GB782979A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for washing vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

782,979. Washing vehicles. ROSEN, V. March 31, 1955 [April 1, 1954], No. 9655/54. Class 138(1). Car washing apparatus comprises a mobile housing capable of receiving the car to be washed, means for projecting washing liquid onto the car and means for recirculating projected washing liquid for further washing purposes. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the mobile housing is a vehicle and comprises a body 1 having a front platform 22 provided with a swivel connection 2 for towing by a tractor (not shown). A ramp 3 serving as a runway for the car is raisable so as to close the rear of the body. Spaced from the floor 4, Fig. 3, of the body are channel tracts 5, adjustable towards and away from each other, the ends of the tracks being flared at 8, Fig. 1, and the ramp having a raised flaring 9. Removable stops 7 are provided for the tracks 5 and the floor 4, between the tracks, is raised as at 10 where it joins with sumps 20. Along the.outside of the tracks are grilles or the like 21. An arch member 12, Fig. 3, having rollers 13 is suspended from rails 11 mounted on the sides of the vehicle and is traversable along the rails, e.g. by an endless chain, which may be advanced either by hand or by manually or power-operated gearing. Spray pipes 14, 15, Fig. 2, for detergent liquid and water are provided on the arch and are supplied through flexible hoses 16, 17 connected to spring-loaded reels 18, 19 so that the slack in the hoses is taken-up as the arch moves. Mounted on the platform 22 is a pump 24, driven from the towing tractor or by its own petrol engine, a water tank 23, a filter 25 and a detergent liquid container 28. The pump can draw liquid collected in the sump through a pipe 26 and pass it through the filterand thereafter to the tank, and can also draw liquid from the tank and supply it to the arch 12. A valve 27 on the arch controls the supply of water or detergent liquid to the arch. Controls for the valve 27 and the traversing of the arch 12 are suitably interlocked so as to provide for three successive traverses during which water, detergent liquid and water, are respectively sprayed. Lights 29, provided with coloured glass discs on rotatable carriers 30, are mounted at the rear upper corners of the body 1 so that washing operations are proceed after dark. Hydraulic, electrical or mechanical jacks 31 are provided on the body, each individually adjusted to support the vehicle and if desired the road wheels of the vehicle may be swung from or retracted from the ground when the jacks support the body. In an alternative construction the tracks may be raised from the floor 4 and supported by transverse members secured along the centre line of the vehicle and the arch 12 will then have members passing under the tracks and provided with nozzles to spray the underside of the car. If desired the vehicle may have a dismountable tow bar, and ramps at each end, whereby the car can be driven into the vehicle at one end and out of the other end. In another construction the sumps 20 are deepest at their centres and the reels 18, 19 may then be at the vehicles centre which would be the normal rest position of the arch 12.