US20030150072A1

US20030150072A1 - Swimming pool cleaning tool

Info

Publication number: US20030150072A1
Application number: US10/074,879
Authority: US
Inventors: Juni Pong
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-02-13
Filing date: 2002-02-13
Publication date: 2003-08-14

Abstract

The present invention is a swimming tool cleaning tool that does not require the exertion of vertical force against the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool for effective cleaning. The person using the present invention only needs to push and pull on the cleaning tool to use it effectively to clean the swimming pool.

The present invention has one or more movable blade in the shape of a foil pivotally attached to back of the cleaning pad that will pivot in the direction of the movement of the cleaning tool by utilizing hydrodynamics wherein the present invention will generate a vertical force on the cleaning pad forcing the cleaning pad against the surface regardless of the forward or backward movement of the cleaning tool. The present invention will direct the bulk of the hydrodynamic forces on the back of the cleaning pads. The present invention is especially efficient in quickly cleaning the bottom of a large swimming pool such as those used in public and commercial establishments.

Description

BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a cleaning tool for cleaning underwater surfaces. More particularly, the present invention relates to an efficient cleaning tool for cleaning swimming pool. The present invention is especially efficient in cleaning vertical surfaces of the swimming pool and in cleaning the bottom surface of large swimming pools.

BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Swimming pools require periodic cleaning of its surfaces to remove the algae, dirt, scum, and other debris that adhere to the surfaces of the swimming pool. The water in the swimming pool is regularly filtered to remove loose debris and contaminants. Chlorine or other chemicals are added to the water to control bacteria growth. However, the surfaces of the swimming pool will eventually accumulate a thin layer of algae, dirt, scum, and other debris that are not removed by the filtering of the water.

The removal of this layer of algae, dirt, scum, and other debris require mechanical cleaning means to physically loosen the layer of dirt so that they may be removed during the water filtering process. The mechanical cleaning means generally comprises of either an automatic cleaning machine that moves about the swimming pool automatically or, more commonly, a brush or a pad attached to a long pole that is pushed and pulled manually by a person standing along the edge of the swimming pool. The automatic cleaning machine generally does not require human intervention. However, the cleaning process is inefficient and requires lengthy period of time. The manual method is faster and more efficient than the automatic cleaning machine.

A major drawback to the manual method of cleaning the swimming pool with a brush or a pad attached to a long pole is the physical effort required to push the brush or pad along the surfaces, particularly, the vertical surfaces, of the swimming pool. To clean the bottom of the swimming pool, the person may utilize his bodyweight to assist in pushing and pulling the cleaning tool. However, on the vertical surfaces, which comprise a majority of the surfaces in a swimming pool, the weight of the person performing the cleaning task is not helpful and may even at times be a deficit to the cleaning task. The person must be standing at the edge of the swimming pool, partially leaning over the surface of the water, to use the cleaning tool to clean the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool. For the cleaning tool to be effective, the person must not only push and pull the cleaning tool on the vertical surfaces of swimming pool, but must also exert a vertical force against the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool. To exert this vertical force against the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool, the person must necessarily balance himself delicately on the edge of the swimming pool so as not to fall into the swimming pool.

Most of the current design attempts to use hydrodynamics to assist the person using the cleaning tool by incorporating a fixed flap that slants forward. Some of the patented designs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,742,592, 4,637,087, 4,776,053, 4,783,868, and 5,983,431. When the person pushes the cleaning tool downward on the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool, the water will move over the top of the fixed flap and push down on the brush or cleaning pad attached to the end of the cleaning tool. This will assist the person in exerting the vertical force against the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool on the downward stroke during the cleaning process. However, when the same cleaning tool is pulled back up the vertical surface, the flap offers either no assistance or, even worse, the flap causes a large resistance against the pulling and actually forces the person to exert more effort in the cleaning process.

Other designs utilize the hydrodynamic to exert the downward force on both the downward and the upward stroke. Some of these designs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,243,576, 3,003,168, and 5,864,917. However, none of these designs will control the movement of the cleaning tool in a linear fashion. U.S. Pat. No. 2,243,576 discloses a very simple tiltable vane with an open pocket character on both sides. The vane generates a force that pushes the brush against the surface to be cleaned. However, the design offers no control or guidance of the direction of travel of the brush. U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,168 discloses a much more complex design utilizing a vane with a bottom portion and an upper portion with said upper portion having an area substantially greater than the lower portion. This design suffers from the same lack of control or guidance of the direction of travel of the brush as U.S. Pat. No. 2,243,576. U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,917 discloses a very simple attachment comprising of a bent plastic rectangular vane that is attached to the pole that the cleaning brush is attached to and operates similar to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,243,576 and 3,003,168. This design also offers no control or guidance of the direction of travel of the brush. The person using these designs will still have to control the direction of travel of the cleaning tool by exerting tangential forces on the cleaning tool.

The present invention assists the person using the cleaning tool on both the push and also the pull stroke of the cleaning tool on the vertical surface as well as the bottom of the swimming pool. In addition, the present invention allows the person using the cleaning tool to simply hold the cleaning tool and walk along the sides of the swimming pool. The present invention will maintain the travel of the cleaning tool in a linear fashion. The present invention is especially efficient in quickly cleaning the bottom of a large swimming pool such as those used in public and commercial establishments. The present invention allows the person to easily maintain his balance on the edge of the swimming pool by virtually eliminating the exertion of the vertical force against the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool. The person using the present invention only needs to simply push and pull vertically on the cleaning tool to clean the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool effectively. The present invention will travel easily in a linear fashion in a self guided manner without additional control or force from the person using it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a swimming tool cleaning tool that does not require the exertion of vertical force against the vertical surfaces of the swimming pool for effective cleaning. The person using the present invention only needs to push and pull on the cleaning tool to use it effectively to clean the swimming pool. Furthermore, the present invention allows the person using the cleaning tool to simply hold the cleaning tool and walk along the sides of the swimming pool to easily clean the sides of the swimming pool. The present invention will maintain the travel of the cleaning tool in a linear fashion. The present invention may be controlled with a pole or a set of ropes that can pull it across the bottom surface of a large swimming pool.

The present invention has one or more movable foil pivotally attached to back of the cleaning pad that will pivot in the direction of the movement of the cleaning tool by utilizing hydrodynamics wherein the present invention will create a vertical force on the cleaning pad forcing the cleaning pad against the surface regardless of the forward or backward movement of the cleaning tool. The present invention will direct the bulk of the hydrodynamic forces on the back of the cleaning pads and offer minimal tangential resistance due to its foil profile. Furthermore, the present invention also has two rudders, one at each end of the swimming pool cleaning tool. The rudders will force the swimming pool cleaning tool to travel in a linear fashion regardless of the direction of the forced applied to the swimming pool cleaning tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the front view swimming pool cleaning tool with two foils in the neutral position. [0010]
FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of a foil on the swimming pool cleaning tool in one of the operating position. [0011]
FIG. 3 shows the side view of the swimming pool cleaning tool with the foil in one of the operating position. [0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The swimming pool cleaning tool comprises of a [0013] cleaning pad 1 affixed to a pad holder 2. Two rudders 3 are attached to the back of the pad holder 2 near the two extremes of the pad holder 2 to guide the movement of the cleaning tool linearly. In the preferred embodiment, two blades 4 in the shape of a foil are pivotally attached to the back of the pad holder 2 between the two rudders 3 with pivot attachment means.
The pivot attachment means comprises of four [0014] parallel blade adjusters 9 affixed to the back of the pad holder 2 between the two rudders 3. Each blade adjuster 9 is in the shape of a semi-circle with a slot parallel to its circumference. Two blade holders 10 are affixed to the underside of each of the blades 4 near the two extremes of each of the blades 4. The blade holders 10 are pivotally attached with blade holding screws 8 to the blade adjusters 9 on the back of the pad holder 2. A pushing rod 11 is rotably inserted through all four blade holders 10 and pivots within the slots in the blade adjusters 9. A pushing rod stopper 12 is attached to each of the two ends of the pushing rod 11 to retain the pushing rod 11 within the pivot attachment means assembly. A rod connector 13 in the general form of the letter “T” is affixed at the middle of the pushing rod 11 between the two blades 4 by two fasten screw 7. The holding rod 5 is pivotally attached to the rod connector 13 with a master screw 6 and oriented perpendicular to the pushing rod 11.
FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of a blade pivot attachment means in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Two [0015] blade holders 10 are affixed to the underside of each blade 4 near the two extremes of the blade 4. The blade holders 10 are pivotally attached with blade holding screws 8 to the blade adjusters 9 on the back of the pad holder 2. A pushing rod 11 is rotably inserted through the blade holders 10 and pivots within the slot in the blade adjuster 9.
FIG. 3 shows the side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The [0016] blades 4 are in the operating position when the present invention is pushed through water by the user pushing on the holding rod 5. The hydrodynamic of the water flowing over the blade 4 in the shape of foils will generate a downward force perpendicular to the surface the cleaning pad 1 is on. When the present invention is pulled in the other direction, the change in direction of the flow of water will pivot the blade 4 to the other operating position on the opposite side and therefore also generating a downward force perpendicular to the surface the cleaning pad 1 is on. Due to the foil profile of the blade 4, minimal tangential resistance is created.
Another embodiment of the present invention uses two ropes instead of the holding [0017] rod 5 to move the swimming pool cleaning tool. The two ropes are attached to the rod connector 13 and pull the swimming pool cleaning tool in opposing directions across the bottom of a large swimming pool. The hydrodynamic of the water acting on the blades 4 will force the swimming pool cleaning tool to remain in contact with the surface on the bottom of the large swimming pool while the two rudders 3 will guide the swimming pool cleaning tool to move in a linear fashion across the bottom of the large swimming pool.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A swimming pool cleaning tool comprising:

a cleaning pad affixed to a pad holder with two ends;

a rudder is affixed at each of the two extremes on the other side of the pad holder opposite the cleaning pad;

one or more blade in the shape of a foil is pivotally attached to the back of the pad holder with a pivot attachment means;

wherein the blade will pivot toward the direction of the movement of the cleaning pad under water to generate a vertical downward force against the surface to be cleaned and will pivot to the other direction when the movement of the cleaning pad changes to the other direction while offering minimum tangential resistance and travels in a linear movement.

2. A swimming pool cleaning tool as in claim 1, wherein each said pivot attachment means comprises of two parallel blade adjusters affixed to the back of the pad holder between the two rudders wherein each blade adjuster is in the shape of a semi-circle with a slot parallel to its circumference, two blade holders are affixed to the underside of the blade near the two extremes of the blades wherein the blade holders are pivotally attached with blade holding screws to the blade adjusters on the back of the pad holder, a pushing rod is rotably inserted through the blade holders and pivots within the slots in the blade adjusters, a pushing rod stopper is attached to each of the two ends of the pushing rod to retain the pushing rod within the pivot attachment means assembly, a rod connector in the general form of the letter “T” is affixed at the middle of the pushing rod between the two blades by two fasten screw, and a holding rod is pivotally attached to the rod connector with a master screw and oriented perpendicular to the pushing rod.

3. A swimming pool cleaning tool comprising:

a cleaning pad affixed to a pad holder with two ends;

one or more ropes are attached to the pivot attachment means such that the swimming pool cleaning tool may be pulled by the ropes in opposite directions;

4. A swimming pool cleaning tool as in claim 3, wherein each said pivot attachment means comprises of two parallel blade adjusters affixed to the back of the pad holder between the two rudders wherein each blade adjuster is in the shape of a semi-circle with a slot parallel to its circumference, two blade holders are affixed to the underside of the blade near the two extremes of the blades wherein the blade holders are pivotally attached with blade holding screws to the blade adjusters on the back of the pad holder, a pushing rod is rotably inserted through the blade holders and pivots within the slots in the blade adjusters, a pushing rod stopper is attached to each of the two ends of the pushing rod to retain the pushing rod within the pivot attachment means assembly, a rod connector in the general form of the letter “T” is affixed at the middle of the pushing rod between the two blades by two fasten screw, and one or more ropes are attached to the rod connector to pull the swimming pool cleaning tool through water at the bottom of a large swimming pool.