US2668312A - Mop and attachment therefor - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 9, 1954 SOLOMON 2,668,312

MOP AND ATTACHMENT THEREFOR Filed July 14, 1951 Z fzUenZ'or Patented Feb. 9, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

, v 1 This invention relates to improvements in mop head attachments.

. Speaking more specifically the invention pertains to an improved attachment for a mop the head of which is swingably mounted upon a handle member, the attachment provided by this invention tending yieldingly to urge the mop head toward one limit of its swinging movement and thus enable the user of the mop more forcibly to apply, by means of the handle, a portion of the mop head to a surface area which is being cleaned.

A housewife, janitor or other person who has occasion to use a mop either for dusting or scrubhing-will frequently encounter a surface area of a floor or Wall which cannot be properly cleaned unless the mop head be applied thereto in a more forcible manner than usual, and it is difficult to apply the additional pressure required at such times when using the ordinary mop head, for all portions of the under surface of the head of a pivoted-on mop head will engage with substantially equal pressure the surface being cleaned.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforesaid difficulty by providing, for application to mop heads now in use, an improved attachment that will, with considerable force, urge a pivoted-on mop head toward one limit of its swinging movement.

A more specific object is to provide a one-piece,

coiled spring member which can be manufactured at a very low cost and yet when attached to the mop head will efficiently perform the intended function.

The invention further relates to a new article r? of manufacture consisting of a coiled spring The invention relates to improvements in the type of spring used in my copending application on a similar device filed July 22, 1950; S. N.

175,350, now abandoned. The spring means provided by the present invention differs from that disclosed in my said co-pending application and is of a more durable character because it comprises acoiled resilient wire the coils of which encircle an oval line. and, therefore, in performing its mop head swinging function the stress uponsaid spring tends to spread apart the coils thereof, a greater length of spring wire thus being subjected to strain, with the result that a more efiicient, longer lived spring results.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the invention as already reduced to practice in a preferred embodiment,

Fig. 1 is a perspective. view of a mop head equipped with the invention. In this view excessive detail of illustration is avoided by showing only a few of the cords of the mop head, the periphery of the complete cord cluster being indicated by a dct-and-dash line.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a mop of the pivoted head type showing the invention applied thereto, only a proximal fragment of the handle being shown. The handle and attachment being shown in their position when the apex portion of the mop head is being applied with additional pressure to the surface being cleaned. This view is simplified by showing only right and left hand portions of the cluster of cords carried by the mop head.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view separately showing the spirally coiled spring member comprising the attachment stressed to an oval contour for attachment to the mop.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig 3.

' Referring in detail to the drawing, therein is .shown a triangular type of mop head the body portion of which consists of an approximately triangular plate 5 bordered by a depending flange 5, said flange enclosing the attached portion of the cluster of mop cords 1 in the usual manner.

The mop handle 8 is attached to the aforesaid plate 5 in a swingable manner by means of a ferrule 9 furnished at its lower end with an extension In carrying a bearing curl ll through which passes a pin 12 having projecting end portions that are contained within bearing curls l3fformed in the aforesaid body plate 5. Said extension 10 has a flat face l4 against which abuts one end portion of the spirally coiled spring member l5 provided by this invention, when said resilient wire one end of which is contained in the tubular portion of an eye boot I6 and the opposite end of which is anchored in the tubular I portion of a like eye boot l 8a. When said coiled spring member isin an unstressed condition its axis will extend along a straight line. With this coiled loop of wire stressed into the shape indi- -cated in Fig. 3, the eye portions of the boots are superimposed one upon the other and through the resulting apertures I1 is inserted the screw bolt 18 while the latter is related to the ferrule extension H3 in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and then the washer I9 and nut 20 are applied, thus securing the attachment to the mop head.

In the drawing the eye boots l6 and lea are shown as elongated pieces of form retaining sheet material each of said pieces having a tubular socket forming end portion into which an end of the wire coil is fitted and secured in any suitable manner; for example by welds w. The opposite end portions of said eye boots are shown circularly shaped and flattened at a right angle to the axes of the eyes through them. These eye boots may be varied in shape without departing from the scope of the claimed, invention.

It will be observed that, in the coiled Spring member provided by this invention the coils of the mounted spring encircle an oval line, the

smaller end of the oval representing the attached portion of the spring, and the larger end of the oval engaging the upper surface of the mop head in a stable, flatwise, slidable manner.

In the ordinary use of the device upon a floor the operator will not elevate the handle to such an extent as to cause more than a light pressure of the front or pressure foot portion of the attachment against the apex portion of the mop head, but when it is desired to scrub or dust in a more forcible manner a specific fioor area, for example, in a corner portionof a room, where additional dust is apt to accumulate, then the handle is swung to the more nearly vertical positlon shown in Fig. 2, thus causing the apex portion of the mop head to be'more forcibly applied to the underlying floor area under the urge of the attachment, as indicated by the arrow in the latter view. When the operator does this the friction of that part of the looped wire which is opposite to its attached part tends to widen that portion of the spring which engages the fiat surface of the mop head thus widening also the area of the latter engaged by the spring and consequently stabilizing the action thereof. It will be seen that, in all its operative positions, the handle means 8 extends beyond that side of the plate 5 which is opposite to its front corner portion, said corner portion being engaged by the spring l5 and being well adapted for cleaning corner portions of a floor.

- I claim:

1. An attachment secured to a hanche means swingably attached to a mop head: comprising a piece of resilient oval shaped wire which throughoutits length is spirally wound, a socket member for each end portion of said coiled wire, the end portions of the coil into which said wire is stormed being fitted within and secured to said socket member, said socket members each having an eyeletted end portion superimposed upon that of the other and forming a bolt hole usable to attach said oval shaped coiled wire to a swingable mop handle adjacent to its juncture to a mop head, in a position yieldingly to swing downwardly that side of said mop head which is farthest from the operator.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 and each of; said socket members consisting of an elongated piece of form retaining sheet material one end of which is tubular and contains an endportion of the wire coil and the opposite end of which is flattened at a right angle to the axis of its said eye.

3. The combination, with a mop head having a flexible mopping portion applicable to a surface to be mopped, a plate from one face of which said mopping portion extends, and an elongated handle means one end of which is swingably attached to said plate; of a spring member consisting of a coiled spring shaped as an elongated loop, one end portion of said loop into which said member is formed being attached to said handle means adjacent to said plate, the, opposite end portion of said loop slidably engaging said plate and tending to swing it into the plane in which said handle means extends, by applying pressure to the side of said plate farthest from the operator.

4. The subject matter of claim 3 and said loop being of an oval shape with the narrow end of the oval attached to the mop head and the wide end thereof engaging said plate in a flatwise manner at a point considerably spaced forwardly of the axis about which said handle swings.

5. The combination, with a mop headhaving a flexible mopping portion applicable to, a surface to be-mopped, a. plate from one faceof which said mopping portion extends, said plate having a front corner portion, and an elongated handle means one end of which is swingably attached to said plate, said handle means being upwardly inclined from said plate and extending beyond the side thereof opposite to said corner portion; of a spring member consisting of a coiled spring shaped as an elongated oval loop, one end portion of said loop being attached to said handle means superjacent to said plate, the opposite end portion of said loop laterally engaging the upper surface. of the aforesaid front corner portion of said plate thus tending, when the operator swings upwardly said handle means, forcibly to, press said front corner portion of said plate downwardly against the surface being mopped.

6. In a mop including a handle adapted to be swingably attached to a mop head, an attachment for the mop comprising a piece of resilient wire which is arcuate throughout its length with its end portions adjacent to each other when the wire is in stressed condition, said wire being provided with an eye at each end portion, one of said eyes being superimposed upon the other so that they combine to form a bolt hole, and means extending through said eyes and clamping said wire to said handle adjacent to its juncture with the mop head, said resilient wire in the mounted condition having a presser foot portion adapted to overlie and press down upon the mop head at a point considerably spaced away from the axis of the swing of said handle.

7. The combination, with a mop head having a flexible mopping portion applicable to a. surface to be mapped, a plate from one face of which said mopping portion extends, and an elongated handle means. one end of which is swingably attached to said plate; of an elongated spring member one end portion of which is rigibly attached to said handle means adjacent to said plate, the opposite end portion of said spring member slidably engaging said plate in a considerably spaced relation to the axis of the swing of said handle means when the latter is swun from one position to another, said spring tending to swing said plate into the plane in which said handle means extends.

8. An attachment securedto a handle means swingably attached to a mop head, said attachmerit being resilient and having a pre-sser foot portion positioned to contact and act upon the mop head at a point considerably spaced away from the axis of the swing of said handle means when said handle means is swung toward one limit of its swing, a part of said attachment in a spaced relation to said presser foot being secured in a fixed manner to said handle means adjacent to its swingable connection with said mop head enabling the operator to apply varying additional amounts of pressure to the part of the mop head underlying said presser foot.

9. The combination, with a mop head comprising a generally triangular body plate "with depending marginal flange portions and mop cordage extending from the flanged face of'said plate and an elongated handle swingably connected to said plate by a ferrule having a 'substantially flat face portion; of a spring member having one end portion secured to said ferrule in an abutting relation to its said flat face, the opposite end portion of said spring member press- MORRIS SOLOMON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,222,971 Moe Apr. 17, 1917 1,792,589 Johnson Feb. 17, 1931 2,350,221 Eisenhut May 30, 1944 2,368,775 Perret Feb. 6, 1945 2,460,763 Oakhill Feb. 1, 1949

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