GB2547623A

GB2547623A - An apparatus for cleaning elevated windows and gutters

Info

Publication number: GB2547623A
Application number: GB1520455.5A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ivan Lucian
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-11-20
Filing date: 2015-11-20
Publication date: 2017-08-30
Anticipated expiration: 2035-11-20
Also published as: GB201520455D0; GB2547623B

Abstract

The present invention is a tubular stiff rod member assembled from a plurality of similar tubular rod sections 1a. The rod section 1a can taper continuously and uniformly from a male end 2b to a female end 3a. The taper is selected so that when the male end 2b of one rod section is inserted into the female end 3a of a second rod section, the first and second rod section are constrained to overlap by a limited predetermined distance. A first coupling part 6 is attached adjacent a female end 3a of each rod section, and the second coupling part 9 is attached a predetermined distance from the male end 2b of each rod section. The first and second coupling parts cooperate to prevent the joined rod sections from jamming together or unintentionally pulling apart. The coupling parts can take the form of a pin projecting from one coupling part and engaging with a track formed in the other coupling part, and are engaged and disengaged via longitudinal and rotational movements. A spring means can be incorporated to discourage unintentional relevant longitudinal movement.

Description

An Apparatus for Cleaning Elevated Windows and/or Gutters

Technical Field

The present invention is primarily but not exclusively a rod member to be assembled into an apparatus for use on a worksite remote from the user. Such apparatus is commonly used for cleaning windows or gutters at a location remote from the user, especially windows and gutters elevated relative to the user. In particular these systems are comprised of an elongated sectional stiff rod supporting a cleaning device such as; a brush, sponge, squeegee, spray or suction nozzle.

Prior Art A well known method for cleaning relatively elevated windows and gutters is via the use of an apparatus comprised of an elongated rod held by hand at one end and having one or more of a brush, sponge, spray or suction nozzle at the remote elevated end. In order to be able to reach a target such as a window or gutter up to seven or eight stories (approximately 20m) above the user, the pole is fabricated in sections, commonly of carbon composite, to achieve the required stiffness while continuing to be light and therefore minimise swaying and maximise control.

Some poles are constructed of telescopic sections. In such a case each section is of a uniform outside and inside diameter, however each other subsequent section must be of relatively reduced diameter so that one extensible section can slide substantially entirely into another housing section. It should be understood that the extensible section may be a housing section for a further extensible section. It is necessary to incorporate fluid seals and bearing structures between each housing section and associated extensible section, thereby increasing the weight and complexity of fabrication.

To prevent the extended telescopic rod sections collapsing back into the respective housing sections, and relatively rotating, it is necessary to provide a clamp or brake, commonly in the form of an overlocking cam mechanism manually actuated by a lever. These can snag on protruding features of a structure being worked on, which at best is annoying and at worst case can cause the clamp to fail and the extended rod to retract into or pull out of the associated housing section.

The elements securing the clamp to the rod section obstruct the bore of the rod. A further disadvantage of the telescopic system is that the repeated extending and retraction of the sections causes wear on the bearing and seals and the seals, which are usually resilient elastomer rings introduce play between the sections. Play will make it harder work to bring the remote end of the rod on target.

It is necessary for the user to judge how far to extend the rod section. If the user over extends the rod it may collapse. Commonly the clamp bites onto the carbon fibre, wearing into the carbon fibre, and over time this will shorten the life of the pole.

Telescopic poles are difficult to disassemble and are therefore practically of a fixed weight. As a consequence, a user cleaning a target at the 6th floor must carry the same number of rod sections, and therefore weight of rod at the 2nd floor.

An alternative modular form of the apparatus is illustrated in the sectional view of figure 1 (prior art). This uses multiple similar elongate tubular rod sections 1a, 1b, tapered so that the narrow, male end 2a, of a first rod section 1a sockets into the wide female end 2b of the extending rod section 1 b. For the avoidance of doubt, many more than two rod sections can be assembled but two is sufficient to illustrate the principle. Figure 1 shows the taper somewhat exaggerated since the tubes are around 1,8m to 2m long and drawn to scale the taper is not clearly visible. The outer surface of the narrow male end part engages with a close sliding fit in the complementarily tapered inner surface of the engaged wide female end forming an effective fluid tight seal without the use of elastomer or other fluid sealing elements. A middle part is defined as that part of the rod section which does not overlap with the male and female parts of two other rod sections joined to the rod sections. The engaged surfaces of the male and female ends of the rod cooperate to increase the stiffness of the assembled rod relative to the separate sections.

One application of an apparatus of this type is in suction cleaning, for example in gutters. In this case an arcuate suction nozzle is attached to the tip of the rod to reach down into the gutter. Suction is then applied at the base of the rod and communicated to the suction nozzle via the bore in the hollow rod. Fouling in the gutter can then be drawn into the suction nozzle. A problem with telescopic section rods is that the bore is unavoidably narrow at the top of the deployed rod which therefore tends to choke. In this event much time can be wasted in bringing the tip down to unblock the bore and redeploy the apparatus.

The bore of an assembled modular rod is, of similar diameter at the tip of the rod as it is at the base of the rod. There are no obstructions in the rod bore making choking and blockage unlikely.

The user of a modular taper section rod only deploys the number of sections required to reach the elevation of the work target. A telescopic rod section cannot easily be separated from the rod assembly, and consequently, the mass of a telescopic rod is essentially fixed. Thus for at least some duties, a taper rod can be made lighter and therefore relatively more stiff and easier to use than a telescopic rod.

Taper section rods suffer a significant disadvantage over telescopic rods in that the weight of overhead sections causes a wedging action between connected sections. Even if the user has troubled to deploy lubricant on the joining surfaces any fouling can cause the joints to jam together so that they are very difficult to separate after deployment. A further problem is caused if the user wishes to deploy the rod from above downwards or sideways. In this condition the weight of depending sections may pull the joints apart.

The present invention aims to provide a connector for a taper section rod which allows taper section rods to be reliably and easily connected and prevents either the jamming or pulling apart described above. The connector aims to avoid any obstruction to the bore of the rod or weakening of the section. The connector will aim to be resistant to snagging.

Statement of Invention A rod member to be assembled into an apparatus for working on a worksite remote from the user comprising: a rod section in the form of an elongate tube with a male end part and a female end part; the male end part having an external surface tapered from a large diameter at a transition position adjacent a middle part of the rod section to a relatively smaller diameter at the male end of the rod section, and a female end part, remote from the male end part, and having an internal surface tapering from a narrow section adjacent the middle part to a relatively wide section adjacent the female end of the rod section, said internal tapered surface and external tapered surface forming a complementary sliding fit when the male end part of one rod section is inserted into the female end part of another, similar, rod section; wherein each rod section has; a male coupling part immovably fastened to the external surface at the transition position and a female complementary coupling part immovably fastened to the external surface at the end of the female part; whereby a male coupling part of a first rod section will be able to engage or disengage with a female coupling part of a second rod section to prevent unwanted longitudinal motion between the coupling parts, and; the coupling parts having means manually operable to facilitate disengagement of the coupling parts and so permit relative longitudinal motion to separate the first rod section and the second rod section.

The taper of the male end part and the female end part is preferably provided by forming the rod section to have a uniform wall thickness and a uniform taper extending from a relatively large diameter female end to a small diameter male end. However, the invention does encompass rod sections with a middle part of uniform wall thickness and diameter, the wall thickness being progressively varied at the male end part and female end part. In the preferred case the middle part is defined as that part of the rod section which does not overlap with the male and female parts of two other rod sections joined to the rod sections.

Each male and female coupling part may be in the form of a collar secured to the external surfaces of the rod section. Advantageously each coupling part can be secured to the external surface of the rod section without perforating or otherwise removing material from the rod section. The coupling parts are preferably secured in a manner which avoids introducing any substantial obstruction to the bore of the rod section. At least one radially extending projection is provided.

The projection may extend out from the male coupling part or radially in from the female coupling part. The projection is arranged to be received into a track formed in the other of the female or male coupling parts. The track extends longitudinally and circumferentially. Thus the coupling parts are engageable by relative longitudinal and rotational displacement. Preferably two or more projections are provided on one of the coupling parts with a corresponding number of tracks formed in the other of the coupling parts.

The coupling parts may be provided with resilient elements adapted to urge the projections into a locking region of the track so that disengagement of the coupling parts requires the simultaneous application of a torque and longitudinal force, thereby reducing the risk of rod section unintentionally decoupling. In one preferred embodiment, the resilient means may be provided by a wave spring or a closed cell foam pad or washer.

Variants of the coupling parts may include: a. Permanent magnets provided in one or both coupling parts having poles arranged to attract permanent magnets or ferromagnetic elements provided in the other of the coupling parts. b. Coupling parts having complementary screw threads. c. Resiliently deformable press fittings adapted to press together and snap apart. d. Resiliently deformable press fittings adapted to press together by longitudinal displacement only and twist apart.

In all variants the location of the male and female coupling is such that the male and female tapered surfaces of different rod sections may form a sliding fit, preferably a close sliding fit when the corresponding male and female coupling parts are engaged. This ensures; a fluid tight join between the rod sections, and the resulting intimate contact between the conical surfaces provides maximum stiffness at the joint with minimal play. This also ensures that most of the stress in the rod when it is extended is carried by the rod sections and not the connector so that the connector can be lightweight, compact and formed of inexpensive materials.

Preferably the coupling parts are secured to the rod sections by adhesive bonding however, mechanical fastening means such as pins, screws, rivets and location fits (eg force fit or shrink fit) are contemplated.

The invention may encompass a first coupling part and a second coupling part adapted to be mounted on a rod section to provide a rod member.

The invention may also encompass a tool, having either one of the first or second coupling parts to facilitate connection of the tool to an end of a rod member. A tool may be at least any of: a. a discharge nozzle to discharge fluids including gases, vapours, smoke or liquids, particularly water, cleaning fluids, paint or other coating materials; b. a suction nozzle to suck material from gutters or other locations; c. brushes to apply coating materials such as paint or for cleaning surfaces.

Brief Description of Drawings

Embodiments of the apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention, will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative figures 2-, in which:

Figure 2A is a plan view of a first embodiment;

Figure 2B is a sectional plan view of the first embodiment including the coupling parts;

Figure 2C is an enlarged sectional fragmental plan view of the first embodiment; Figure 2D is a SE isometric view of a male coupling part;

Figure 2E is a SW isometric view of a female coupling part;

Figure 2F is a sectional plan view of the female coupling part in figure 3D;

Figure 2G is a perspective view of an assembled apparatus including tool fittings; Figure 3A is an enlarged SE isometric view of a male coupling part of a second embodiment;

Figure 3B is an enlarged SW isometric view of a female coupling part of the second embodiment;

Figure 4A is an enlarged SE isometric view of a male coupling part of a third embodiment;

Figure 4B is an enlarged SW isometric view of a female coupling part of the third embodiment;

Figure 5A is an enlarged SE isometric view of a male coupling part of a fourth embodiment;

Figure 5B is an enlarged SW isometric view of a female coupling part of the fourth embodiment;

Figure 5C is a sectional plan view of the fourth embodiment;

Figure 6A is a plan view of a variant of the first embodiment;

Figure 6B is a plan sectional view of the variant in figure 6A;

Figure 7 is an isometric view of a variant of the first embodiment.

Detailed Description

Figure 2A shows a plan view of the apparatus showing two rod sections 1 a and 1b temporarily joined together for use. Each rod section 1 is tubular and has an unobstructed bore 4 extending from a female end 3 to a male end 2. The wall of the rod section tapers from a large diameter at the female end down to a narrow diameter at the male end so that male end 2b of one rod section slides into the female end 3a of another rod section for a predetermined distance before the outer wall of the male end part contacts the inner wall of the female end part as shown in figure 2C. The wall of the rod in this example is approximately 5mm thick and has an inside diameter of 60mm. Each rod section is 1800mm long and the taper is uniform so that the outside diameter at the female end is 70mm and the outside diameter at the male end is 58mm as a result approximately 150mm of the male end will slide into a corresponding length of female end (a variant of the rod section might taper from 52mm OD to 47mm OD). The rod section will be made of a material which facilitates a light stiff structure such as carbon fibre composite. In use up to ten or more similar rod sections may be joined together to reach windows or gutters elevated seven or more stories up from the user. In order to clearly distinguish the stiffness of the rod sections from sectional hose such as is used to clean a swimming pool, it should be understood that the rod sections, and more particularly the apparatus formed by assembling the rod sections is made as stiff as possible without adding to the weight of the apparatus beyond what can be handled manually. An assembled apparatus will be sufficiently stiff to have a tip deflection of less than 10% of its length when the tip is raised substantially vertically above the operator, in other words, if the assembled rod is 10m long and held vertically from the bottom most section, then the tip of the top rod section will deflect from the axis of the bottommost section by 1 m or less

The portion of the rod section 1 which cannot sleeve in or over a respective female part 3 or male part 2 is referred to as the middle part 5 (5a and 5b) and a transition position is defined between the middle part and the male and female end parts. A male coupling part 6 is provided by a ring having a bore provided by an internal frusto-conical face 7. The face 7 has a maximum and minimum diameter corresponding to the diameters of the rod section at the transition between the male end part 2 and the middle part 5. The face 7 may be treated to facilitate adhesive bonding between the ring and the external surface of the rod section at the transition position as shown in figure 2C. The male coupling part is secured to the rod section by aligning it with the wider end of the bore towards the female end 3 of the rod section 1 and sliding the ring onto the rod section until the face 7 bears onto the female end part adjacent the wide end of the rod section.

Adhesive may be applied to the face 7 to bond the ring 6 into place. Alternatively the ring 6 may be expanded by warming above the temperature of the rod section and allowed to shrink into place. In this case the diameters of the ring face will be chosen to slide to the correct position when warmed. The ring 6 supports two diametrically opposed pins 8 extending radially out from the ring 6. A female coupling part comprises a ring 9 having an axially facing frusto-conical face 10 around a bore. The ring 9 extends radially away from the axis to support a longitudinally extending sleeve 11 having an internal bore 12 with a radius sufficient receive the outer surface of the male coupling part with a sliding fit.

The ring 6 provides a radial shoulder 13 to provide an abutment for an annular resilient structure accommodated in the bore of the ring 9. In this example the resilient structure is provided by a wave spring washer 14 however a foam washer or coil spring might be used. A pair of diametrically opposed “L” shaped tracks are formed into the internal surface of the ring 9 to receive a one of the pins 8, each having an opening 15 formed in a radial face of the ring 9 which opens into an axially extending track portion 16 and transitions to a circumferentially extending portion 17 and ends in a further axially extending blind portion 18.

The internal bore formed by face 10 has a large diameter D1 remote from the ring 9 narrowing to a smaller diameter D2 adjacent the ring 9 to form a tapered surface corresponding to the diameter of the rod section at the transition portion. The female coupling part can therefore be fitted after fitting the male coupling part. The female coupling part is aligned with the sleeve 11 facing away from the female end of the rod section and slid over the rod section until the face 10 bears onto the transition position. The face 10 may be treated with adhesive so that when the face 10 bears against the transition portion it will bond in place.

The apparatus for use will comprise a plurality of similar rod members each comprising a rod section, a female coupling part and a male coupling part as described above. The apparatus is assembled by sliding the male end part of a first rod member into the female end part of the a second rod member. The rod sections are relatively rotated until the pins 8 of the male coupling part align with the opening 15 whereupon each pin is received into a corresponding “L” shaped track. Pressing the rod sections relatively towards each other together with relative rotation of the rod sections will encourage the pins 8 to seat in the blind track portion 18. The wave spring washer 14 is compressed between the male coupling part, the male end of one rod section and the radial shoulder 13 so that the resulting spring force resists displacement of each pin 8 from the blind track portion 18.

The cooperation of the coupling parts resists either relative longitudinal displacement of the rod sections so that they do not jam as experienced with the prior art or unwantedly pull apart. They are further resistant to relative rotation of the rod sections facilitating alignment of whatever tool may be deployed at the remote end of the rod.

The female coupling part also includes a hose clip structure 19 projecting radially from the outer service of the sleeve 11. This hose clip structure 19 provides a “C” shaped aperture axially aligned with the rod section to secure a hose to conduct a fluid from one end of the assembled apparatus to the other.

The coupling parts may be fabricated by moulding, particularly injection moulding, or additive fabrication techniques.

The coupling parts may facilitate the attachment of tools or fittings to the rod sections as illustrated in figure 2F. As shown in figure 2F a “U” shaped nozzle is attached at a remote end of the rod member 1a. The “U” shaped nozzle 20 has an attachment part 21 provided at the end with a male coupling part which couples with the female coupling part on the end of the rod member 1a. A flexible hose 22 leading to a vacuum apparatus to apply suction through the bore of the assembled apparatus is connected to the end of the apparatus remote from the nozzle by the provision of a female coupling part on the end of the hose which couples with the male coupling part on the end of the rod member 1b.

Figures 3A and 3B illustrate a second embodiment of the coupling useful for connecting two rod members together. Features similar to those in the first embodiment are marked with similar numerals and for the sake of conciseness only the differences will be described in detail. For the sake of clarity the rod sections 1A and 1B are omitted but the mounting of the male coupling part shown in figure 3A and the female coupling part shown in figure 3B are identical to those of the first embodiment. A plurality of permanent magnets 23 are embedded into the ring 6 at equiangularly spaced intervals around the circumference. The exterior surface of the ring is formed to be non-circular, in the case of this example the exterior surface is provided by eight flat faces 24 defining a regular octagonal shape.

The female coupling part comprises ring 9, frusto-conical face 10 and sleeve 11 as for the first embodiment, however the bore 12 is non-circular and shaped to correspond to the external surface of the male coupling part, in this example by having eight flat internal faces 25 complementary to the external faces of the male coupling part. Eight permanent magnets 26 are sealed into the ring 9 such that when the ring 6 of the male coupling part is slid into the sleeve 11 of the female coupling part the magnets 23 have polarities arranged to attract the magnets 28 and therefore resist longitudinal separation of the coupling parts and the rod sections to which they are attached. The engagement of the non-round faces prevents relative rotation of the male and female coupling parts and the attached rod sections.

Figures 4A and 4B show isometric views of a fourth embodiment of the invention having where the male coupling part has an external threaded cylindrical surface 26 to screw into a thread 27 formed on the cylindrical internal face of the sleeve 11.

Figures 5A to 5C illustrate a fourth embodiment in which the male coupling part has arcuate angularly spaced ramps 28 formed onto a radially extending surface facing the female coupling part to engage with corresponding arcuate ramps 29 formed on an opposing radial face of the female coupling part. The male coupling part also has a resiliently deformable barb feature formed onto the outer rim of each ramp 28 to cooperate with a projection provided by an annular rib 31 formed on the inner surface of the sleeve 12. When mounted onto the rod sections, the male and female parts are coupled together by pressing longitudinally together so that the barb feature 30 snaps over the rib 31. The barb feature is configured to require a small force to snap into the female coupling part and hence into the coupled state but a relatively large force to retract from the coupled state by means of the angulation of the surfaces of the barb feature. To uncouple the male and female coupling parts easily they may be relatively rotated so that the ramps act to urge the coupling parts relatively apart such that the resilient barb feature 30 snaps over the rib 31.

Figures 6A and 6B illustrate a variant of the first embodiment in which the middle part 5 is of uniform inside and outside diameter, each male end part 2a, 2b, is only tapered on the outside surface while each female part 3a, 3b is only tapered on the inside surface.

Figure 7 illustrates a variant of the first embodiment in which the male coupling part may be identical to that described and shown in figure 2D but there are some changes to the female coupling part as detailed below. As with the first variant described above the female coupling part has a first axially extending track part 16, which communicates with a circumferentially extending track part 17. The track part 16 is relatively enlarged towards the rim of the sleeve in order to ease location of the pin 8 in the track. There is no second axially extending track part, instead the track terminates in an axially extending slot 32 which extends through the sleeve 12. The slot is occupied by a resiliently deformable slider 33. A head portion 34 of the slider 33 forms the end of the circumferential track part 17 and includes an axially facing recess 35 configured to receive one of the pins 8. The slider is retained in the slot 32 by means of an external sheath 36. The external sheath The resilient bias of the slider 33 is arranged to work with the sheath 36 in order to bias the slider recess 35 into engagement with the pin 8. This normally prevent relative rotation of the male coupling part and female coupling part when they are engaged.

The slot 32 is formed with a ramp 37 arranged such that if the slider is pressed axially in the direction of arrow “A” the head 34 is urged radially outwards away from the axis to disengage the recess 35 from the pin 8 and facilitate relative rotation of the male and female coupling parts.

This variant also obviates the wave spring 14.

Although this apparatus is particularly adapted for use in cleaning elevated windows or gutters and has been described with that application in mind the apparatus may be useful in other applications requiring access to positions relatively elevated or remote from the operator, for example painting or inspection where the remote end of the apparatus. For example the apparatus may support tools to apply paint or similar wet materials such as a brush, sponge, roller or spray gun. In the case of inspection the apparatus may support a camera. The rod may also provide a temporary support structure (mast) for an antenna or security camera.

Claims

1. A rod member comprising: an elongate tubular rod section having a male end part and a female end part configured so that the male end part of a first rod section can fit a predetermined distance into a female end part of a second rod member to form a fluid tight sliding fit without obstructing the bore of the rod sections; each rod member having a first coupling part provided adjacent a female end of the rod section and a co-operable second coupling part provided at a predetermined distance from the male end of the rod section whereby the first coupling part of a first rod member will disengageably engage with the second coupling part of a second rod member when the respective male end is received into the female end socket in order to prevent unwanted relative longitudinal movement of the first and second rod members.

2. A rod member according to claim 1 wherein the internal surface of the female end of the rod section is tapered and the outside surface of the male end is tapered to provide a corresponding surface such that only a predetermined length of the rod section can be inserted into another rod section.

3. A rod member according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the predetermined distance is sufficient to provide a stiff joint.

4. A rod member according to claim 3 wherein the predetermined distance is not less than 5% of the length of a standard rod section.

5. A rod member according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the predetermined distance is not less than 8% of the length of a standard rod section.

6. A rod member according to any one of claims 2 to 5 wherein each of the internal and external surfaces of the rod section taper uniformly from the female end to the male end.

7. A rod member according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the first coupling part engages with the second coupling part by means of at least one pin projecting radially from coupling part to engage in a track formed in the other coupling part.

8. A rod member according to claim 7 wherein the track requires the coupling parts to be engaged and disengaged by a sequence of longitudinal and rotational movements.

9. A rod member according to claim 7 or 8 wherein spring means is incorporated into the coupling parts to discourage unintentional relative longitudinal movement and therefore to resist uncoupling.

10. A rod member according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein each coupling part is provided by a ring having a frusto-conical internal surface complementary to the external surface of the rod section at the position the coupling part is required to be located.

11. A rod member according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each of the first and second coupling parts are secured to the rod section without removing material from the rod section.

12. A rod member according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each of the first and second coupling parts are secured to the rod section without obstructing the bore of the rod section.

13. A rod member according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each coupling part is secured to the external surface of the rod section by adhesive.

14. A rod member according to any one of the preceding claims wherein one of the coupling parts provides a hose clip structure.

15. A plurality of rod members according to any one of the preceding claims coupled together to provide an apparatus for accessing a worksite remote from a user.

16. A first coupling part and a second coupling part adapted to be mounted on a rod section to provide a rod member according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

17. A tool for use on the rod member and having one of: • a female socket or • a male spigot and one of • a first coupling part or • a second coupling part whereby the tool can be attached to a male end part or a female end part of the rod member.

18. A rod member according to claim 1 and as herein described with reference to the accompanying illustrative figures 2 to 7.