US2727134A

US2727134A - Portable scrubbing buckets

Info

Publication number: US2727134A
Application number: US340846A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wilken John
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1953-03-06
Filing date: 1953-03-06
Publication date: 1955-12-13
Anticipated expiration: 1972-12-13

Description

Dec. 13, 1955 J, wlLKEN PORTABLE SCRUBBING BUCKETS Filed March 6, 1953 //W/V7WR JOHN WILKEN United States Patent PORTABLE SCRUBBING BUCKETS John Wilken, East St. Louis, Iil.

Application March 6, 1953, Serial No. 340,846

3 Claims. (Cl. 219-48) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in portable scrubbing buckets.

Incommercial scrub-work of the type encountered in hotels, hotel lobbies, restaurants, public rest rooms, the halls of ofiice buildings and commercial establishments, it is essential to use water in order to obtain the optimum cleansing and sanitizing results. Hot water, for instance, makes it possible to obtain maximum cleaning power from the detergents and soap-like materials ordinarily used in the water. Furthermore, the solvent and suspension power of hot water is much greater and, therefore, the dirt and grime which is rinsed out of the mop will remain suspended much more effectively in the hot water than it will in cold water. Consequently, the water-soap solution retains its cleaning power much more efiectively as long as the temperature is maintained at a fairly high level. atively large areas in commercial scrub-work, it is very diflicult and time-wasting to continuously change the scrub-water as it cools off. Furthermore, the continuous squeezing of the mop, as it is rinsed in the water, brings a great quantity of the water into contact with air and results in heat losses by radiation and evaporation.

It is the primary object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a scrubbing bucket which is readily portable and is automatically heated so that the scrubwater is always kept at optimum temperature.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable scrubbing bucket which is rugged and durable in construction and may be easily pushed from place to place while maintaining the scrub-water at a relatively uniform temperature.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a portable scrubbing bucket of the type stated which will not readily become damaged or electrically short circuited through the agency of scrubbing water which may accidentally splash against its component elements.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a portable scrubbing bucket which will not over-heat or burn the areas of the floor immediately subjacent to it if it is permitted to stand in one place for a protracted period of time.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away and in section, of a portable scrubbing bucket constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view, partly broken away and in section, of the portable scrubbing bucket; and

Figure 3 is a schematic wiring diagram illustrating the electrical connection forming a part of the portable scrubbing bucket.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred em- Since it is necessary to cover rel- "ice bodiment of the present invention, A designates a portable scrubbing bucket comprising a base or carriage 1, which is in the form preferably of a rectangular box-like frame 2, provided integrally around its upper peripheral margin with a rectangular plate 3, which extends angularly upwardly and inwardly from its four edges in the provision of generally sloping areas S S S S terminating in a centrally located rectangular aperture 4 for receiving a horizontal electrically heated hot plate 5, provided upon its under face with a conventional resistance type electrical heating element 6 disposed entirely within and depending through the aperture 4 into the hollow interior of the carriage 1. The exposed portion of the hot plate 5 extends marginally outwardly for a short distance around the aperture 4 into overlying engagement upon the sloping areas S S S S of the plate 3, and has an upwardly presented flat face for supporting engagement against the under face of a rectilinear scrub bucket 7 formed of galvanized sheet metal or any other suitable material and conventionally provided at its upper rim with opposed upstanding ears 8 for receiving a handle or bail 9. As will be noted by reference to Figure 1, the area of the bottom of the bucket 7 is substantially greater than the area of the hot plate 5 and the hot plate 5, furthermore, is of substantial vertical thickness so that the bucket 7, in effect, overhangs the hot plate 5 around its entire periphery and is supported thereby in upwardly spaced relation around its overhanging portion from the sloping areas S S S S The carriage 1 is provided in its four corners with four swivelly mounted casters 10 and a closure plate 11 removably held thereacross by means of attachment screws 12, which are threaded into bosses 13 formed integrally upon the interior lateral faces of the frame 2. Welded or otherwise rigidly mounted upon one of the lateral faces of the frame 2 is an open faced housing 14 containing a conventional three-pole switch 15. Also mounted rigidly upon one lateral face of the frame 2 is a box-like housing 16 containing a. conventional electrical contact receptacle (not specifically shown), which is suitably connected to a conventional electric cord 17 adapted for plug-in connection to any convenient electrical outlet or other source of electrical power. The electrical cord 17 is connected internally within the frame 2 to the switch 15 and thence to the heating element 6, substantially in the manner schematically shown in Figure 3. Thus, it will be seen that the switch 15 may be turned to 01$ position or to any one of three different heating positions to afford a selection of temperature levels, depending upon the needs and requirements of the user. In one position, a low wattage portion of the heating element is connected directly across the line and in another posi tion, a high wattage portion of the heating element is connected directly across the line, while, in the third position, both low and high wattage portions are connected in series across the line.

Along one of its transverse margins, the frame 2 is provided with an outwardly projecting bifurcated lug 18 for swingably receiving the lower end of a draw bar 19 provided at its upper end with an integrally formed handle 20 by which it may be pulled from place to place as required.

Riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the opposite outwardly presented faces of the longitudinal portions of the frame 2 is an upstanding stationary roller yoke 21 provided at its upper end with a rotating roller 22 and adapted for swingably supporting a rockable roller yoke 23 extending outwardly around the forward vertical face of the bucket 7 and being provided with a step pedal 24. At its upper end, the rockable yoke 23 is provided with a rotatable roller 25 having a shaft 26 which extends outwardly at one end beyond the rockable yoke 23 and, on

such projecting end, is rigidly provided with a radially extending arm 27 having a perpendicularly outwardly extending handle 28. The rockable yoke 23 is normally biased upwardly and toward the stationary yoke 21 by means of a tension spring 29 secured at its opposite ends respectively to, and extending between, the stationary yoke 21 and the rockable yoke 23. When it is desired to wring out a mop which has been rinsed in the bucket 7, the mop is allowed to dangle between the

rollers

22, 25, and the pedal 24 is pressed downwardly with the foot, swinging the roller 25 toward the roller 22 to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, thereby applying substantial pressure to the mop. The handle 28 and its associated arm 27 are then rotated in the proper direction so that the mop will be wrung out as it is pulled upwardly between the

rollers

22, 25, thereby effectively wringing the mop much more completely than is otherwise done and preventing damage to the mop by the longitudinal pull usually exerted in dragging it upwardly between rollers of conventional wringers.

Water from the bucket 7 which will accidentally splash upon the carriage 1 will normally drain downwardly along the outwardly sloping areas S S S S of the top wall 3 and will be thus directed away from the hot plate 5. As a result of inclination or slope of the areas S S S S and the heat generated in the space directly around the peripheral margin of the hot plate 5, as a result of the overhanging portions of the bucket 7, water is effectively prevented from working upwardly and inwardly under the hot plate 5 to the heating element 6 to produce short circuiting, corrosion, and other damage. It will also be noted that the heating element 6 is housed within the hollow space formed by the frame 2 and the closure plate 1.1, thereby forming an athermanous space which prevents a substantial amount of the heat generated by the heating element 6 from passing downwardly toward the floor, thereby protecting the floor from overheating or burning if, for any reason, the carriage 1 is permitted to stand in one spot for any appreciable period of time as may happen in the course of ordinary commercial scrubbing operations.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the portable scrubbing bucket may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A portable scrubbing bucket comprising a bucket removably mounted in a movable carriage having a top wall provided with a central aperture, said top wall sloping downwardly and outwardly on all sides from the aperture, and a fiat plate mounted in the aperture and being equipped with an electrical heating element, said plate being of substantial thickness so that its top face lies in a plane spaced upwardly from the carriage top wall.

2. A portable scrubbing bucket comprising, in combination, a carriage comprising a hollow box-like frame mounted upon casters for convenient portability and transference from place to place and having an aperture covered with a flat plate, a bucket removably mounted on the plate, electric heating means disposed within the box-like frame, and a closure member mounted on the underside of the carriage beneath the aperture in downwardly spaced relation to the underside of the heating element to provide an athermanous air-space therebetween.

3. A portable scrubbing bucket comprising a bucket removably mounted on a movable carriage including 2. rectangular frame having a top wall provided with a central aperture and sloping downwardly and outwardly on all sides from the aperture to the outer peripheral margin of the frame so that the peripheral margins of the aperture lie in a plane substantially above the plane of the outer peripheral margin of the frame, a flat plate covering said aperture and extending outwardly on all sides around the peripheral margins of the aperture, said plate being of substantial thickness so as to support the bottom of the bucket in upwardly spaced relation to the sloping portions of the top wall, electric heating means mounted upon the underside of the plane within the confines of the aperture, a closure member mounted on the underside of the frame in inwardly spaced relation to the underside of the heating element to provide an athermanous airspace therebetween, and casters mounted on the underside of the frame for supporting the entire structure in upwardly spaced relation upon a floor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,117,419 Hamrick et al. May 17, 1938 2,167,940 Erickson Aug. 1, 1939 2,392,208 Wilken Ian. 1, 1946 2,426,615 Iokinen Sept. 2, 1947