GB680307A - Improvements in machines for cleaning, polishing, or scrubbing floors - Google Patents

Abstract

680,307. Floor-cleaning machines. HOLT, W. E. June 13, 1950, No. 14685/50. Class 138 (i). [Also in Group XXIV] A machine for cleaning, polishing or scrubbing floors comprises an electric motor, a horizontally arranged surfacing element rotatable about a vertical axis, a rotary drive member driven by the motor and having a plurality of symmetrically arranged projecting peripheral lugs, a bracket mounted. on the surfacing element and having recesses therein to receive the lugs, spring means on the underside of the bracket adjacent the recesses and arranged to resiliently engage the lugs when they are relatively moved through the corresponding recesses and angularly to positions: below the corresponding spring means and stop members on the underside of the bracket which limit the relative angular movement of the lugs and bracket. The machine, Fig. 2, comprises a vertical shaft 20 driven by the electric motor, a. drive member 21 having a flange 22 rotatably supported in the machine casing, and an annular brush, formed with a wooden base 31 provided with tufts 32, of wire, fibre or hair, which brush has connected thereto by screws 42 a bracket 40, Fig. 4. The driven member 21, which is rotated by a gear 25 on the shaft 20 through idler gears 27 and an internal gear ring 26 on the member 21, in known manner, is provided with three lugs 47, of substantially rectangular cross-section. The bracket 40, Fig. 4, is formed with three correspondingly shaped recesses 45 and three downwardly projecting stop members 43 each having a flat vertical face 43a, on its underside. Attached to the underside of the bracket are three flat springs 46 each secured at one end adjacent a recess 45 while its remaining portion is free and spaced away from and substantially parallel to the bracket and terminates adjacent to a stop member face 43a. To attach the brush and its bracket to the member 21 the lugs 47 are relatively moved through the recesses 45 and the brush and bracket are then turned angularly relative to the lugs in a direction counter to the normal direction of rotation of the brush, so that the lugs abut the faces 43a of the stop members and are positioned below and in contact with the springs 46. To detach the brush from the drive member the operation is reversed. With the above arrangement of drive connection, a positive drive is effected while the resilient support of the brush on the lugs 47 due to the springs 46 permits a limited movement of the brush vertically relative to the drive member 21, without disrupting the drive connection. The relative vertical movement between the parts prevents whipping or hopping of the brush on rough or uneven floor surfaces.