JP7433650B2 - cleaning tools - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning tool for cleaning relatively narrow spaces in rooms, furniture, etc., and particularly to a cleaning tool suitable for cleaning small spaces such as the air outlet of an air conditioner. It is.

For example, the air outlet of an air conditioner tends to become dirty due to the adhesion of dust floating in the air, and is also susceptible to the growth of mold because it is exposed to moisture. Therefore, it is necessary to clean it regularly.
Until now, when cleaning the air outlet, the dirt adhering to the inner wall or fins of the opening has been removed by spraying detergent and then wiping it off with a sponge or rag, or by using a sponge or rag soaked in detergent. The common method was to wipe it off directly.

However, this method has problems such as not being able to reach into the narrow space of the air outlet, and applying too much force than necessary to remove dirt, which tends to damage fragile parts such as fins. There was also the problem that the detergent made the hands dirty. Such a problem is also common when cleaning narrow spaces such as furniture and furnishings other than air conditioners.

On the other hand, handy mops as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4 are known as cleaning tools for cleaning rooms, furniture, and the like. This handy mop is used by attaching a mop cloth made of non-woven fabric or mop thread to a bifurcated handle member.It is relatively small and can be easily held in one hand for cleaning. It can also be used for cleaning.

However, although the known handy mop is miniaturized, it is not configured to be inserted into a very narrow space such as the air outlet of an air conditioner. Although it is possible to clean the exposed parts, it is difficult to clean the inner wall surface of the air outlet, the surfaces of the fins lined up at narrow intervals, etc.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-265391 Utility model registration No. 3103720 JP2007-44088A JP2013-63154A

The technical problem of the present invention is to easily and safely clean narrow spaces such as rooms and furniture, especially narrow spaces such as air conditioner outlets and where fragile parts such as fins are installed. The objective is to provide cleaning tools that can be used for cleaning.

In order to solve the above problems, the cleaning tool of the present invention includes a cleaning tool main body having a bifurcated shape and a dust cloth having a bifurcated shape attached to the cleaning tool main body, the cleaning tool main body having a grip portion and a dust cloth having a bifurcated shape. , a pair of left and right arms extending in parallel from the grip part while maintaining a cleaning interval to sandwich and clean the object to be cleaned; the pair of arms have wide front and back surfaces; and has a flat shape having an inner surface and an outer surface narrower than the back surface, has the cleaning interval between the inner surfaces, is elastically deformable in the direction of the front and back surfaces, and can change the cleaning interval. The dust cloth has a flat cylindrical body and two flat cylindrical branch parts that branch left and right from the tip of the body, Parts of the pair of arms on the tip side from the center in the length direction are individually inserted into the two branch parts, and the parts of the pair of arms are inserted into the branch part of the pair of arms into the body part. The parts on the proximal end side are inserted together, and the pair of arms has a positional deviation prevention mechanism for preventing the pair of arms from shifting in the front and back directions during cleaning, and The prevention mechanism includes a first pair of protrusions formed on one and the other of the pair of arms, and a second pair of protrusions formed on one and the other of the pair of arms. a pair of protrusions, the two protrusions of the first pair of protrusions locking each other, and the two protrusions of the second pair of protrusions locking each other, so that the front and back surfaces of the pair of arms It is characterized by being configured so that displacement in the direction is prevented .

The two protrusions forming the first pair of protrusions are a first protrusion formed on one first arm and a second protrusion formed on the other second arm, and the first protrusion is The second protrusion is formed at a position closer to either the front side or the back side than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface of the second arm, and The two protrusions forming the second pair of protrusions are formed at positions opposite to the first protrusion between the front side and the back side of the center, and 3 protrusions and a fourth protrusion formed on the second arm, and the third protrusion is the same as the second protrusion among the front side and back side from the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface of the first arm. The fourth protrusion is formed at a position closer to the side, and the fourth protrusion is formed at a position closer to the same side as the first protrusion between the front side and the back side than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface of the second arm. ing.

In this case, the first pair of protrusions and the second pair of protrusions are attached to the inner surfaces of the proximal end portions of the first arm and the second arm to be inserted into the body of the dust cloth. It is desirable that the arm and the second arm are formed adjacent to each other in the length direction.

Preferably, the grip portion is curved in a U-shape, is formed integrally with the pair of arms from synthetic resin, and is elastically deformable in a direction in which the cleaning interval changes.

In the present invention, on at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the pair of arms, a pair of locking bodies that lock each other with hook-and-loop fasteners are provided at a position closer to the proximal end than the center in the length direction of the arms. One of the locking bodies is attached to the inner surface of the body of the dust cloth, and the other locking body of the pair of locking bodies is attached to the inner surface of the body of the dust cloth, whereby the cleaning tool main body and the dust cloth are connected. , the proximal ends of the pair of arms and the trunk of the dust cloth are fixed to each other, and the outer surface of the distal end of the pair of arms is inserted into the branch of the dust cloth. It is preferable that elastic hooks are respectively formed to elastically abut and lock the inner portions of the branch portions.

When cleaning a narrow space such as an air outlet of an air conditioner, the cleaning tool of the present invention inserts a pair of flexible arms equipped with dust cloth into the space, and applies the dust cloth to the inner wall in a planar and By pressing it elastically, dirt adhering to the inner wall can be wiped off, and when cleaning a thin plate-like member such as a fin, by sandwiching the member between the pair of arms, Since dirt adhering to both sides of the member can be removed without applying great force, it is easy to use, and even fragile parts such as fins can be safely cleaned without damaging them.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cleaning tool according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cleaning tool of FIG. 1; It is a top view of a cleaning tool main body. It is a side view of a cleaning tool main body. 4 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 3. FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part showing a part of FIG. 3 in an enlarged manner. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 6. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line IX-IX in FIG. 3. FIG.

An embodiment of the cleaning tool according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9. This cleaning tool 1 has a configuration particularly suitable for cleaning a narrow place such as an air outlet of an air conditioner. The dust cloth 3 has a bifurcated shape.

The cleaning tool main body 2 has a grip part 4 to be held in one hand, and a pair of left and right arms 5a, 5b extending in parallel from the grip part 4. is integrally formed from an elastically deformable synthetic resin such as polypropylene. In the figure, a dot is attached to the grip part 4 to make it easier to distinguish between the grip part 4 and the arms 5a and 5b, but there is some processing on the surface of the grip part 4 to distinguish it from the arms 5a and 5b. This does not mean that it has been applied. However, the surface of the grip portion 4 may be subjected to anti-slip processing, colored processing, or the like.
In the following description, one of the pair of arms 5a, 5b may be referred to as a first arm 5a, and the other may be referred to as a second arm 5b.

The grip portion 4 has a substantially U-shape, and includes a curved portion 4a on the proximal end side, and left and right extension portions 4b, 4b extending from both ends of the curved portion 4a so that the distance therebetween gradually becomes narrower. One and the other of the pair of arms 5a, 5b are integrally connected to one and the other of the left and right extensions 4b, 4b, respectively.

The cross-sectional shape of the curved portion 4a is circular, or a part of a circle is cut out into a planar shape on the inner peripheral side of the curved portion 4a. Further, the cross-sectional shape of the extension parts 4b, 4b gradually becomes flattened from the proximal end connected to the curved part 4a toward the distal end, and the upper and lower surfaces (front and back ) is larger than the width (thickness) of both left and right side surfaces, so that the extensions 4b, 4b are smoothly connected to the arms 5a, 5b.

The pair of arms 5a and 5b have a flat shape having a wide and flat front surface 6a and a back surface 6b, and an inner surface 7a and an outer surface 7b that are narrower than the front surface 6a and the back surface 6b. There is a cleaning interval 8 between the side surfaces 7a, 7a for cleaning a small-diameter object to be cleaned while sandwiching it, and it is elastically deformable in the directions of the front and back surfaces 6a, 6b. The cleaning interval 8 can be displaced in a direction in which the cleaning interval 8 changes in size.

The width W of the front surface 6a and the back surface 6b of the arms 5a, 5b is approximately constant over the entire length of the arms 5a, 5b, but the thickness between the front and back surfaces of the arms 5a, 5b (the width W of the inner surface 7a and the outer surface 7b) is approximately constant over the entire length of the arms 5a, 5b. The vertical width (vertical width) T gradually becomes thinner from the base end side to the distal end side of the arms 5a, 5b so that the arms 5a, 5b bend with appropriate elastic force when pressed against the object to be cleaned.
However, the width W of the front surface 6a and the back surface 6b does not necessarily have to be constant, and may be gradually narrowed toward the tips of the arms 5a, 5b, and the thickness T of the arms 5a, 5b is , may be constant over the entire length of the arms 5a, 5b.

Further, the cleaning interval 8 is, for example, an interval for cleaning thin plate-shaped parts such as fins installed at the air outlet of an air conditioner, or small-diameter parts such as electrical wiring, and is usually has a substantially constant size from the base ends to the tips of the arms 5a, 5b. However, in order to make it easier to insert the object to be cleaned, the ends of the cleaning interval 8 are expanded outward by partially cutting off the ends of the inner surfaces 7a of the pair of arms 5a, 5b.

The length of the arms 5a, 5b is preferably about 0.5 to 0.7 times the total length of the cleaning tool main body 2, and the more preferable length is about 0.5 to 0.7 times the total length of the cleaning tool main body 2, as shown in the figure. It is about 0.6 times.
Here, to explain an example of preferable dimensions of the cleaning tool main body 2 using actual values, when the total length of the cleaning tool main body 2 is about 200-300 mm, the length of the arms 5a, 5b is about 120-180 mm. Preferably, the width W of the arms 5a, 5b is about 10-15 mm, and the thickness T of the arms 5a, 5b is about 3-5 mm at the proximal end and about 1-2 mm at the distal end. It is preferable that the cleaning interval 8 is about 3-5 mm.

On the other hand, the dust cloth 3 is formed by attaching a large number of loosely bundled fiber bundles 10 of ultra-fine fibers to the surface of a cloth base material, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and is a flat cylinder. It has one shaped body part 11 and two flat cylindrical branch parts 12, 12 that branch left and right from the tip of the body part 11, and the base end part of the body part 11 has a shape. The branch portions 12, 12 have their distal ends closed.
The length of the dust cloth 3 is approximately the same as the length of the arms 5a, 5b, or slightly longer than the length of the arms 5a, 5b, and the lengths of the branch portions 12, 12 are the same length, It is approximately 0.3 to 0.5 times the length of the dust cloth 3.

The dust cloth 3 is attached to the cleaning tool main body 2 by inserting the arms 5a and 5b of the cleaning main body from the distal end side through the opening 11a at the base end of the body 11. At this time, the portions of the pair of arms 5a, 5b on the distal end side from the center in the length direction are individually inserted into the two branch parts 12, 12, and the parts of the pair of arms The portions of 5a and 5b closer to the proximal end than the portions inserted into the branch portions 12 and 12 are inserted together.

In order to fix the dust cloth 3 to the cleaning tool main body 2, one of the front surface 6a and the back surface 6b of the pair of arms 5a, 5b (in the illustrated example, the front surface 6a) is provided with the arms 5a, 5b. One of the locking bodies (hook-side locking body) 13a of the pair of locking bodies constituting the hook-and-loop fastener is attached to a position closer to the proximal end than the center in the length direction of the dust cloth 3. The other locking body (loop-side locking body) 13b of the pair of locking bodies is attached to the inner surface of the body portion 11, so that the cleaning tool main body 2 and the dust cloth 3 are connected to each other. The base ends of the arms 5a, 5b and the body 11 of the dust cloth 3 are fixed to each other.

In this case, the loop-side locking body 13b may be partially attached to the inner surface of the body 11 only in the portions corresponding to the hook-side locking bodies 13a of the arms 5a, 5b; The loop-side locking body 13b is attached to the entire inner circumference of the body 11 or to the inner surface on the front side and the inner surface on the back side so that the cloth 3 can be attached to the cleaning tool main body 2 in either the front or back direction. Also good.
Alternatively, the hook-side locking bodies 13a are attached to both surfaces 6a and back surfaces 6b of the pair of arms 5a, 5b, respectively, and the hook-side locking bodies 13a are attached to the inner surface of the body 11 of the dust cloth 3. The loop-side locking body 13b may be attached to the portion.

Further, the outer surface 7b of the tip of the pair of arms 5a, 5b, which is inserted into the branching parts 12, 12 of the dust cloth 3, elastically contacts the inner surface of the branching parts 12, 12. Elastic hooks 16 are respectively formed to engage the branch parts 12, 12 by coming into contact with each other.
The elastic hook 16 has one end 16a and the other end 16b that are integrally connected to the outer surface 7b of the arms 5a and 5b, and a projecting portion 16c that is separated from the outer surface 7b and projects laterally than the outer surface 7b. The central portion of the projecting portion 16 is a projecting portion 16d that curves outward in a convex shape, and the projecting portion 16d elastically abuts against the inner surfaces of the branch portions 12, 12. It is locked.

Further, the pair of arms 5a, 5b are provided with a mechanism for preventing the pair of arms 5a, 5b from shifting in the front and back surfaces 6a, 6b direction when cleaning the object to be cleaned within the cleaning interval 8. A displacement prevention mechanism 20 is formed.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the displacement prevention mechanism 20 is arranged on the inner surface of the base end portions of the pair of arms 5a, 5b that are inserted together into the body 11 of the dust cloth 3. 7a, 7a, a first pair of protrusions 21 having two protrusions 22, 23 that engage each other, and a second pair of protrusions 25, 26 that engage each other. The first pair of protrusions 21 and the second pair of protrusions 24 are formed at positions adjacent to each other in the length direction of the arms 5a and 5b.

The two protrusions 22 and 23 forming the first pair of protrusions 21 are the first protrusion 22 formed on the first arm 5a and the second protrusion 23 formed on the second arm 5b. These first protrusions 22 and second protrusions 23 have a partially circular shape in side view, and are formed at the same position in the length direction (front-back direction) of the first arm 5a and the second arm 5b, Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the first protrusion 22 is formed at a position closer to the back surface 6b than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface 7a of the first arm 5a, and the second protrusion 23 is It is formed at a position closer to the surface 6a side than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface 7a of the second arm 5b.

Further, the two protrusions 25 and 26 forming the second pair of protrusions 24 are a third protrusion 25 formed on the first arm 5a and a fourth protrusion 26 formed on the second arm 5b. These third protrusion 25 and fourth protrusion 26 have a partially circular shape in side view, and are formed at the same position in the length direction (front-back direction) of the first arm 5a and the second arm 5b, Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the third protrusion 25 is formed at a position closer to the surface 6a than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface 7a of the first arm 5a, and the fourth protrusion 26 is It is formed at a position closer to the back surface 6b side than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface 7a of the second arm 5b.

However, the positional relationship between the first protrusion 22 and the second protrusion 23 in the thickness direction of the arms 5a, 5b, and the positional relationship between the third protrusion 25 and the fourth protrusion 26 in the thickness direction of the arms 5a, 5b. The positional relationship may be opposite to that described above.

Further, the locking surfaces 22a, 23a of the first projection 22 and the second projection 23 that lock with each other, and the locking surfaces 25a, 26a of the third projection 25 and the fourth projection 26 that lock with each other are , the thickness of each protrusion is inclined in such a direction that the thickness becomes gradually thinner toward the tip side (apex side).

In addition, when the thickness T of the pair of arms 5a, 5b is formed to be gradually thinner toward the distal end side of the arms 5a, 5b, the first pair of protrusions 21 and the second pair of protrusions 24 are formed. In order to make it easier to use, within the range S from the slightly front side to the slightly rear side (preferably the border with the grip part 4) of the part where the first pair of protrusions 21 and the second pair of protrusions 24 are formed, It is desirable to form it to a certain size.

The displacement prevention mechanism 20 operates as follows. That is, when the cleaning interval 8 is narrowed by sandwiching the object to be cleaned between the first arm 5a and the second arm 5b, the locking surface 22a of the first protrusion 22 in the first protrusion pair 21 shown in FIG. At the same time, the locking surface 25a of the third projection 25 and the locking surface 26a of the fourth projection 26 in the second projection pair 24 shown in FIG. are interlocked. The engagement between the first protrusion 22 and the second protrusion 23 prevents displacement of the first arm 5a toward the front surface 6a and displacement of the second arm 5b toward the rear surface 6b. The engagement between the third protrusion 25 and the fourth protrusion 26 prevents displacement of the first arm 5a toward the rear surface 6b and displacement of the second arm 5b toward the front surface 6a. As a result, the first arm 5a Also, displacement of the second arm 5b toward the front surface 6a and the rear surface 6b is prevented.

The cleaning tool main body 2 is formed so that the shape excluding the locking body 13a and the displacement prevention mechanism 20 is symmetrical on the front and back, and the shape excluding the displacement prevention mechanism 20 is symmetrical on the left and right sides. .

Next, a case will be described in which, for example, an air outlet of an air conditioner is cleaned using the cleaning tool 1 having the above configuration.
First, when cleaning a relatively wide surface such as the inner wall surface of the air outlet, hold the grip portion 4 of the cleaning tool main body 2 in one hand and press the front surface 6a or back surface 6b of the pair of arms 5a, 5b inside. By directing the dust cloth 3 toward the wall surface, the front surface 6a or back surface 6b of the dust cloth 3 is entirely pressed against the inner wall surface for cleaning. At this time, the pair of arms 5a and 5b bend smoothly and elastically press the dust cloth 3 against the inner wall surface with a moderate force, so there is no need to apply a large force, and furthermore, since the inner wall surface is a curved surface, it is not necessary to apply a large force. Easy to fit. Further, the dust cloth 3 is made of ultrafine fibers and has excellent dust removal ability, so that ordinary dirt can be removed without using detergent.
When one side of the dust cloth 3 becomes dirty, the cleaning tool 1 is turned upside down and the other side of the dust cloth 3 is used for cleaning.

In addition, when cleaning the fin installed at the air outlet, the fin is sandwiched between the pair of arms 5a and 5b, that is, between the two branches 12 and 12 of the dust cloth 3, and the cleaning interval is Wipe off dirt on the surface while pinching the fins from both sides by narrowing the fins 8. As a result, both sides of the fin can be cleaned at the same time by the inner surfaces of the two branch parts 12, 12 of the dust cloth 3, and at the same time, the sides of the fin can also be cleaned by the bases of the two branch parts 12, 12. can do.

At this time, the pair of arms 5a, 5b are locked by the two protrusions 22, 23 of the first pair of protrusions 21 and the two protrusions 25, 26 of the second pair of protrusions 24 in the displacement prevention mechanism 20, respectively. Since the fins are prevented from shifting in the direction of the front surface 6a and the back surface 6b, the fins can be reliably and stably sandwiched between the arms 5a and 5b for cleaning.
By performing the above operation on all the fins, the front, back, and side surfaces of all the fins can be easily cleaned.

Needless to say, the cleaning tool 1 can not only clean the air outlet of the air conditioner as described above, but also clean the room, furniture, etc.

1 Cleaning tool 2 Cleaning tool main body 3 Dust cloth 4 Grip part 5a, 5b Arm 6a Front surface 6b Back surface 7a Inner surface 7b Outer surface 8 Cleaning interval 11 Body part 12 Branch part 13a, 13b Locking body 16 Elastic hook 20 Position shift prevention mechanism 21 First pair of protrusions 22 First protrusions 23 Second protrusions 24 Second pair of protrusions 25 Third protrusions 26 Fourth protrusions

Claims (5)

Consists of a bifurcated cleaning tool body and a bifurcated dust cloth attached to the cleaning tool body,
The cleaning tool main body has a grip portion and a pair of left and right arms extending in parallel from the grip portion while maintaining a cleaning interval to sandwich and clean the object to be cleaned,
The pair of arms have a flat shape having wide front and back surfaces, and inner and outer surfaces narrower than the front and back surfaces, and have the cleaning interval between the inner surfaces. is elastically deformable in the direction of the back surface, and is also movable in a direction in which the cleaning interval changes;
The dust cloth has a flat cylindrical body and two flat cylindrical branch parts that branch left and right from the tip of the body. The parts of the pair of arms on the distal side of the center in the length direction are individually inserted, and the parts of the pair of arms on the proximal side of the part inserted into the branch part are inserted into the body part. inserted together,
The pair of arms has a displacement prevention mechanism for preventing the pair of arms from shifting in the front and back directions during cleaning,
The displacement prevention mechanism includes a first pair of protrusions formed on one and the other of the pair of arms, and two other protrusions formed on one and the other of the pair of arms. and a second pair of protrusions, the two protrusions of the first pair of protrusions locking each other, and the two protrusions of the second pair of protrusions locking each other, so that the pair of arms is configured to prevent displacement in the front and back directions.
A cleaning tool characterized by: The two protrusions forming the first pair of protrusions are a first protrusion formed on one first arm and a second protrusion formed on the other second arm, and the first protrusion is The second protrusion is formed at a position closer to either the front side or the back side than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface of the second arm, and The two protrusions forming the second pair of protrusions are formed at positions opposite to the first protrusion between the front side and the back side of the center, and 3 protrusions and a fourth protrusion formed on the second arm, and the third protrusion is the same as the second protrusion among the front side and back side from the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface of the first arm. The fourth protrusion is formed at a position closer to the side, and the fourth protrusion is formed at a position closer to the same side as the first protrusion between the front side and the back side than the center in the thickness direction on the inner surface of the second arm. ing,
The cleaning tool according to claim 1 , characterized in that: The first pair of protrusions and the second pair of protrusions are arranged on the inner surface of the proximal end portion of the first arm and the second arm to be inserted into the body of the dust cloth. The cleaning tool according to claim 2 , wherein the two arms are formed adjacent to each other in the length direction. 4. The grip section according to claim 1, wherein the grip section is curved in a U-shape, is formed integrally with the pair of arms from synthetic resin, and is elastically deformable in a direction in which the cleaning interval changes. Cleaning tools listed in any of the above. On at least one of the front and back surfaces of the pair of arms, one of the pair of locking bodies of the hook-and-loop fastener that locks each other is located at a position closer to the proximal end than the center in the length direction of the arms. A stopper body is attached to the inner surface of the body of the dust cloth, and the other of the pair of stoppers is attached to the inner surface of the body of the dust cloth, whereby the cleaning tool main body and the dust cloth are connected to each other. The base end of the arm and the body of the dust cloth are fixed to each other,
Elastic hooks are formed on the outer surfaces of the distal ends of the pair of arms to be inserted into the branch parts of the dust cloth, respectively, so as to elastically abut and lock the inner parts of the branch parts. ,
The cleaning tool according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , characterized in that:

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