US2823409A

US2823409A - Traveling cleaner for textile rooms

Info

Publication number: US2823409A
Application number: US266520A
Authority: US
Inventors: George W Allred
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1952-01-15
Filing date: 1952-01-15
Publication date: 1958-02-18
Anticipated expiration: 1975-02-18

Description

Feb. 18,1958 G.vw. ALLRED I TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 15, 1952 ill Feb. 18, 1958 G. w. ALLRED ,8 3,

TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS I Filed Jan. 15, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 m W1 9 1w ATTORNEYS.

Feb. 18, 1958 G. w. ALLRED 2,823,409

TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS Filed Jan. 15, 1952' 6 Shee'ts-Sheet 3 INVENTORZ BY W JVQJWWL fwaw ATTORNEY).

Feb. 18, 1958 G. w. ALLRED TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 15, 1952 INVENTORIZ ATTORNEYJ.

Feb. 18, 1958 e. w. ALLRED TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR ZQPJLL TTORNEYX Filed Jan. 15, 1952 ll..- lrllillllllllllllll WIHIIIIIIIII I, -I

G. W. ALLRED TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS Feb..18, 1958 Filed Jan. 15, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR I hf. CLZM 0 1 M l 5 w m ma 2 mwa a ,2 m n & Pam

ATTORNEYS.

TRAVELING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE ROOMS George W. Allred, Mayodan, N. C.

Application January 15, 1952, Serial No. 266,520

9 Claims. (Cl. 15-312) The present invention relates to cleaning apparatus for textile room application and more particularly to a cleaning device mounted upon a trackway located above a plurality of textile machines and adapted to travel along said trackway over the machines in order to blow off from the machines and from the walls and ceiling any lint or other foreign matter which may become deposited thereon.

One object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning system of the type described wherein the blower unit is indexed to rotate about its axis of support so that a single impeller serves to clean off the ceiling and walls of the room as well as the machines.

Another object is to provide'for automatically changing the output of the blower as a function of its angular position to the end that a comparatively high velocity air stream is produced for cleaning 01f the ceiling while a relatively lower velocity air stream is produced for cleaning ofl the machinery.

A further object is to provide an adjustable louver assembly for the blower unit for distributing cleaning air to the machines and which is controlled in accordance with the index angle of the blower to vary the directional characteristic of the louvers.

A more specific object is to provide a blower unit for a traveling cleaner having an adjustable pitch impeller coupled with means for changing the impeller pitch as a function of the index angle of the blower unit. The blower motor runs at constant speed and hence the velocity of the airstream can be varied automatically to suit any particular requirement.

Another object is to provide a blower unit for a traveling cleaner so constructed as to normally cause the impeller to be progressively indexed u'nidirectionally in a step-by-step manner to different blowing directions in a vertical plane through an angle of 360 together with a reversing attachment by means of which the normal unidirectional character of the indexing can be converted to angular oscillatory over a particular angular path thus making it possible to limit the cleaning operation to the area below the blower unit or the area above it.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the inventive principles as 'disclosed herein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the trackway and blower unit located in the room to be cleaned;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the blower unit, a portion of the trackway and a plurality of the machines to be cleaned, the latter being shown in dotted lines since they are obviously not part of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the blower unit, its suspension support and part of the trackway drawn to a larger:

scale;

Figs. -4 and 5 are end views of the blower unit and its United States Patent suspension support as seen from the right and left, respectively in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section taken on line 6--6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a sectional detail on line 77 of Fig. 3 showing the current collection ring for furnishing current to the electric motor which drives the impeller at constant speed;

Fig. 8 is a side view of the mechanism utilized for indexing the blower unit;

Fig. 9 is a detail showing in plan the interior of the impeller hub and the associated mechanism for changing the impeller pitch;

Fig. 10 is a vertical section on line 1010 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a sectional view on line 1111 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 12 is side elevation of a modified construction for the indexing mechanism wherein the blower unit is made to oscillate through an angle of as contrasted with the step-by-step unidirectional rotation throughout 360' which is obtained with the construction shown in Figs. 1-11;

Fig. 13 is a detail of an operating element associated with the Fig. 12 organization;

Fig. 14 is a side elevation of another arrangement for trackway 3 of the monorail type which is suspended from.

the ceiling 4 by a plurality of spaced hanger rods 5. The

trackway 3 forms a closed loop as shown clearly in Fig. l.

and it will be understood that its configuration would be such as to pass over each machine in the room to be cleaned.

The traveling cleaner or blower unit 6 is preferably of the self-propelled type and a single motor unit functions to both rotate the impeller 7 and propel the blower;

unit around the trackway 3. As best seen in Fig. 3, the motor unit 8 which runs at constant speed and other elements to be later described are carried by and between a pair of spaced arms 9 --9' secured to the lower end of vertically disposed sleeves 10-10'. Sleeves 1010" are secured at their upper ends to U-shaped brackets 11-11 and bracket 11 carries journals 12 for the two drive shafts 13 to which the driving wheels 14 are secured. The monorail 3 consists of two L-shaped rail members secured back-to-back and the driving wheels 14 run respectively on the horizontal, foot portions of these rail members.

Power to drive wheels 14 is taken from motor shaft 15 and the transmission includes belt 16 extending from a sheave 17 on shaft 15, to sheave 18 which drives shaft 19,-

gear 20 on shaft 19 meshed with gear 21 on horizontal shaft 22 rotatable in bearing sleeve 22a, gear 23 on shaft 22 meshed with gear 24 on vertical shaft 25 journalledin sleeve 10, gear 26 on shaft 25 meshed with gear 27 on horizontal shaft 28, and gears 29 at the outer ends of shaft 28 meshing with gears 30, on the horizontal drive shafts 13 on which the drive wheels 14 are mounted. Preferably each of the drive wheels is provided with a V-shaped peripheral groove 32 for receiving a V-belt 33 having an inner diameter slightly larger than that of groove 32, so that the weight of'the blower unit can press the belt upon the rail surface and thereby provide good traction for the 1 unit. ,This feature is shown particularly well in Fig. 4. Thus as the motor shaft 15 rotates, the impeller 7 will rotate to develop the air stream for cleaning and the blower unit will be propelled along the monorail 3.

Also as is shown clearly in Fig. 4 current is supplied to motor 8 by two shoes 34 mounted upon the upper end faces of the legs of the U-shaped bracket 11 and which bear against the sides of conductor rails 35 carried by insulators 36 located at each of the monorail hanger rods 5. To insure a firm, sliding contact between the power take-off shoes 34 and the rails 35, each shoe is mounted pivotally at 37 and a spring 38 is used to load the shoe in the direction of the rail.

As will be made clear at a later point in the description, motor 8 is caused to be indexed for rotation about a horizontal axis constituted by an extension of the axis of shaft 22. Hence a collector ring assembly must be incorporated in the electrical connections 39-40 between the shoes 34 and motor terminal block 42. As shown in Figs. 3 and 7, the collector ring assembly comprises concentric, radially spaced rings 43 set into a block 44 of insulating material which is mounted upon the rotatable frame 45 to which motor 8 is fastened, and a pair of stationary brushes 46 carried by insulator block 47 which is secured to arm 9. Conductors 39, 49 extend from the shoes 34 to binding posts 48 on the brushes 46.

The supporting arm 9 at the right side of the motor unit as viewed in Fig. 3 carries the horizontal sleeve bearing 22a, and the left end portion of shaft 22 which extends through and is supported by the bearing 22a functions to support the right side of the motor frame 45 by means of a sleeve bearing 51 which surrounds shaft 22 and is fastened to the motor frame. Consequently shaft 22 can turn on its axis to transmit power from the motor 8 to the driving wheels 14, and the motor together with frame 45 is rotatable about the axis of shaft 22.

The supporting arm 9 at the left side of the motor unit as viewed in Figs. 3 and carries a horizontal sleeve bearing 52 in axial alignment with bearing sleeve 22a which serves to journal a reduced portion 53a of shaft 53 which extends laterally from motor frame 45 and is secured rigidly thereto. Shaft 53 is arranged coaxially with shaft 22, both of the shafts being arranged parallel with and beneath the trackway 3, and is provided at its outer end with a gear 54 that meshes with gear 55 secured upon the lower end of a vertical shaft 56 that extends upwardly through bearing sleeve A worm wheel 57 secured upon the upper end of shaft 56 meshes with a worm gear 53 secured upon horizontal shaft 59 which is journalled at 60 in the arms of bracket 11'. A gear 61 secured upon the outer end portion of shaft 59 is meshed with gear 62 journalled on shaft 62a and which gear is secured by screws 63 (see Fig. 11) to a drum 64 arranged concentrically with gear 62. Riding in contact with the periphery of drum 64 is an arcuate shoe 65 surfaced with leather 66 or other suitable friction material as shown in Fig. 8. Shoe 65 is provided with a cam slot 67 through which is passed a machine screw 68 that threads into an actuating lever 69 mounted on shaft 62a for rotation about the latter.

At the upper end of bracket 11, bearings 71 as shown in Fig. 5 are provided for journalling shafts 72 on which are mounted wheels 73 which roll on the monorail 3 in the same manner as the driving wheels 14 associated with the bracket 11.

Lever 69, as shown in Fig. 3, projects upwardly at an angle and its rest position is determined by a stop pin 74 projecting laterally from bracket 11. A rod 75 preferably secured to one of the hanger rods 5 and having an offset portion 75a projecting into the path of lever 69 serves to engage and rotate the latter counterclockwise as the blower unit travels around the monorail in the direction indicated by arrow 76. As lever 69'begins to turn, shank of screw 63 will bear against the lower edge of slot 67 thus causing the shoe 65 to move into a friction 4 type clutching relation with drum 64 and hence effecting rotation of drum 64 and gear 62 fastened thereto. Rotary motion of gear 62 is transmitted through the train of

elements

61, 59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54 to shaft 53 causing the latter, motor frame 45 and motor 8 to rotate about the horizontal axis of aligned shafts 53 and 22. Motor shaft 15 and impeller 7 will thus rotate in a vertical plane. After lever 69 has cleared the rod 75, it is returned to its rest position against pin 74 by means of a restoring spring 77. The simultaneous reverse movement of screw 655 relieves its pressure on the lower edge of slot 67 in shoe 65 thus relieving the pressure of the latter on drum 64, and the shoe 65 moves clockwise relative to the drum 64 thereby readying the shoe for another clutching engagement with the drum the next time lever 69 strikes the portion 75a of hanger rod 5.

The angular throw of the lever 69 for each contact with rod 75 is about in the particular embodiment illustrated and the transmission ratio is preferably such that shaft 53 and hence the motor unit 8 will be indexed through an angle of approximately 10. Thus in the illustrated embodiment as seen in Fig. 1 where only one of the arms 75 is provided along the monorail 3, lever 69 is actuated once for each time that the blower unit 6 travels around the loop formed by the monorail 3 and changes the blowing direction of impeller 7 by ten degrees. After thirty-six revolutions of the blower unit around the monorail, the motor 8 will thus have been indexed through a complete circle in the vertical plane and the indexing cycle is begun anew. It will be understood that the index angle of 10 is to be considered only as exemplary and hence can be increased or decreased if desired to meet a particular operating condition.

As shown in Fig. 2, the shaft of motor 8 occupies a vertical position and thus the airstream from impeller 7 will be directed against the ceiling 4 to blow off any lint that may have collected there. In the course of time however, the blowing direction changes by steps thus blowing off the side walls, floor and the row of textile machines 1, 2 etc.

The particular organization comprising lever 69, shoe 65 and drum 64 is to be considered as typical only and hence other types of similar drives such as the possibly more common pawl and ratchet mechanism may be used if desired to index the motor 8.

The motor unit'8 and those other elements of the indexing organization which rotate with it have considerable inertia. To prevent the parts from overrunning when indexing, a friction type brake is utilized. The brake is comprised of a shoe 70 carried by support 9 and which includes a friction lining 70a clamped around shaft 53a by means of a bolt 70b. The brake imposes a constant drag on the shaft and the amount of drag can be increased or decreased by tightening or loosening bolt 70b.

The present invention also provides means for automatically changing the velocity of the air blown by im peller 7 as a function of the blowing direction to the end that a stronger blast is obtained for blowing off the ceiling than is used when blowing off the machinery. The desired result may be attained by effecting a change in the speed of the impeller but I prefer to keep the impeller speed constant and change the pitch of the impeller blades. With reference now in particular to Figs. 6, 9 and 10, it will be seen that each of the impeller blades 7 is secured to a stub shaft 77' which is journalled in an axially split, two part sleeve bearing 78 formed in the hub 79 and its cover 79a. Hub 79 contains a central boss 79b provided with an axial bore 790 for receiving the end of motor shaft 15 and the hub is secured to this shaft by means of set screw 80. A double flanged collar 81, slidably mounted upon motor shaft 15 intermediate the motor housing 8 and hub 79, is provided with three gear racks 82 of cylindrical cross section'(one for each impeller blade 7) and these are adapted to slide asasaoh axially of the motor shaft '15 in bores 79d, the rack teeth 82a being meshed with teeth 77a -cut into the periphery of the stub shafts 77.

As shown in Fig. 3, a lever 83 pivotally mounted intermediate its ends upon the frame 45 is provided with a yoke 83a at one end which engages the collar 81 between the flanges 81a thereon and a cam follower 83b at the opposite end which rides in contact with the periphery of a non-rotary cam 84 which is fixed upon the bearing sleeve 22. A spring 85 associated with the pivotal support 86 for lever 83 serves to load the lever in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3 thus holding the cam follower 83b in contact with the periphery of cam 84.

As seen in Fig. 4, cam 84 is of uniform radius for 240 of are but the remaining 120 of its periphery is comprised of a flat 84a extending for 60 and two portions 84b extending for 30 each of progressively changing radius which connect the flat 84a with the peripheral portion 840 of uniform radius. When the impeller 7 is blowing upward against the ceiling 4, the position depicted in the drawings, the high point on cam 84, peripheral portion 84c, is engaged with the cam follower 83b. In this position, collar 81 and the gear racks 82 occupy positions closest to the motor housing 8, and the impeller blades 7 have their greatest pitch, thus producing a strong blast of air for cleaning off the ceiling. The high portion 840 of the cam also extends for 120 to each side of the position shown in Fig. 4 and thus as motor housing 8 is indexed about the axis of shaft 22 in steps of approximately for each pass of blower unit 6 around the track loop 3 and cam follower 83b travelsaround the periphery of stationary cam 84, the strong blast of air will also obtain for cleaning off the side walls of the room. When however the cam follower 83b is'engaged with 'the flat 84a along the bottom of-cam 84, i. e. whenthe blast from impeller 7 is directed vertically downward upon the textile machines 1, 2, or within to each side of vertical, collar 81 and the gear racks 82 occupy positions furthest away from the motor housing 8 and blades 7 have their minimum pitch thus producing a more gentle air stream for blowing off the machines since as previously explained the motor runs at constant speed.

According to another feature 'of the invention, further directional control over the air stream blown by impeller 7 is effected by means of an adjustable louver assembly disposed below the impeller and as to which the angle of the'louver elements is changed automatically as the blowing direction changes. As seen in Figs. 3-5, the louver elements 87 are arranged in two groups at opposite sides from the vertical axis and are supported pivotally at their opposite ends in ,plates 88 which are mounted upon the

brackets

9, 9. The louvers of each group are interconnected by means of parallel linkage 89 and the latter are connected via links 90 and bell crank levers 91 mounted for movement about pivots 92 to cam followers 93 which ride upon the periphery of cam 94. Unlike the stationary impeller pitch changing cam 84, louver control cam 94 is mounted upon and rotates with shaft 53 and motor support frame 45. In the present embodiment, cam 94 is of uniform radius throughout most of its periphery and has one high point 94a which when it engages the cam followers 93 serves to swing the louvers 87 outwardly from their normal vertical positon thus deflecting the air stream away from the vertical, it being noted that contact between the cams high point 94a and followers 93 occurs when the impeller is blowing in a generally down direction.

In the embodiment whichhas been described and illustrated in Figs. 1-11 of the drawings, the indexing of motor unit 8 and impeller 7 .is unidirectional in character, i. e. rotation in a step-by-step manner is always in the same direction with theresult that in due time the unit will have been indexed through 360 and then starts all over again. If it should be desired to have the motor unit index through a lesser angle in one direction, then reverse through the same angle in the opposite direction, again reverse, etc. so that the unit oscillates through a given angle of travel, rather than complete a full revolution, the embodiments shown in Figs. 12, 13 or Figs. l4, 15 can be used.

With reference now to these views, in which parts common to the previously described views have been assigned like reference numerals, the gear train in Fig. 12 for transmitting angular motion of lever 69 as the latter is rotated upon passing rod is comprised of gear 95 meshing with intermeshed gears 96 or 97, and gear 98 meshed with gear 96 which is secured upon shaft 59. From the latter, downward through shaft 56, gears 55 and 54 and shaft 53a, the arrangement is identical with that as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. To reverse the direction of indexing for each 180 of rotation of shaft 53a and hence also that of motor unit 8, it will be seen that shaft 53a includes an extension 53b to which is secured a circular plate 100 having a pair of cams 1000, 10015 spaced 180 apart and which project laterally from opposite faces of the plate at the periphery. These cams cooperate with a yoke 101a provided at the lower end of two position lever 101 which is mounted pivotally at 102 for rotation about an axis coincident with that of shaft 59 and gear 98. The upper end of lever 101 includes bearings for mounting gears 96 and 97. In the position depicted in Fig. 12, one of the cams, 100a has just reached one leg of the yoke 101a and caused lever 101 to be shifted counterclockwise about its pivotal support. With gear 96 meshed with gear 95, consecutive throws of lever 69 will cause shaft 53a and hence also plate 100 to index in steps of 10. When plate 100 .has rotated 180, cam 10% comes into engagement with the opposite leg of yoke 101a causing lever 101 to be shifted clockwise to bring gear 97 into engagement with gear 95 and simultaneously disengage gear 96 from the latter. The drive is now through

gears

95, 97, 96 and 98, in which case gear 96 functions as an idler and reverses the direction of rotation of gear 98 which also reverses the direction of rotation of shaft 56, gears 55, 54, cam plate 100 and shaft 53a. The motor housing 8 will thus reverse its indexing direction. After another 180 of indexing, cam 100a will again be presented to yoke 101a and trip lever 101 in the opposite direction thereby disengaging gear 97 from gear 95 and reengaging gear 96 which again reverses the direction of rotation of shaft 53a. Thus the impeller 7 can be made to sweep back and forth through a blowing angle limited to 180.

To convert the indexing arrangement in Figs. 12, 13 from angular oscillatory to unidirectional all that need be done is to remove cam plate 100 from shaft 53b and throw lever 101 into one of its two positions dependent upon the particular sense of rotation that is esired.

For securing lever 101 in each of its two alternative positions, a ball catch 103 carried by the lever is provided and the catch is adapted to engage one or the other of two spaced dimples 104 in a bracket 105 secured to bracket 11. 7

Another embodiment for reversing the indexing direction of the impeller 7 for each 180 of rotation is shown in Figs. 14, 15. Here gear 106 turned by lever 69 is adapted to mesh with either gear 107 or gear 108. Gear 107 meshes directly with gear 109 secured upon shaft 59 while gear 108 meshes with gear 109 through an idler 110.

Gears

107, 108 and 110 are journalled by lever 111 which is pivotally mounted for rotation about the axis of shaft 59. The outer end of lever 111 is connected to-one end of rod 1'12'and'the opposite end is pivotally connected to vertical rod 113 which is slida'bly mounted ina bearing sleeve 114. To the lower end of rod 113 is pivota-lly attachedoneend of a bell crank lever 115 pivotally mounted at 115a upon an arm 117 extending outwardly from bearing sleeve 114. The other end of lever 115 terminates in a yoke 1151) which is adapted to be. actuated first in one direction and then the other by cam projections 116a, 1161) on cam plate 116 mounted upon the end of shaft extension 53b. As in the case of the embodiment shown in Figs. 12, 13, cam projections 116a, 1165; are spaced 180 apart about the periphery of plate 116 and hence yoke 115b, lever 115,

rods

113, 112 and lever 111 will be actuated in one direction as cam projection 116a engages yoke 1151) and in the opposite direction when cam 116!) engages this yoke. A spring loaded detent 118 engageable alternatively with axially spaced dimples in rod 113 serves to secure the latter and those other elements movable with it in one position or the other.

With the parts in the positions indicated i. c. with rod 113 in the down position, the position of lever 111 is such that gear 107 meshes with gear 106, thus driving shafts 53a, 53b in one direction in a step-bystep manner each time that lever 69 is rotated by engagement with the arm 75a secured to the trackway. When shafts 53a, 53!) have been rotated through 180, cam 3116b will be presented to yoke 115b and cause the lever 115 to be tripped to its other position thus shifting rod 113 to its up position to thereby disengage gear 107 from gear 106 and engage gear 103 with gear 106. Since gear 1.06 always rotates in the same direction and an idler or reversing gear 110 is interposed between

gears

108 and 109, the latter and hence shafts 53b, 53a will be caused to index in the reverse direction for 180, then reverse again, etc. In this manner the motor 8 and impeller 7 can be made to index in an oscillatory manner through any selected path extending for 180 of arc. It can thus be arranged to blow off only the ceiling and such other surfaces as are contacted by the air stream in a cyclic sweep from an angular position of 270 through to 90, considering the 0 position as pointing vertically upward, or to blow off only the machinery below and such other surfaces as would be included in a cyclic sweep from a 90 position downwardly through 180 to a position of 270.

Moreover it will be evident that by changing the angular spacing between the cams 100a, 10Gb in the Fig. 12 arrangement or the cams 11612, 11611 in the Fig. 14 construction, the angular traverse of the blower unit will be correspondingly changed.

In conclusion it will be understood that while the illustrated construction is to be preferred, various changes in the component parts and their arrangement can be made without however departing from the spirit and scope of the inventive concept as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for cleaning lint and other foreign particles from the ceiling of a room containing textile machinery and also from the machinery comprising a generally horizontal trackway disposed over the machinery, a blower unit suspended from and movable along said trackway, said blower unit comprising a support shaft extending parallel with said trackway, said shaft being rotatable about its axis, a motor mounted on said support shaft, the shaft of said motor extending normal to the axis of said support shaft, an impeller on said motor shaft, and means for indexing said support shaft about its axis in a step-by-step manner and hence also said motor shaft and impeller axis in a vertical plane transverse to said trackway to different blowing angles in said vertical plane throughout a range of 360.

2. Apparatus for selectively cleaning lint and other foreign particles from the ceiling of a room containing textile machinery and/or from said machinery and/or from the side walls of said room, said apparatus comprising ahorizontal trackway disposed over the machinery, a blower unit suspended from and movable along said trackway, said blower unit comprising a support shaft extending parallel with said 'trackway, said shaft being rotatable about its axis, a motor mounted on said support shaft, the shaft of said motor extending normal to. the axis of said support shaft, an impeller on said motor shaft, means for indexing said support shaft about its axis in a step-by-step manner and hence also said motor shaft and impeller axis in a vertical plane transverse to said trackway to different blowing angles in said vertical plane and means selective by the operator for setting said indexing means to cyclically reverse the direction of indexing after a predetermined angular travel of said second shaft or to maintain a predetermined direction of indexing.

3. Apparatus for cleaning off lint and other foreign particles as defined in claim 1 and which further includes means carried by said motor and operable upon indexing thereof to change the velocity of the air stream created by said impeller in accordance with its change in direction to establish a relatively strong blast when the airstream is directed upwardly against the ceiling and a relatively weaker blast when the air stream is directed downwardly against the machinery.

4. Apparatus for cleaning lint and other foreign particles from textile machinery located in a room and for similarly cleaning the room walls comprising, a trackway disposed over the machinery, a blower unit adapted to travel along said trackway, said blower unit including a motor driven impeller, a pitch changing mechanism for the blades of said impeller, means for indexing said impeller to different angular blowing directions and means responsive to the change in'angular position of said impeller for actuating said pitch changing mechanism.

5. Apparatus for cleaning off lint and other foreign particles as defined in claim 1 wherein said motor includes a pitch changing mechanism for the blades of said impeller and which further includes means responsive to the change in angular position of said motor and impeller for actuating said pitch changing mechanism to establish a high pitch when the air stream from said impeller is directed upwardly against the ceiling and a lower pitch when the air stream is directed downwardly against the machinery.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said means for actuating said pitch changing mechanism is comprised of a stationary cam, a cam follower rotatable with said motor, and connections between said cam follower and said pitch changing mechanism.

7. Apparatus for cleaning lint and other foreign particles from textile machinery located in a room and for similarly cleaning the ceiling of the room comprising, a trackway disposed over the machinery, a blower unit having wheels adapted to roll along said trackway, said blower unit including an electric motor, an impeller driven by the motor shaft, a power take-off from said shaft and a transmission extending from said power take-off to the wheels of the unit whereby to cause the unit to be propelled along said trackway at the same time that said impeller is rotated to create the air stream for cleaning, means carried by said blower unit for indexing said motor for step-by-step rotation on a horizontal axis normal to the axis of said motor shaft whereby said motor shaft will be caused to index in a vertical plane, means independent of said blower unit but disposed in the path of travel thereof for periodically actuating said indexing means, a pitch changing mechanism cooperative with the blades of said impeller, and means responsive to the change in the angular position of said motor for actuating said pitch changing mechanism to establish a high pitch when the air stream from said impeller is directed upwardly against the ceiling and a lower pitch when the air stream is directed downwardly against the machinery.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 7 wherein said blower unit includes a system of adjustable louvers located below said motor for selectively distributing the air stream created by said impeller when blown in the general direction of the machinery, means for adjusting said louvers to different deflection angles, and means responsive to the change in angular position of said motor for actuating said louver adjusting means.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein the means for actuating the adjusting means for said louvers is comprised of a cam rotatable with said motor, a follower for said cam and connections between said follower and said louver adjusting means.

References Cited in the file of this patent NITED STATES PATENTS Coleman Sept. 9, Barducci Dec. 4, Cummings et a1. Dec. 2, Albers Dec. 12, Baynes Feb. 4, Miller June 12, Moore Sept. 16,