US1728520A - Floor-treating machine - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 17; 1929 F. E. WADHAMS FLOOR TREATING MACHINE- Filed Nov. 13, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet fill p 1929- F. E. WADHAMS, 1,728,520

FLOOR TREATING mamas Patented Sept. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FREDERICK E. WADHAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO LINCOLN-SCHILUETER FLOOR MACHINERY 00., A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS FLOOR-TREATING MACHINE Application filed November 13, 1926. Serial No. 148,152.

The present invention has for its object to produce a compact floor treating machine made of a few simple parts, rugged in construction, and eflicient in operation.

The invention relates particularly to small machines supported from the surface to be treated by the treating el ments and carrying a motor for rotating the treating elements; the machines being adapted to be pushed by hand over the floor or other surface which is being treated. Machines of this kind are. used for scrubbing, polishing, sanding, sweeping or waxing floors by means of brushes or other elements having comparatively large hearing areas for engagement with the floors. There is always more or less unevenness in the surface of a floor and therefore, if the treating elements are compelled to rotate about fixed vertical axes, they will not adapt themselves to the irregularities of the floor,'and care must be taken to shift the machines in various directions from a straight line travel, in order to permit the treating elements to operate on all points of the surface of the floor. Furthermore, the treating elements Vary with the nature of the work and must therefore be changed in order to provide the proper elements to suit the character of the work being done, and they must also be changed when they have become worn out.

Viewed in one of its aspects, the present invention may be said to have for its object to produce a simple and novel means for attaching the rotary treating elements of a floor treating machine in such a way that they may readily be attached and detached and, while in operation, may shift their axes of rotation angularlyto compensate for unevenness in the floor that is being treated whereby the movement of a machine ahead in a straight line will finish all points of the surface lying within the area traversed by the machine.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to: the following detailed description taken in connection with h a comp y n d in h iii i Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine arranged in accordance with the present invention, the greater portion of the handle being broken away; Fig. 2 is a front view of the machine; Fig.3 is a top plan view of the machine, on a larger scale than F igs. 1 and 2,With the top, including the motor, removed; Fig. 4' is a. section taken approximately on line 4-4 of Fig. 3, on a larger scale than Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the hub or socket of one of the floor treating members, detached from the latter; Fig. 6 is a section taken approximately on line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a vertical central section, on an enlarged scale through the double hearing for one of the vertical shafts by means of which the treating elements are rotated.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents an elongated casing in the form of a shallow flat bottom pan, the casing being preferably made of a single piece of heavy sheet metal pressed into shape. The casing is closed at the top by means of a. cover 2 that is preferably made of a flat piece of sheet metal having along the edges a flange 3 that will fit around the upper marginal portions of the side walls'of the casing. The cover may be fastened in place by a few small screws 4. One of the long edges of the casing is the front. Mounted on the cover, symmetrically disposed with respect to the sides or ends, and toward the rear of the cover, is a suitable-motor 5 to which may be attached an operating handle 6 by means of which the machine may be pushed about. Suitable truck wheels 7 may be supported from brackets 8 extending rearwardly from the underside of the easing.

Within the casing are arranged two large spiral gears 9 and 10 meshing with each other. The motor shaft 11 extends down' into the casing and has thereon a spiral pinion 12 made of metal and meshing with the pinion 9. With this arrangement, the motor may rotate at a high speed. while the gear wheels 9 and 10 revolve at the speed desired for the floor treating elements, withoutthe use of any intermediate speed changing the upper ends of vertical shafts13and 14 thatiextend downwardly throughtlie bottom shaped holding members 16 and 17 one lying above and theother below the bottom of the 24are casing. Each holding member has around the mouth a flange or rim 18 that rests flat against the bottom of the casing. Bolts 19 pass through the overlying flanges of the holding members and through the casing bottom that lies between the flanges; the holding members being thus firmly fastened to the casing and firmly clamped about the bearing housings. I

The construction of the double bearings for the shafts 14 and 15 is best shown in fig. 7 The bearing housing is in the form of a wide ring having two internal ball races 20 and 21 extending around the same. On the shaft 14, or 15 as the case may be, is fixed a collar 22 containing external ball races 24 and 25 facing respectively the races 20 and 21. Arranged between the cooperating races 20 and balls 26, while another set of balls 27 runs in the races 21 and 25. Suitable spacing rings 28 are provided to hold the balls in each roup or set at the proper distances apart. The double bearings for each of the shafts 14 and 15 serve not only as anti-friction bear ings that permit the shafts to rotate freely while held against angular movement of any a kind, but they also serve as thrust bearings totake end thrusts on the shafts, in either direction. The pressure transmitted through the ball bearings is distributed by the flanged holding members 16 and 17 over a considerable area of the bottom of the casing, so that the casing may be-made of comparatively light material without danger of distortion under load. The upper sides. of the bearings are exposed within the casing which may be dust proof; but the underside of each of the bearings is exposed to dirt and water from the surface which is being treated. In order to protect the bearings against the entrances of foreign matter from underneath, I place around the shafts 14 and 15, underneath the bearings, a packing 29 of felt or the like, this packing being conveniently held in place by a small. sheet metal gland 30 extending through an opening in the bottom of the cup-' shaped holding member 17.

'Each of the shafts 14 and 15 has an enlarged lowerend 32 lying below the bearing. Near the lower end of each of the parts 32 is a cross pin 33 that projects at both ends.

Above the pin 33 is a loose washer 34, and

portion of the hub across the diameter of the opening 39, this slot having a width slightly greater than the diameter of the pin 33. The

hub is undercut at each side of the slot, to form four seats, as indicated at 41, the vertical height of the seats being somewhat greater than the diameter of the pin 33.

In applying a treating element to the supporting shaft therefor, the lower end of the shaft is insertedin the opening 39,with the pin registering with the slot 40. The shaft is then pushed down until the pin reaches the undercuts 41, and is given a quarter turn to lock the treating element and shaft together. As the shaft is pushed down into the socket, the washer 34 is arrested by the top of the socket, so as to compress the spring. Therefore, when there is no weight on the treating element, the spring forces the latter down until the pin is frictionally held against the touch either the overhanging or underlying portions of the hub or socket. When the mo tor is set in operation, the treating elements are compelled to revolve with the shafts, but

cannot accidentally become detached therefrom. By making the openings 39 in the hubs or sockets tapering, the treating elements are permitted to wobble on the driving shafts so as to accommodate themselves to undulations in the floor.

It will thus be seen that my improved machine is very simple but rugged in construction, that it will operate with a minimum of noise and will operate as effectively on uneven floors as on even floors; the body being made of two simple stampings; there being only threegear elements, one on the driving shaft and the others 611 the two driven shafts,

and there being no metal tometal contact between the gear elements; the driven shafts having bearings securely supported from the bottom of the body member and permitting free rotation of theshafts under end thrusts and holding the shafts against endwise movements; and the treating elements being easily attached and detached and, in use, being capable ofadjusting themselves to unevenness in the surface that is being treated.

It Wlll also be seen that by providing the hub with undercuts or seats on both sides of each end of the slot 40, the treating elements may be locked to their shafts by turning them either to the-right or to theleft after the pins have been pushed down into the slots. This is of advantage in that the two floor treating elements may be interchanged after wear takes place, with the pins always lying in the seats ahead of the same in the direction of ro tation of the treating elements. In the case of brushes, the bristles in time will tend to assume a horizontal position so that the sides of the bristles, instead of the ends engage the floor. Therefore, before the bristles have taken a permanent set out of the vertical positions, the brushes may be interchanged so as to produce a tendency to swing the bristles in the opposite direction from the vertical. In the case of a sanding element, rotation in one direction dulls the edges on one side of the grains of sand; and, by interchanging the two elements, the opposite, sharp sides of the grains are brought into play.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I'do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim: I

1. In a'floor treating machine, a body member having a vertical rotatableshaft projecting downwardly therefrom, a floor-treating element having a central tapered opening smallest in diameter at the lower end and a slot extending into the same diametrically of v said opening and undercut at opposite sides of the opening, a cross pin on the lower end of v of the slot, a shoulder on the shaft above the floor treating element, and acompression spring between said shoulder and the top of said floor, treating element.

2. In a floor treating machine, abody member having a vertical rotatable shaft projecting downwardly therefrom, a floor-treating element having a central vertical bore and a slot extending diametrically of the bore, there being undercuts or seats at opposite sides of each end of the slot beside said bore, a cross pinon the lower end of the shaft having a diameter small enough to permit it to pass into the slot and not as great as the vertical height of the undercuts or seats, a shoulder on'the shaft above said element, and a compression spring between said shoulder and the top of said element. 7

In testimony whereoLI sign this specification.

FREDERICK E. WADHAMS.

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