US3126572A - Wiping cloth - Google Patents

Description

March 31, 1964 o. A. FRANEY WIPING CLOTH Filed Dec. 51, 1962 INVENTOR. Uzi/MAE 14. [64/1/15 United States Patent 3,126,572 WIPING CLOTH Orville A. Franey, 8560 Wolven Ave., Rockford, Mich. Filed Dec. 31, 1962, Ser. No. 248,347 4 Claims. (Cl. -506) This invention relates to a wiping and washing towel, and more particularly to a towel for removing dust and dirt from a polished surface without scratching and without dust streaks.

Polished surfaces such as glossy automobile bodies and furniture panels quickly lose their luster when covered with even the thinnest layer of dust. Automobile dealers are particularly plagued by the constant coating of dust and dirt on vehicles displayed. Such vehicles must constantly be washed, or dusted by spraying or wiping some sort of dusting liquid or paste on the vehicle and then wiping it off with a towel or cloth. This can consume about fifteen minutes for each vehicle, and must be repeated fairly often, especially on surfaces of darker shades of color, e.g., black and maroon. Moreover, if any dirt of larger particle size than ordinary dust happens to be on the surface, the wiping action often scratches the polished surface. Yet, if the surfaces are not cleaned often, their attractiveness is substantially lessened. Even with repeated dusting, a certain amount of streaking occurs when wiping the surface with a cloth. The total amount of time consumed in wiping several vehicles on display is therefore considerable. These facts are, of course, well-known.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a wiping and washing cloth or towel capable of dusting polished surfaces such as furniture panels and automobile bodies, without smearing the dust even though no separate polishing liquid or paste is applied to the surface. The special towel collects the foreign particles from the surface and retains the dirt in the towel out of Contact with the polished surface as the cloth is rubbed over it. Extensive experimental use has shown that a surface having a heavy dust layer can be wiped sparkling clean without streaks in a few swipes of the novel towel when damp. In fact, an entire automobile body can be cleaned in less than two minutes, leaving the surface free of dust and streaks.

It is another object of this invention to provide a wiping and washing cloth not only capable of cleaning polished surfaces without extra paste or liquid being applied to the surface, and doing so without streaking, but which can also accommodate the removal of larger dirt particles such as sand without scratching. The cloth elevates the particles into a position completely out of contact with the surface. In fact, remarkable as it may seem, even of a handful of sand particles is placed on a surface such as a black automobile body, the novel cloth will collect the sand in one or two swipes without ever scratching the surface as the cloth is rubber over it to dust and polish it. Consequently, polished surfaces such as automobile bodies can be cleaned very often because of the ease of doing so, the small time required, and the improved results.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a non-scratching, non-smearing wiping and washing towel that can be manufactured relatively inexpensively, that has an extremely long useful life, and that can be cleaned merely by rinsing in water in conventional fashion. The towel can be used when damp to dust, or with Water to wash. No extra spray or paste need be used on the surface with the cloth. The cloth is merely dampened, wiped over the surface and that is all. The useful dirt and dust retention qualities are retained over an extended period of time.

These and other objects of this invention will be apparent upon studying the following specification in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel towel;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view of the towel in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the towel showing the specific loop structure used.

Basically, the inventive towel is comprised of a fabric, e.g., woven or knitted, having a plurality of pairs of string or twine loops extending from the surface of the fabric in one general direction and stitched to the cloth. The entire cloth, including the loops, is impregnated with a polishing wax to give them body, causing them to protrude away from the surface, and to impart polishing qualities to them.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the novel cloth or towel it), comprises a fabric 11 of desired size and shape. This fabric may be formed by any conventional method such as knitting or weaving. Attached to at least one surface of the fabric are thousands of pairs of loop elements shown in exaggerated size, each pair in cluding a larger loop 12 and a smaller loop 14. These are arranged in rows and protrude away from the cloth in a tangential manner, in one general direction. They may extend toward the long side of the cloth if the cloth is elongated so that it can be wiped in sideways action. Each loop is of string, or twine or cloth, i.e., twisted fibers, having its legs attached to the fabric as by stitching. The exact size of the loops may vary somewhat, but it has been found that the wiping action is optimum for normal dirt and dust particles if the smaller loop 14 has a height of about A; of an inch and an overall length of approximately A of an inch, or slightly greater, and the larger loop has a height of about ,1 of an inch, and an overall length somewhere around /8 of an inch. The legs of each larger loop straddles those of a smaller loop. When manufactured, the loops are stitched in rows across the towel for most expeditious handling. In a cloth about 30 inches long there should be about pairs of loops over the length. These of course are representative figures for illustration purposes. The broader aspects of this invention are not to be limited to these values.

After the cloth is formed with the loops attached, the entire unit is pretreated by placing it in boiling water, and adding to the boiling water a polishing Wax of some suitable type that is normally solid or semi-solid at room temperatures but which becomes suspended in the boiling water. The towel thereby becomes impregnated with the wax, including the loops. The impregnated towels are then removed and dried. As will be noted more fully hereinafter, the wax serves a dual purpose. It imparts polishing characteristics to the cloth, but equally or more important, it causes the loops to be semi-stiff, i.e., have considerable body, to extend away from the fabric, or at least not be pressed into the fabric when rubbed over a surface. If not so impregnated, the limp loops would readily flatten out and be pressed into the fabric layer. The function of the cloth, to be explained, would then be lost. Before use, therefore, each towel has a certain amount of stiffness and body because of the solidified or semi-solidified furniture wax impregnated in it. Conceivably, some additional additive could be used to provide greater body to the loops, thereby allowing a wider choice of wax. To make it pliable for use, the towel is dampened with water and wrung out. The impregnated loops protrude slightly as shown in exaggerated form in. FIG. 2.

As the cloth is wiped over the surface, the loops are in contact with the polished surface to be dusted. The larger loops catch the particles of dust, dirt, sand, and other foreign matter and scoop them up. The cloth is wiped in a direction with the loops dragging. The particles of sand are believed to be thrown into the second, inner, smaller loops which are closer to the cloth surface. The particles are then forced slowly up into the fabric of the cloth from the second loops. Since the loops are normally the only contacting portion of the cloth on the surface, these particles which become embedded in the cloth layer, do not again contact the surface during continued wiping movement. Experimentation has shown that one loop will not do the job adequately, but that at least two loops are necessary to pass the dirt up to the fabric body. Preferably the cloth fabric is quite loosely knit to readily receive and hold the particles.

It has been found that in use of this cloth, one swipe of the damp cloth over a very dusty surface cleans the surface without any smear whatever. Even if sand is placed on the automobile body, and the cloth is wiped over, no scratching occurs. This is truly remarkable and a vast improvement over known towels. In fact, the inventor, in efforts to determine the interest of automobile dealers in his product, has repeatedly, on the strength of a mere two minute demonstration with showroom automobiles, immediately sold dozens upon dozens of his towels to dealers who did not even question the handsome price quoted after the demonstration. This product has clearly demonstrated its uniqueness and usefulness. It fills a definite gap in the art. No extra liquid or paste need be used at all with it since it is self-sufiicient. After being used the cloth is merely rinsed out in a conventional manner and wrung out to dry. It can then be reused at any time. It lasts for an extended period of time, limited only by the wearing qualities of the cloth and loops. The inventor herein realizes that the theory of operation explained above, although believed to be entirely correct, actually may not be the exact scientific explanation of the operation of this cloth. Whatever the mode of operation, the features set forth with the multiple loop assembly, especially larger loops straddling smaller loops, is unique for optimum results with the wax impregnated wiping towel. Therefore, the inventor should not be limited to his attempted explanation of operation or specific form illustrated since the inventive structure should encompass all reasonable equivalents of structure as claimed in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A cleaning cloth comprising: a porous fabric; a plurality of open string loops having ends stitched to a surface of said fabric in a pattern arrangement and extending along and somewhat away from said surface in a general direction toward one edge of said fabric; said loops having considerable body to prevent their being flattened; said loops including open large loops to pick up particles and including open smaller loops inside said larger loops to receive the particles from said larger loops and transfer them to the pores of said fabric.

2. A cleaning cloth comprising: a porous fabric having a porosity with pores sufliciently large to receive and hold dirt particles, a plurality of pairs of open fabric loops secured to and extending from a surface of said cloth in a generally unidirectional arrangement; each of said pairs including a smaller open loop within a larger open loop; and at least the body of said loops being impregnated with a polishing wax, with said loops remaining free and open to receive dirt particles and transfer them to the pores of said porous fabric.

3. A wiping and washing cloth comprising: a porous fabric; the porosity of said porous fabric being such that the pores are sutliciently large to receive and retain particles of dirt therein; a plurality of groups of free, open, fibrous string loops stitched to a surface of said cloth and extending therefrom; said groups having open smaller loops within open larger loops; and the body of said loops being impregnated with a substance providing considerable body to said loops causing them to protrude from said fabric to pick up dirt and pass the dirt particles to the pores of said porous fabric.

4. A cleaning cloth comprising: a porous fabric; a plurality of open string loops having ends stitched to a surface of said fabric in a pattern arrangement and extending along and somewhat away from said surface toward one edge of said fabric; each of said loops having its extending end free and flexible as well as open; said loops including larger loops, and including smaller loops cooperative with said larger loops to pass dirt particles up to the porous fabric; said porous fabric having pores size sufficient to receive the dirt particles from said loops and retain dirt particles; and the body of said loops being impregnated with a polishing wax to have sufiicient body to hold said fabric off the surface during use to prevent scratching of the surface by the retained dirt particles in said porous fabric, and to render a minor polishing action.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,110,001 Kingman Mar. 1, 1938 2,997,074 Law Aug. 22, 1961 3,030,691 Law Apr. 24, 1962

Claims (1)

1. A CLEANING CLOTH COMPRISING: A POROUS FABRIC; A PLURALITY OF OPEN STRING LOOPS HAVING ENDS STITCHED TO A SURFACE OF SAID FABRIC IN A PATTERN ARRANGEMENT AND EXTENDING ALONG AND SOMEWHAT AWAY FROM SAID SURFACE IN A GENERAL DIRECTION TOWARD ONE EDGE OF SAID FABRIC; SAID LOOPS HAVING CONSIDERABLE BODY TO PREVENT THEIR BEING FLATTENED; SAID LOOPS INCLUDING OPEN LARGE LOOPS TO PICK UP PARTICLES AND INCLUDING OPEN SMALLER LOOPS INSIDE SAID

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