GB2353943A

GB2353943A - Device for wiping elongate handles

Info

Publication number: GB2353943A
Application number: GB0020020A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Brackstone
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-09-07
Filing date: 2000-08-16
Publication date: 2001-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2020-08-16
Also published as: GB2353943B; GB9921050D0; GB0020020D0

Abstract

A wiper for mounting on elongate handles particularly the handles of shopping trolleys. The wiper comprises a body (14) slidably mountable on the elongate handle (12), and a wiping blade (or blades) (18) mounted on the body and adapted to bear upon the external surface of the elongate handle. Sliding movement of the body along an elongate handle will cause the wiping blade to be drawn over the surface of the handle thereby wiping from it undesirable matter. The wiper may be generally cylindrical with an aperture (16) through which the handle is a sliding fit, and the wiping blades may be inwardly directed with respect to the aperture.

Description

2353943 Handle Wipers The present invention relates to wipers for elongate

handles and to methods for wiping elongate handles using such wipers. The present invention is particularly suitable for wiping the handles of trolleys provided at 5 retail outlets (such trolleys hereinafter being referred to as shopping trolleys).

Shopping trolleys generally comprise a basket mounted on wheels, and a generally horizontal handle adapted so as to allow the trolley to be manoeuvred by a shopper. Such trolleys are provided in large numbers in many retail outlets such a supermarkets and superstores, The trolleys are io generally stored outside due to the amount of space that they occupy, as well as the fact that they are intended to be wheeled when full of merchandise, by shoppers to their parked cars as they leave the retail outlet.

Such trolleys are designed to withstand external physical conditions, but weathering can still cause problems. These problems include: wet handles caused by rain or condensation; frost settling on handles; and other detritus being deposited on the handles by previous users or from other sources. Such problems can make the subsequent user reluctant to touch the handle of the trolley until it has been cleaned and/or dried.

It is not commercially feasible to employ a person to regularly clean or dry the handles. In addition, whilst most shoppers would themselves wipe the handle if they had a cleaning implement such as a rag, such cleaning equipment is rarely carried by the average shopper.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide a device capable of wiping the surface of elongate handles such as those provided on shopping trolleys, so as to remove at least some types of undesirable material commonly found thereon, and particularly to remove moisture from the handle.

Therefore, according to the present invention there is provided a wiper for mounting on an elongate handle, which wiper comprises a body slidably mountable on the elongate handle, and a wiping blade mounted on the body and adapted to bear upon the external surface of the elongate handle, whereby sliding movement of the body along the handle will cause the wiping blade to wipe the surface of the handle.

Preferably, the body may define an aperture, with the wiper being mounted on the handle in such a way that the handle passes through the aperture. When an aperture is provided it is convenient to mounted the wiping blade so that it extends inwardly with respect to the aperture. In this way the wiping blade may be positioned between the inner facing walls of the aperture and the surface of the handle.

The majority of shopping trolley handles are generally circular in cross section along their length. Therefore the aperture may be tubular and the wiper may be specifically adapted for use on such a cylindrically-shaped handle. To wipe such a cylindrical handle, a single piece annular wiping blade may be employed, with the inner circumferential edge of the wiping blade bearing upon the handle and an outer circumferential portion of the wiping blade being used to connect the blade to the body. Alternatively, the blade as a whole may be formed from a plurality of sections which together define the blade. One example of a situation where such a segmental construction may be used is when the wiper is designed to be fitted to a handle other than by sliding on from one end, for example when retro- fitting to an existing shopping trolley. In such a situation the parts of a body that is formed in several pieces may be separated (for example by hinging) and then affixed around a handle as desired. In effect the aperture is intended to open and close over a handle, so a single piece ring shaped wiping blade is no use in such an embodiment. Instead, the wiping blade must be formed in at least two sections that co-operate to allow the fitting of the wiper over the handle and subsequent wiping thereof.

The wiper may be provided with two or more wiping blades with the additional blades being similar to or different from the first. The use of multiple blades increases the efficiency of wiping as each movement of the body along the handle wipes two or more wiping blades over the surface thereof.

As mentioned above, the body may be formed from a number of sections that allow it to be fitted around a handle when it is not possible to slide over an end thereof. In addition or alternatively, the body may comprise releasably inter-engagabie first and second parts which may be taken apart to service or replace the wiping blade.

For convenience of manufacture as well as durability the body may be formed from metal or plastics material. The wiping blade or blades will often need to be able to adapt to small variations in the cross-sectional shape or diameter of the handle being wiped. Therefore, they may be formed from resiliently deformable plastics material or rubber which will adapt to variations whilst still bearing on the surface of the handle.

The outer configuration of the body is defined more by comfort and stylistic considerations than by functional ones. For convenience the external profile may be generally cylindrical in configuration, or for example might be ergonomically shaped for easy grasping by a user's hand.

As mentioned above the wiper is primarily intended for use on a shopping trolley as hereinbefore described, and therefore may be specifically adapted for mounting thereon. However, it will be appreciated that the wipers according to the present invention will find equal application to other elongate handles. Whilst the handles of shopping trolleys are linear, the present invention could be easily configured to wipe a non linear elongate handle.

According to the present invention there is also provided a method of io wiping an elongate handle, comprising the steps of:

1) slidably mounting on the elongate handle a wiper as herein before described which comprises a body, and a wiping blade mounted on the body and adapted to bear upon the external surface of the elongate handle; 2) positioning the wiper at one end of the elongate handle; and 3) sliding the wiper along the elongate handle so that the wiping blade is drawn over the elongate handle causing the wiping blade to wipe the surface of the handle.

In order that the present invention may be better understood, and by way of example only, two similar embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of wiper mounted on an elongate handle; and Figure 2 is perspective view of a vertical section through a second embodiment of wiper (differing only in the number of wiping blades provided and the general dimensions thereof) showing a wiping blade in more detail.

As shown in Figure 1 a wiper (generally indicated 10) is mounted on a cylindrical elongate handle 12. The wiper 10 comprises an annular body 14 defining a central aperture 16 through which the handle 12 slidably fits.

Wiping blades 18 are connected to the body 14, and extend inwardly with respect to the aperture 16 from the inner facing surface 19 of the body 14.

The wiping blades 18 are resiliently deformable plastics material rings, and io the inner circumferential edge 20 of each ring bears upon the outer surface of the handle 12. The aperture 16 is generally tubular and the handle 12 is generally cylindrical along its length, with the smallest diameter of the aperture 16 being larger than the largest diameter of the handle 12. As the wiping blade 18 extends inwardly with respect to the aperture 16 it spans the distance between the aperture 16 and the handle 12 to bear upon the handle.

Movement of the wiper 10 along the handle 12 in the direction of arrow A or B causes the wiper blades 18 to be dragged over the surface of the handle thereby wiping it. Any minor variation in the size of the handle 12 may be accommodated by the resilience of the wiping blades 18.

Figure 2 shows a slightly different second embodiment, whose most significant difference is that only one wiper blade is provided. This Figure shows a vertical section and is intended to clarify how the wiping blade extends around the inside of the aperture. Where possible like reference numerals will be used to describe like parts.

Part of a wiper 22 is shown around a cylindrical handle 12. The entire wiper 22 has a tubular shaped body 24 defining an aperture 16 through which the handle 12 is a sliding fit. The outer surface 26 of the body is grasped by a user and the inner surface 28 is disposed toward the surface of the handle 12. A ring shaped wiping blade 30 is provided on the body 24 and extends inwardly with respect to the inner surface 28. The wiping blade is firmly held within a recess in the inner surface 28 so that sliding movement of the wiper along a handle will not dislodge the wiping blade 30.

Although not shown in the drawings, a body and wiping blade may io be formed from several parts, which may be releasably inter-engaged. The releasable inter-engagement allows, amongst other things, the wiping blade (or blades) to be inserted and subsequently held by the body. In addition as the wiping blade is likely to wear or degrade, this feature would also allow the wiper to be taken apart so that the wiping blade may be replaced or serviced.

Claims

1. A wiper for mounting on an elongate handle, which wiper comprises a body slidably mountable on the elongate handle, and a wiping blade mounted on the body and adapted to bear upon the external surface of the elongate handle, whereby sliding movement of the body along the elongate handle will cause the wiping blade to wipe the surface of the handle.

2. A wiper as claimed in claim I wherein the body defines an aperture and the wiping blade is mounted so that it extends inwardly with respect to the aperture.

3. A wiper as claimed in claim 2, wherein the aperture is tubular and the wiper is adapted for use on a cylindrically-shaped handle

4. A wiper as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wiping blade is annular in shape, and the inner circumferential edge of the wiping blade bears upon the handle and an outer circumferential portion of the wiping blade is connected to the body.

5. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein a second wiping blade is additionally provided.

6. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the body comprises releasably inter-engagable first and second parts which may be taken apart to service or replace the wiping blade.

7. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the body is formed from metal or plastics material.

8. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the wiping blade or blades are formed from resiliently deformable or rubber plastics material.

9. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the body is generally cylindrical in configuration.

10. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the wiper is adapted for mounting on the elongate handle of a conventional shopping trolley.

11. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, which is removably attachable to the elongate handle.

12. A wiper as claimed in claim 11 wherein a plurality of wiping blade sections are provided so that when attached to the handle, they together form the wiping blade or blades.

13. A wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims and substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A method of wiping an elongate handle, comprising the steps of:

slidably mounting on the elongate handle a wiper as claimed in any of the preceding claims which comprises a body, and a wiping blade mounted on the body and adapted to bear upon the external surface of the elongate handle; positioning the wiper at one end of the elongate handle; and sliding the wiper along the elongate handle so that the wiping blade is drawn over the elongate handle causing the wiping blade to wipe the surface of the handle.