US3195157A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

y 1965 E. THORNE-SYMMONS 3,195,157

CLEANING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 1, 1963 E Q R s m M N & N mm Q. Q nmmu a n r11? Q E a m m Fl; 9 Q 0 July 20, 1965 E. THORNE-SYMMONS 3,195,157

CLEANING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 1, 1965 United States Patent 3,195,157 CLEANING DEVICE Eric Thornc-Symmons, London, England, assignor to Ability Products Limited, London, England, a British company Filed July 1, 1963, Ser. No. 291,764 Claims priority, application Great Britain, .luiy 6, 1952, 13,299/62 7 Claims. (Cl. 15-49) This invention relates to cleaning devices and in particular to devices primarily intended to he used for ancil- =lary cleaning in conjunction with other cleaning operations.

Articles of laundry frequently contain stubborn stains or dirt which can only be removed by hard rubbing. For example, lines of dirt around the edges of shirt cuffs and collars are only partially removed by modern washing appliances whether domestic or commercial and at present a separate hand rubbing of these articles is necessary to achieve effective cleaning.

It is the main object of this invention to provide a cleaning device which will enable the removal of stubborn stains or dirt referred to above.

According to the present invention there is provided a cleaning device comprising a rotatable member having a rubbing surface for cleaning an article, said member being mounted so that the rubbing surface normally lies within an annular shield which is displaceable in relation to the member to expose the rubbing surface to enable cleaning of an article to take place.

In order that the invention may more readily be understood, one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view on the line 1-1 of FIG. 2 of a cleaning device constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cleaning device illus trated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on the line IIIHI of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, a cleaning device in accordance with the invention comprises a housing 1 which may be moulded in a synthetic plastics material or which may be formed in metal, for example aluminium, and which has attached thereto in any convenient manner a base 2 provided with four rubber or other friction blocks 3 which enable the device to he stood on a horizontal surface and which assist stability. The housing 1 is shaped so as to form a cleaning liquid reservoir 4 which is closed by a removable lid 5 apart from an opening 6 within which is a displaceable shield 7. The lid 5 is provided with a cylindrical part 8 which is integral with the remainder of the lid and around this cylindrical part 8 are a series of slots 9 through which pass downwardly projecting lugs 10 on the shield 7. A spring 11 is provided between the upper periphery 12 of the cylindrical part 8 and a shoulder 13 formed by enlarged head 14 of the shield 7. This spring 11 urges the shield 7 upwardly as seen in FIG. 1 so that stops 15 abut the underneath of the cylindrical part and prevent the shield 7 becoming detached from the lid 5. These st-ops v15 may be attached to the shield 7 by clips 16.

It will be appreciated that the shield 7 can be displaced downwardly as seen in FIG. 1 against the action of spring 11 and FIG. 1 shows the normal position for the shield 7 when the device is not in operation.

Lying within the shield 7 is a rotatable member which, in this embodiment, is in the form of a brush 17 having a brush backing 18 and bristles 19 which define a rubbing surface 20, which, as will be seen from FIG. 1,

3,l5,l57 Patented July 20 1965 lies normally within the shield 7 but, on displacement of the shield 7 in the downward direction against the action of spring 11, is exposed to enable cleaning of an article such as clothing to take place.

The backing 18 of brush 17 has a boss 21 and has a bore 22 therethrough to enable cleaning liquid from reservoir 4 to find its way to the rubbing surface 243. The boss 21 has two oppositely disposed studs 23 which locate in slots 24 in the upper end of a shaft 25 having an axial bore 26 therethrough. The purpose of these stud-s 23 is to enable the brush to be located on the shaft 25 but at the same time enable easy withdrawal of the brush for cleaning or repair or replacement purposes.

The shaft 25 passes through a mounting pillar 27 which locates in annular ridges 28 integral with the reservoir 4. Within the pillar 27 is an inlet 29 covered by a grill 30 which to some extent filters cleaning liquid contained in reservoir 4. Liquid which passes through inlet 29 finds its way into-pumping chamber 31 and eventually is pumped out at outlet 32 from which, via duct 33 leading to annular chamber 34, the cleaning liquid can find its way through aperture 35 and into the bore 26 of shaf 25.

Within the pumping chamber 31 is a ring 36 which may be of a synthetic plastics material with a low coefiicient of friction and within this ring 36 and in contact therewith is a disc 37 which is preferably of metal and which is fixed to and rotates with shaft 25. This disc 3-7 is mounted on shaft 25 eccen-trically so as to effect the pumping action. The ring 36 is provided with an integral peripheral projection 38 which is slidin-gly positioned in a recess 39 in the pumping chamber 31.

It will be appreciated that, as shaft 25 is rotated, the disc 37 will rotate with it but being mounted eccentrically on shaft 25 the ring 36 will be caused to sweep out a volume indicated at 40 in FIG. 2 which will, in effect, rotate around the periphery of pumping chamber 31. In this manner liquid taken in at inlet 29 will be carried round the pumping chamber thus forming volume 0 and will be discharged under pressure through outlet 32. This liquid will then be force-d through the bore 26 in shaft 25 and will eventually find its way to the brush .1 7 and rubbing surface 29.

Positioned immediately below the pump is a metal disc 41 which acts as a thrust plate. The disc 37 is firmly fixed .to shaft 25 and bears against this thrust plate 41 when pressure is applied to brush 17 during a cleaning operation. Thus, the entire thrust through shaft 25 is taken on this thrust plate 41.

. Between the pump and the brush 17, the shaft 25 is provided with a lay-pass aperture 42 and there is also a corresponding aperture (not shown) in a column 43 through which the shaft 25 passes. Between an upper enlarged portion 44 of column 43 and the upper periphery of pillar 27 is located a sleeve 45 which has a knurled or serrated gripping ridge 46 to enable the sleeve 45 to be turned around the shaft 25 so that a further apertur-e 47 in the sleeve 45 can be brought into or out of register with the aperture 42 to enable liquid pumped through bore 26 of shaft 25 to by-pass the brush 17 and pass immediately back into the reservoir 4. Thus, by adjustment of the position of sleeve 45 the amount of cleaning liquid which finds its way to brush 17 may be varied.

Towards the lower end of shaft 25, as it passes through the reservoir 4, there is provided a seal 48 and this may be in the form of any well known type of seal to prevent the cleaning liquid in reservoir 4 from finding its way into housing 1.

At the extreme lower end of shaft 25 is a pulley wheel 49 around which passes a V-belt 56 which connects pulley wheel 49 to a further pulley wheel 51 mounted r on shaft 52 of an electric motor 53. On this shaft 52 is also mounted a fan 54 drawing in air through louvre 55 in the base plate -2 for cooling the electric motor 53. The electric motor 53 is mounted on the outside of res ervoir 4- by a spring plate 56 and the tension in V -belt 50 is determined by the setting of a plate 57 having an elongated slot 58 through which passes a screw 59 into the housing of motor 53.

The electric motor 53 is fed with electrical power via electrical conductors (not shown) through a microswitch 60 and this microswitch 60 is'operated by a cranked lever 61 one end 62 ofwhich lies immediately adjacent the lower part of shield 7 and the other end 63 of which lies adjacent the microswitch 60. The lever 61 passes through the reservoir 4 and passes through grommet 64 which allows the'lever 61 to pivot about grommet 64 and at the same time provides a seal so that cleaning liquid in reservoir 4 does not find its way into housing 1. a

The device basically operates in the followingmanner. The reservoir 4 is filled to a given level with cleaning liquid and the lid 5 together with the shield 7 which is carried thereby is located in position, The device is connected to the main power supply and the article of clothing to be cleaned is laid across the open top of shield 7. The article to be cleaned is then pressed down wardly and therefore the shield 7 will move downwardly in relation to brush 17 so that the rubbing surface 20 of brush 17 will contact the underside of the article to be cleaned and cleaning will take place. Just before the rubbing surface 20 contacts the article to be cleaned shield 7 will have contacted'the end 62 of lever 61 and the micro-' switch 60 will have been operated. This allows electrical power to be fed to motor 53 and consequently shaft and brush 17 will be driven. Due to rotation of shaft 25 the pump 36 will operate and cleaning liquid from reservoir 4 will be fed through the bore 25 of shaft 25 up to the rubbing surface 20. As soon as cleaning has been completed the article is removed from the top of shield 7 and, under the influence of spring 11, shield 7 returns to its original position. This allows lever 61 to return to its original position, thus disengaging end 63 from microswitch 6i) and cutting off the supply of electrical power to motor 53. The brush 17 thus stops revolving. Each time the shield 7 is depressed liquid is pumped up to the rubbing surface 20 but each time the shield 7 returns to its normal position under the influence of spring 11 the liquid can drain, back into the reservoir 4. During operation, the shield 7 has the efiect of preventing spraying of the liquid outside. the device but even ifv some liquid does find its way over the upper rim of shield 7 it can drain back into reservoir 4via slots 9.

A minor modification can be fitted to the device above described in that it may be desirable to clean only a very v 7 small area of the article and the entire area of the rubbing surface 20 may be too large. To achieve this, a cover plate having a small aperture may be positioned over the top of shield 7 so that when the device is operated and the shield 7 is depressed only that part of the brush which is immediately below the aperture in the cover plate will be effective in cleaning the article. This cover plate may be pivoted to shield! or may be a loose fit over' the top of the shield 7. j V

Although the device has been above described in relation to a portable cleaning device which would be used as an ancillary piece of apparatus in conjunction with a normal washing appliance, it is possible to incorporate the essential features of the device according to the present invention into an existing washing device.

Also, it is possible for the device instead ,ofbeing portable to be fixed to a bench and a considerable number of these devices may be fixed to a single bench each device to be operated by a single operator. A single motor may be designed to operate all the devices by suitableclutch arrangements and, if desired, operation of the devices may be by a foot pedal.

It may be possible to provide other modifications in that the reservoir as described above may be dispensed with and cleaning liquid, which may be a so-called dry cleaning liquid, or normal washing liquid may be provided in a cartridge which can be attached to the housing in any suitable manner.

The device in accordance with the invention may be used in laundrettes and in these cases it may be prefer able to associate the device with a coin operated mechanism which would dispense a given amount of cleaning liquid or alternatively enable the machine to be run for a given length of time.

I claim: f

1. A cleaning device comprising a casing; a rotatable member carried by said casing and having a rubbing surface for cleaning an article; a shaft mounted for operative rotation, with said rotatable member; power means for efiecting operative rotation of said shaft and said rotatable member; a displaceable shield within which said rubbing surface normally lies, saidfshield being in the form of a cylinder open at both ends and being capable of displacement to a position which exposes said rubbing surface to enable cleaning of an article to take place; a liquid reservoir beneath the rotatable member for the reception of cleaning liquid, a pump for supplying cleaning liquid to said rubbing surface; and switch means for actuating said powermeans.

2. A cleaning device comprising a casing; a rotatable member carried by said casing and having a rubbing surface for cleaning an article; a shaft mounted for operative rotation with said rotatable member and having an axial bore therethrough; power means for effecting operative rotation of said shaft and said rotatable member; a displaceable shield within which said rubbing surface lies when said shield is in a first position, said shield being capable of displacement to a second position which exposes said rubbing surface to enable cleaning of an article to take place; a liquid reservoir beneath the rotatable member for the reception of cleaning liquid; a pump driven by the said shaft for supplying cleaning liquid to said rubbing surface; an inlet from said pump to said bore in said shaft; and switch means for actuating said power means-when saidlshield is displaced from said first position to said second position.

3. A cleaning device as claimed in claim 2, in which said pump includes a ring eccentrically positioned around said shaft and housed in a pumping chamber, with which said inlet and said outlet communicate, for pumping liquid from said reservoir to said rubbing surface.

4. A cleaning device'as claimed in claim 2, in which said pump includes a ring eccentrically positioned around said shaft and housed in a pumping chamber with which said inlet and said outlet communicate, said ring having an integral peripheral projection slidingly positioned in a a recess in said pumping chamber, said ring surrounding and in contact with an. eccentric disc mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith.

5. A cleaing device comprising a casing; a rotatable member carried by said casing andhaving a rubbing surface for cleaning an article; a shaft mounted for operative rotation with said rotatable member and having an axial bore therethrough; power means for effecting operative rotation of said shaft and said rotatable member; a displaceable shield within which said rubbing surface lies when said shield is in a first position, said shield being capable of displacement to a second position which exposes said rubbing surface to enable cleaning of an article to take place; a liquid reservoir beneath said rotatable member for the receptionof cleaning liquid; a pump driven by said shaft for supplying cleaning liquid to said rubbing surface, said shaft having a radial aperture disposed between said pump and said rubbing surface, the effective area of said radial aperture being variable to by-pass liquid being pumped through the bore of the shaft and prevent a proportion of the liquid from reaching said rubbing surface; an inlet from said pump to said bore in said shaft; and switch means for actuating said power means when said shield is displaced from said first position to said second position.

6. A cleaning device as claimed in claim 5, in which an adjustable sleeve surrounds said radial aperture, said sleeve having a further aperture capable of being moved into and out of register with said aperture in said shaft.

7. A portable cleaning device comprising a housing; an electric motor disposed within said housing; an opentopped liquid reservoir formed by part of said housing; a lid which closes said reservoir, said lid having an opening therein; a displaceable shield disposed within said opening, said shield being in the form of a cylinder open at both ends and being spring-loaded to a first position and displaceable to a second position in which it is vertically disposed; a rotatable circular brush having a rubbing surface disposed Within said shield when in its first position; a shaft operatively connected to said brush for rotation therewith, said shaft having an axial bore therethrough; a pump mounted on said shaft, said pump being operated on rotation of said shaft; said electric motor being in driving connection with said shaft; a micro-switch in electrical connection with said motor; and a cranked lever one end of which lies immediately below said shield and the other end of which lies adjacent said micro-switch so that on movement of said shield, against said spring loading, from said first position to a second position, thereby exposing the rubbing surface of said brush the cranked lever actuates said micro-switch to energize and drive said motor.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,166,482 1/16 Reichc 15-29 1,299,785 4/19 Sartor 15-29 1,624,758 4/27 Powell et a1. 15-28 X 1,643,882 9/27 Faiver 1528 1,660,852 2/28 Toney 15-75 1,706,302 3/29 Leavy 15--75 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,281,617 12/61 France.

952,471 11/56 Germany.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTI-I, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A CLEANING DEVICE COMPRISING A CASING; A ROTATABLE MEMBER CARRIED BY SAID CASING AND HAVING A RUBBING SURFACE FOR CLEANING AN ARTICLES; A SHAFT MOUNTED FOR OPERATIVE ROTATION WITH SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER; POWER MEANS FOR EFFECTING OPERATIVE ROTATION OF SAID SHAFT AND SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER; A DISPLACEABLE SHIELD WITHIN WHICH SAID RUBBING SURFACE NORMALLY LIES, SAID SHIELD BEING IN THE FORM OF A CYLINDER OPEN AT BOTH ENDS AND BEING CAPABLE OF DISPLACEMENT TO A POSITION WHICH EXPOSES SAID RUBBING SURFACE TO ENABLE CLEANING OF AN ARTICLE TO TAKE PLACE; A LIQUID RESERVOIR BENEATH THE ROTATABLE MEMBER FOR THE RECEPTION OF CLEANING LIQUID, A PUMP FOR SUPPLYING CLEANING LIQUID

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