NZ201621A

NZ201621A - Drive for floor polisher with suction

Info

Publication number: NZ201621A
Application number: NZ20162182A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: L Willum
Original assignee: L Willum
Priority date: 1982-08-18
Filing date: 1982-08-18
Publication date: 1985-08-30
Also published as: AU1737783A

Description

201621 A, ' I / ■V • </' Aw5^ ' h-r- ,^a *«tr> Patents Form No.5.

No 201621 Patents Act 1953 Date: 18.8.1982 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION "Drive for Floor-Cleaning Machines" I, LEMBIT WILLUM, a New Zealand citizen, of 95 Richmond Hill Road, Christchurch, New Zealand, hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement - 2 - 201621 The present invention relates, to a drive for floor-cleaning machines of the type which include a vacuum cleaner and a large rotating brush Vhich sweeps or scrubs or polishes the floor. In currently available machines of this type, the vacuum cleaner and the brush are powered by separate motors. Portable appliances of this kind in New Zealand must not draw a current in excess of 10 amps, (this limit is 15 amps in Australia), and this limits the power of the motors. However, for rapid cleaning, it is an advantage to rotate the brush as rapidly as possible:- for example, a 470 mm brush commonly is rotated at about 380 revolutions per minute (rpm) when driven by a 1.5 Hp motor, but a brush rotation of about 800 rpm would be preferable.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a drive for a floor-cleaning machine of the type described which permits a greatly increased rate of revolution of the brush but uses a motor which draws a low current.

The present invention provides a floor-cleaning machine of the type which includes a vacuum cleaner and a large rotating brush, said machine further including: a single motor arranged to drive a transmission system which is arranged to drive the rotatable brush at a rate of revolutions per minute less than that of the motor and also to drive a vacuum suction fan at a rate of revolutions per minute greater than that of the motor.

Said transmission system may be a system of pulleys and belts or a system of gear wheels.

I£21 By way of example only, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig.l is a diagrammatic plan view of the drive of the present invention; and Fig.2 is a diagrammatic side view of the drive of Fig.l.

Referring to the drawings, an electric motor 2 of known type is arranged to drive a pulley 3 mounted below the motor. The pulley 3 is of small diameter and is connected by a belt to a larger-diameter pulley 4 offset to one side of the motor 2. The pulley 4 is mounted on a spindle 5 which also carries a small-diameter pulley 6 and a larger-diameter pulley 7. The pulley 6 is connected by a belt to a larger-dia^eter pulley 8 which is mounted on a spindle 9 the other end of which carries a rotatable brush 10. The pulley 7 is connected by a belt to a small-diameter pulley 11, which drives a fan 12 of a vacuum suction unit.

When the electric motor 2 is operated, the pulley 3 drives the pulley 4 which, via the spindle 5, drives the pulleys 6 and 7. The pulley 6 drives the pulley 8 and hence rotates the brush 10 and the pulley 7 drives the pulley 11 and hence the fan 12. Thus, a single motor 2 drives both the brush 10 and the fan 12. This means that more power can be made available to rotate the brush at a higher speed, because no power is being wasted in operating a second motor, 4 201621 but current consumption can be maintained below 10 amp (NZ) or 15 amp (Australia). Also, the overall noise level of the machine is considerably lower than that of a machine with two motors.

The pulley-and-belt system described above may be replaced by an equivalent transmission system (e.g. gears) if preferred. It will be appreciated that the diametral sizes of the pulleys (or gears) 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11 may be varied as necessary to produce the desired rates of rotation of the brush 10 and the fan 12. A typical example is as follows:- the motor 2 is 1.5 - 2.5 Hp, and about 1425-2850 rpm. The brush 10 is about 407 mm and is rotated at approximately 750-850 rpm. The fan 12 is rotated at about 8000 rpm. The current drawn by the motor 2 does not exceed 10 amp (NZ) or 15 amp (Australia). The pulley diameters are: pulley 3 = 63-74 mm pulley 8 = 230 mm pulley 7 = 145 mm pulley 6 - . = 90 mm pulley 4 = 90-103 mm pulley 11 24-32 mm

Claims

201621 - 5 - WHAT I CLAIM IS: ' ■

1. A floor-cleaning machine of the type which includes a vacuum cleaner and a large rotating brush, said machine further including: a single motor arranged to drive a transmission system which is arranged to drive the rotatable brush at a rate of revolutions per minute less than that of the motor and also to drive a vacuum suction fan at a rate of revolutions per minute greater than that of the motor.

2. A machine as claimed in Claim wherein said transmission system comprises a pulley-and-belt system.

3. A machine as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said transmission system comprises gear wheels.

4. A machine as claimed in Claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings. LEMBIT WILLUM by his authorised agents P.L. BERRY & ASSOCIATES Per: