis in the vicinity of the angle drive unit. Furthermore the angle drive unit may be adjustable to different angular positions on the shaft, and/or may be freely rotatable on the shaft, to suit particular scrubbing or polishing or stripping requirements.

Conveniently the scrubbing/polishing/stripping head is adapted to permit attachment and detachment of a range of scrubbing or polishing or stripping fitments to suit particular cleaning or polishing or stripping needs.

These may include cylindrical or annular brushes for scrubbing floors or carpets or for general cleaning, rotary stripping brushes for stripping sealant or polish from tile or concrete floors, and rotary pads for stripping, buffing, scrubbing or polishing.

For example the scrubbing/polishing/stripping head may be provided with an internally screwthreaded axial recess and an externally screwthreaded clamping member for engagement within the recess to secure a scrubbing/polishing/stripping fitment to the head.

The power unit may be formed by a pistol grip housing accommodating an electrical motor and having a control button in the pistol grip portion of the housing.

Conveniently the power unit is formed by a modified portable pistol drill. Furthermore the shaft may be coupled to the housing of the power unit by a collar which is clamped to a portion of the housing.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of preferred scrubbing/polishing/stripping apparatus in accordance with the invention; Figures 2 and 3 are respectively a cross-section and an axial section of the apparatus in the vicinity of the connection of the shaft to the power unit, the crosssection being taken along the line A-A in Figure 3; Figures 4 and 5 are axial sections through the angle drive unit and the head respectively; Figure 6 is a perspective view of modified apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Referring to Figure 1 the scrubbing/polishing/stripping apparatus 1 shown therein comprises a power unit 2 and a remote scrubbing/polishing/stripping head 3 connected to the power unit 2 by a hollow shaft 4 carrying an adjustable plastics handle 5. The handle 5 is clamped on the shaft 4 by clamping screws which may be loosened to enable the handle to be adjusted in position along the shaft or in its orientation relative to the shaft. The power unit 2 is constituted by a modified portable pistol drill having a housing 6 and a power lead 7. The housing 6 has a pistol grip portion 8 incorporating a variable speed control button 9, and a lock button 10 is preferably also provided to lock the button 9 in a desired speed position in a conventional manner.

The shaft 4 is connected to the power unit 2 by a clamping collar 11 which is clamped on the housing 6, and has a swan neck portion 12 towards its lower end.

Furthermore the shaft 4 is coupled to the head 3 by way of an angle drive unit 13, and rotary drive is transmitted from the power unit 2 to the angle drive unit 13 by a flexible drive cable 14 (see Figure 3) extending along an axial passage within the hollow shaft 4. A scrubbing brush 15 is detachably connected to the head 3.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the clamping collar 11 encircles a cylindrical body portion 16 of the housing 6 of the power unit 2, and is held thereon by tightening of a bolt 17 extending through a clamp bush 18 into an internally screwthreaded bore 19 in the collar 11 so as to cause the clamp bush 18 to exert clamping pressure on the body portion 16. Although not shown in these figures, there are also two screws extending through screwthreaded bores in the collar 11 to bear on diametrically opposite sides of the shaft 4 to secure the shaft 4 within the collar 11. The flexible drive cable 14 is connected to a rotary output shaft 20 of the power unit 2 by a coupling sleeve 22 which is crimped and soldered on the end of the cable 14 and which has a portion 23 which is screwed onto the output shaft 20.A plastics bush 24 is also provided within the end of the hollow shaft 4 to centre the shaft 4 with respect to the output shaft 20.

Although not shown in the figures, there is also a plastics lining sleeve within the hollow shaft 4.

Referring to Figure 4 an angle drive adaptor 25 is secured to the other end of the shaft 4 by two screws (not shown) extending through screwthreaded bores in the adaptor 25 to bear on diametrically opposite sides of the shaft 4, and a plastics bush 26 is provided within the end of the shaft 4. Furthermore a coupling sleeve 27 is crimped and soldered on the end of the cable 14, and a drive adaptor 28 is secured to the sleeve 27 by a screw 29 extending through a screwthreaded bore in the adaptor 28 so as to clamp a square-section portion of the sleeve 27 within a square-section bore in the adaptor 28.

Although not shown in Figure 4, the angle drive unit 13 has an axial slot in its outer wall and apertured radial projections on its outer surface provided on opposite sides of the axial slot and interconnected by a clamping screw which clamps the angle drive unit 13 on the angle drive adaptor 25. The clamping screw also passes through a hole 30A in a tag 30 held within the axial slot in the angle drive unit 13 and having a projection 31 which extends into an annular groove 32 in the adaptor 25.

The clamping screw may be released by an allen key to permit the angle drive unit 13 to be freely rotatable through 360C during use if required, or to enable the relative orientation of the angle drive unit 13 with respect to the adaptor 25 to be changed.

The angle drive unit 13 incorporates an input shaft 33 having a recessed end 34 which is locked on a hexagonal end portion 35 of the drive adaptor 28. The input shaft 33 drives an output shaft 36 of the angle drive unit 13 by way of bevel gears 37 and 38, and the axes of the input and output shafts are at right angles to one another.

Referring to Figure 5, the head 3 has an adaptor portion 39 which is screwed on the output shaft 36 of the angle drive unit 13, and a bush portion 40 which is fitted on the adaptor portion 39 and secured thereto by screws (not shown) extending through countersunk holes in the adaptor portion 39 into screwthreaded recesses in the bush portion 40. The bush portion 40 incorporates two drive pegs 41 which are screwed into axial bores 42 in the bush portion 40 and which engage corresponding recesses in the brush 15 so as to secure the brush 15 against rotation with respect to the head 3. The brush 15 is held on the head 3 by a bush 43 and a clamping bolt 44 which extends through the bush 43 into a screwthreaded recess 45 in the adaptor portion 39 of the head 3.

The above described apparatus is easy to manoeuvre and can be used with little fatigue since it typically weighs only about 4 kilograms. The head may be manoeuvred close to walls as well as underneath counters and awkward fixtures without the operator having to get down on hands and knees. Furthermore, by unlocking of the angle drive unit relative to the angle drive adaptor, the angle drive unit is rendered freely rotatable through 360 , thus allowing downward or horizontal brush pressure to be applied to gain powerful cleaning access under low fittings whilst the operator is in the standing position.

Intermediate angular positions of the angle drive unit may be set to permit awkward angular cleaning jobs to be carried out. For example the head may be set at 90C to the normal position shown in Figure 1 to enable introduction of virtually the whole shaft under a low fitting (with the operator on hands and knees in this case) The apparatus of Figure 6 uses the same parts as the apparatus of Figure 1 except that it has a shorter shaft 12' interconnecting the power unit 2 and the head 3.

This embodiment is particularly suitable for applications in which walls or other vertical surfaces are to be cleaned.

Claims (12)

1. Portable scrubbing/polishing/polish stripping apparatus comprising a hand-held electrically driven power unit, a rotary scrubbing/polishing/stripping head remote from the power unit, a rigid shaft extending between the power unit and the head, and drive means by means of which rotary motion may be transmitted from the power unit along the shaft to the head.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the drive means is constituted by a flexible drive cable which is coupled at its ends to the power unit and the head respectively and which extends along a passage within the shaft.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a handle is mounted on the shaft to assist in movement of the head over a surface to be scrubbed or polished or stripped.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 3, wherein the handle is adjustable in position along the shaft to suit the operator.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the head is connected to the shaft by an angle drive unit by means of which rotary motion about the shaft axis is converted to rotary motion about a transverse axis.

6. Apparatus according to Claim 5, wherein the angle drive unit is adjustable to different angular positions on the shaft, and/or is freely rotatable on the shaft, to suit particular scrubbing or polishing or stripping requirements.

7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the head is adapted to permit attachment and detachment of a range of scrubbing or polishing or stripping fitments to suit particular cleaning or polishing or stripping needs.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the head is provided with an internally screwthreaded axial recess and an externally screwthreaded clamping member for engagement within the recess to secure a scrubbing/polishing/stripping fitment to the head.

9. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the power unit is formed by a pistol grip housing accommodating an electrical motor and having a control button in the pistol grip portion of the housing.

10. Apparatus according to Claim 9, wherein the power unit is formed by a modified portable pistol drill.

11. Apparatus according to Claim 9 or 10, wherein the shaft is coupled to the housing of the power unit by a collar which is clamped to a portion of the housing.

12. Portable scrubbing/polishing/polish stripping apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.