GB2400022A

GB2400022A - Roller cleaner with independently rotatable rollers

Info

Publication number: GB2400022A
Application number: GB0405129A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Sheila Hamilton; Charles Jonathan Kennett
Original assignee: Teknek Electronics Ltd
Current assignee: Teknek Electronics Ltd
Priority date: 2003-03-07
Filing date: 2004-03-08
Publication date: 2004-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 2024-03-08
Also published as: GB0305258D0; GB2400022B; GB0405129D0

Abstract

A roller apparatus 100 comprises a support 112 means with a shaft 118 mounted thereon, and a plurality of independently rotatable rollers 116a, 116b mounted on the shaft, each roller having a cleaning material 120 disposed on its outer surface. A handle 114 may also be mounted on the support means. The shaft may carry two primary rollers, and a secondary roller 126 maybe mounted parallel to the primary rollers, to overlap a gap between the two primary rollers. Alternatively, more than two primary rollers may be provided, with a plurality of secondary rollers being disposed to overlap gaps between the primary rollers. The secondary rollers may also have cleaning material disposed on their outer surface. He cleaning material may be an adhesive or an elastomer.

Description

a: * 1 2400022 1 Roller Apparatus 3 This invention relates to roller

apparatus used 4 particularly, but not exclusively, for applying a rotatable cylindrical adhesive cleaning surface to a 6 surface of sheet material to remove impurities from 7 said surface of the sheet material.

9 Known roller apparatus, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, generally comprise a support having a handle at one 11 end, and a rotatable roller mounted on a shaft 12 located at the other end transverse to the support.

14 The roller has an adhesive cleaning material located around the outer circumference of the roller to 16 provide an adhesive cleaning surface that is used to 17 remove impurities from a surface of sheet material.

19 In use, the known roller apparatus is held by the handle and the adhesive cleaning surface of the 21 roller is applied to a surface of sheet material to 22 remove impurities therefrom by "rolling" the roller # a e C e À a 1 forwards and backwards in substantially straight 2 lines over the surface of the sheet material.

4 Whilst known apparatus operates efficiently in a forward and backward direction, such apparatus is 6 inefficient when being used in an arcuate or 7 circular motion, because of the differential rolling 8 friction along the length of the roller.

According to the present invention there is provided 11 roller apparatus comprising a support having shaft 12 means mounted thereon, the shaft means carrying a 13 plurality of independently rotatable rollers, each 14 roller having a cleaning material located on its respective outer circumference to provide a cleaning 16 surface to remove impurities from a surface of sheet 17 material.

19 Preferably, the roller apparatus includes a handle mounted on the support.

22 In a preferred first embodiment, the shaft means 23 carries two primary rollers.

Preferably, at least one secondary roller is 26 provided having a cleaning material located on its 27 respective outer circumference to provide a cleaning 28 surface to remove impurities from a surface of sheet 29 material, the secondary roller being shaped and mounted such that it operates in conjunction with 31 the independently rotatable rollers to provide 32 continuous cleaning across the roller apparatus. 4

À .e À À 2 Preferably, the secondary roller is positioned 3 substantially parallel to the independently

4 rotatable rollers.

6 Preferably, the secondary roller substantially 7 overlaps axially a gap between the two primary 8 rollers.

Preferably, the secondary roller is located in front 11 of the independently rotatable rollers.

12 Alternatively, the secondary roller is located 13 behind the independently rotatable rollers.

In a second preferred embodiment, the shaft means 16 carries three or more primary rollers.

18 Preferably, the secondary rollers are provided with 19 a cleaning material located on their respective outer circumference to provide a cleaning surface to 21 remove impurities from a surface of sheet material, 22 the secondary rollers being shaped and mounted such 23 that they operate in conjunction with the 24 independently rotatable primary rollers to provide continuous cleaning across the roller apparatus.

27 Preferably, the secondary rollers are removeably 2 8 attached to the support or handle.

Preferably, the independently rotatable primary 31 rollers and the secondary rollers are offset against 32 one another along axes parallel to the axis of the À .e air., .6 a' e.e 1 shaft.

3 Preferably, the secondary rollers are independently

4 rotatable.

6 Preferably, the secondary rollers substantially 7 overlap axially the gaps between the primary 8 rollers.

Preferably, the cleaning material is an adhesive 11 material.

13 Alternatively, the cleaning material is an elastomer 14 material.

16 Embodiments of the present invention will now be 17 described, by way of example only, with reference to 18 the accompanying drawings in which: Figs. 1 and 2 are front views of known roller 21 apparatus; 23 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of roller 24 apparatus made in accordance with the present 2 5 invention; 27 Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the roller 2 8 apparatus of Fig. 3; 3 0 Fig. 5 is a side view of the roller apparatus 3 1 of Fig. 3; ece À .:' :. em:.

. À . . 1 Fig. 6 is a section view along line AA-AA of 2 the roller apparatus of Fig. 5; 4 Fig. 7 is a perspective view of alternative roller apparatus made in accordance with the 6 present invention; and 8 Figs 8a to 8c are schematic representations of 9 various configurations of the independently rotatable rollers and the secondary rollers: 11 Figs 8a and 8b relate to two embodiments of the 12 roller apparatus of Fig. 7; and Fig 8c relates 13 to the roller apparatus of Fig. 3.

With reference to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown 16 known roller apparatus 10 and 30 generally 17 comprising a support 12, 32 having a handle 14, 34 18 at one end, and a roller 16, 36 mounted on a shaft 19 18, 38 that is located transverse to the support 12, 32 at the other end.

22 An adhesive cleaning material 20, 40 is located on 23 the outer circumference of the roller 16, 36 24 providing a radially outwardly facing adhesive cleaning surface to remove impurities from a surface 26 of sheet material when the roller apparatus 10, 30 27 is applied to the sheet material.

29 In use, the known roller apparatus 10, 30 is held by the handle 14, 34 and the adhesive cleaning surface 31 of the adhesive cleaning material 20, 40 is applied 32 to the surface of sheet material to remove . c.. :c 1 impurities therefrom by "rolling" the roller 16, 36 2 forwards and backwards in substantially straight 3 lines.

Whilst known apparatus operates efficiently in a 6 forward and backward direction, such apparatus is 7 inefficient when being used in an arcuate or 8 circular motion.

The known roller apparatus 10, 30 is inefficient at 11 removing impurities from a surface of sheet material 12 when being "rolled" in an arcuate or circular motion 13 because one end of the roller 16, 36 travels a 14 shorter distance when being rolled in an arcuate or circular motion than the other end, thus both ends 16 of the roller 16, 36 are required to roll at 17 different angular velocities to maintain the roller 18 16, 36 contiguous with the surface of the sheet 19 material in an arcuate or circular motion.

21 The known roller apparatus 10, 30 does not allow the 22 roller 16, 36 to have differing angular velocities 23 about its ends. Accordingly, the roller apparatus 24 10, 30 does not move smoothly causing the sheet material to become distorted or to rotate to 26 accommodate the differing angular velocities 27 required to manoeuvre the roller apparatus 10, 30 in 28 an arcuate or circular motion.

This can result in damage to the sheet material 31 arising from differential friction between the 32 roller 10, 30 and the sheet material.

Àe t.' :. ..

2 It is therefore desirable to provide roller 3 apparatus that can be efficiently used in an arcuate 4 or circular motion to remove impurities from a surface of sheet material.

7 In a first embodiment of a roller apparatus made in 8 accordance with the present invention, as shown in 9 Figs. 3 to 5, roller apparatus 100 comprises a support 112 having a handle 114 at one end, and 11 roller shaft means 118 located at the other end, 12 transverse to the support 112.

14 The roller shaft means 118 is made up of two separate roller shafts 118a and 118b that are 16 connected together by a central support hub 119 in 17 the form of a grub screw which is located at the 18 longitudinal mid-point of the roller shaft means 19 118.

21 The support 112 is mounted through the support hub 22 119 to allow a load applied to the handle 114 to be 23 evenly distributed to the roller apparatus 100.

The handle is preferably made of a strong and 26 lightweight plastic material moulded about the 27 support 112.

29 Rollers 116a and 116b (primary rollers) are located on respective shafts 118a and 118b and partially 31 extend beyond the ends of the shafts 118a, 118b 32 furthest away from the support 112.

8 8 8 8 8 2 An adhesive cleaning material 120a, 120b is located 3 on the outer circumference of the rollers 116a, 116b 4 providing a radially outwardly facing adhesive cleaning surface to remove impurities from a surface 6 of sheet material when applied.

8 Alternatively, an elastomer cleaning material may be 9 used instead of the adhesive cleaning material. The elastomer cleaning material is also suitable for 11 cleaning the surface of sheet material. It is to be 12 understood that any reference to adhesive cleaning 13 materials can also be read as a reference to the 14 alternative elastomer cleaning material.

16 A pair of bushes 122a and 123a are located at 17 respective ends of the roller shaft 118a between the 18 shaft 118a and the roller 116a, and similar bushes 19 122b and 123b are located at respective ends of the roller shaft 118b, between the shaft 118b and the 21 roller 116b.

23 These bushes 122a, 122b, 123a, 123b provide a 24 rotatable bearing to allow the rollers 116a, 116b to individually rotate around the respective shafts 26 118a, 118b with ease.

28 It should be realised that there will be a gap 124 29 between the rollers 116a, 116b due to the width of the support 112. This may result in impurities that 31 fall within this gap 124 not being removed from the 32 surface of the sheet material.

t t < t 2 To remove such impurities, a secondary, jockey 3 roller 126 is located directly behind the gap 124 4 when the roller apparatus 100 is being rolled forwards (see Fig. act.

7 The jockey roller 126 is similar to the rollers 116a 8 and 116b having an adhesive cleaning material 9 located around its outer circumference to provide an outwardly facing adhesive cleaning surface to remove 11 impurities from the surface of the sheet material 12 when applied.

14 The jockey roller 126 is mounted on a jockey shaft 128 that is located substantially parallel to roller 16 shaft 118 located directly behind the gap 124 when 17 the roller apparatus 100 is being rolled forwards.

19 The jockey shaft 128 is removably connected to the roller shaft 118 by a mount 130.

22 The mount 130 is formed of two stepped legs 132 and 23 134 to form a fork-like bracket 130. One end of the 24 legs 132, 134 are attached to either side of the support 112, while the other end of the legs 132, 26 134 are respectively secured by means to either side 27 of the jockey shaft 128.

29 The bracket 130 is mounted at an angle such that the outer circumference of the jockey roller 126 comes 31 into contact with the surface of the sheet material 4, ' 2 " ' 1 in unison with the rollers 116a, 116b when the 2 roller apparatus 100 is in use.

4 In use, the roller apparatus 100 is placed such that the adhesive cleaning surfaces of the rollers 116a, 6 116b and the jockey roller 126 are in direct contact 7 with a surface of sheet material.

9 The roller apparatus 100 is then "rolled" over the surface of the sheet material where the adhesive 11 cleaning surfaces being applied, remove any 12 impurities from the surface of the sheet material.

14 The roller apparatus 100 can be "rolled" in any direction, including in an arcuate and circular 16 motion by virtue of the independent rollers 116a and 17 116b which allow the rollers to rotate with 18 differing velocities providing the roller apparatus 19 100 with improved manoeuvrability.

21 In a second embodiment made in accordance with the 22 present invention, as shown in Fig. 7, alternative 23 roller apparatus 200 comprises a support 212 having 24 a handle 214 at one end, and a roller support member 215 transversely located at the other end to the 26 handle 214.

28 The support 212 is generally T-shaped and includes 29 shaft supports 220, 222 located at either end of the roller support member 215, transverse to said 31 support.

1 1 8 , 8 1 Shaft means (not shown) is removably attached 2 between the shaft support members 220, 222.

4 A plurality, in this case six, rollers 216 are rotatably mounted on the shaft means.

7 An adhesive cleaning material 224 is located on the 8 outer circumference of each of the rollers 216 9 providing a radially outwardly facing adhesive cleaning surface to remove impurities from a surface 11 of sheet material when applied.

13 Each respective roller 216 is provide with a 14 rotatable bearing to allow the rollers 216 to individually rotate around the shaft means with 16 ease.

18 In use, the roller apparatus 200 is placed such that 19 the adhesive cleaning surfaces of the rollers 216 are in direct contact with a surface of sheet 21 material.

23 The roller apparatus 200 is then "rolled" over the 24 surface of the sheet material, and the adhesive cleaning surfaces remove any impurities from the 26 surface of the sheet material.

28 The roller apparatus 200 can be "rolled" in any 29 direction, including in an arcuate and circular motion by virtue of the independent rollers 216 31 which allow the rollers to rotate with differing 1 1.1 ::e:ec i, '.

1 velocities giving the roller apparatus 200 improved 2 manoeuvrability.

4 It should be recognized that improved manoeuvrability will be realised by increasing the 6 number of individually rotatable rollers on the 7 shaft means, and at the same time, decreasing the 8 length of each roller on the shaft means.

Modifications and improvements may be made to the 11 above without departing from the scope of the 12 present invention, for example, the jockey roller of 13 the first embodiment may equally well be located in 14 front of the rollers 116a, 116b.

16 Likewise, a number of secondary jockey rollers may 17 be located parallel to the rollers 216, adjacent the 18 gaps, in the second embodiment of the present 19 invention (see Fig. 8a).

21 In a modification to the present invention, there 22 may be two sets of individualy rotatable rollers 23 mounted on two parallel shaft means located at the 24 end of the support. A first set of rollers 216 on one of the shaft means is "off-set" with respect to 26 the second set of rollers 126 such that impurities 27 falling within the regions of the gaps in the first 28 set of rollers 216, are removed by the second set of 29 rollers 126 (see Fig. 8b).

31 Although the invention has been described with 32 reference to particular roller shaft means, it is to # C # A 1 be understood that any suitable shaft means may be 2 used to rotatably mount the primary rollers and/or 3 jockey rollers.

Claims

7; À | r I 1 CLAIMS 31. Roller apparatus comprising a support having

4shaft means mounted thereon, the shaft means carrying a plurality of independently rotatable 6 rollers, each roller having a cleaning material 7 located on its respective outer circumference 8 to provide a cleaning surface to remove 9 impurities from a surface of sheet material.

11 2. Roller apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein 12 the roller apparatus includes a handle mounted 13 on the support.

3. Roller apparatus as claimed in either preceding 16 claim, wherein the shaft means carries two 17 primary rollers.

19 4. Roller apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein at least one secondary roller is provided 21 having a cleaning material located on its 22 respective outer circumference to provide a 23 cleaning surface to remove impurities from a 24 surface of sheet material, the secondary roller being shaped and mounted such that it operates 26 in conjunction with the independently rotatable 27 rollers to provide continuous cleaning across 28 the roller apparatus.

5. Roller apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein 31 the secondary roller is positioned 32 substantially parallel to the independently ll.

. 1. .

1 rotatable rollers.

3 6. Roller apparatus as claimed in claim 4 or claim 4 5, wherein the secondary roller substantially overlaps axially a gap between the two primary 6 rollers.

8 7. Roller apparatus as claimed in claims 4 to 6 9 the secondary roller is located in front of the independently rotatable rollers.

12 8. Roller apparatus as claimed in claims 4 to 6 13 the secondary roller is located behind the 14 independently rotatable rollers.

16 9. Roller apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 17 to 8, wherein the shaft means carries three or 18 more primary rollers.

10. Roller apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein 21 the secondary rollers are provided with a 22 cleaning material located on their respective 23 outer circumference to provide a cleaning 24 surface to remove impurities from a surface of sheet material, the secondary rollers being 2 6 shaped and mounted such that they operate in 27 conjunction with the independently rotatable 28 primary rollers to provide continuous cleaning 29 across the roller apparatus.

31 11. Roller apparatus as claimed in claim 9 or claim 32 10, wherein the secondary rollers substantially c:e.e c's:e j,. i'.

1 overlap axially the gaps between the primary 2 rollers.

4 12.Roller apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 to 11, wherein the secondary rollers are 6 removeably attached to the support or handle.

8 13.Roller apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 9 to 12, wherein the independently rotatable primary rollers and the secondary rollers are 11 offset against one another along axes parallel 12 to the axis of the shaft.

14 14.Roller apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 to 12, wherein the secondary rollers are 16 independently rotatable.

18 15.Roller apparatus as claimed in any preceding 19 claim, wherein the cleaning material is an adhesive material.

22 16.Roller apparatus as claimed in claims 1 to 14, 23 wherein the cleaning material is an elastomer 24 material.

26 17.Roller apparatus substantially as hereinbefore 27 described with reference to the drawings.