Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B08—CLEANING
  • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
  • B08B3/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use or presence of liquid or steam
  • B08B3/02—Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays
  • B08B3/026—Cleaning by making use of hand-held spray guns; Fluid preparations therefor
  • B08B3/028—Spray guns
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
  • B05B1/00—Nozzles, spray heads or other outlets, with or without auxiliary devices such as valves, heating means
  • B05B1/14—Nozzles, spray heads or other outlets, with or without auxiliary devices such as valves, heating means with multiple outlet openings; with strainers in or outside the outlet opening
  • B05B1/16—Nozzles, spray heads or other outlets, with or without auxiliary devices such as valves, heating means with multiple outlet openings; with strainers in or outside the outlet opening having selectively- effective outlets
  • B05B1/1609—Nozzles, spray heads or other outlets, with or without auxiliary devices such as valves, heating means with multiple outlet openings; with strainers in or outside the outlet opening having selectively- effective outlets with a selecting mechanism comprising a lift valve
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
  • B05B7/00—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas
  • B05B7/0018—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas with devices for making foam
  • B05B7/005—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas with devices for making foam wherein ambient air is aspirated by a liquid flow
  • B05B7/0056—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas with devices for making foam wherein ambient air is aspirated by a liquid flow with disturbing means promoting mixing, e.g. balls, crowns
  • B05B7/0062—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas with devices for making foam wherein ambient air is aspirated by a liquid flow with disturbing means promoting mixing, e.g. balls, crowns including sieves, porous members or the like
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
  • B05B7/00—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas
  • B05B7/24—Spraying apparatus for discharge of liquids or other fluent materials from two or more sources, e.g. of liquid and air, of powder and gas with means, e.g. a container, for supplying liquid or other fluent material to a discharge device
  • B05B7/2402—Apparatus to be carried on or by a person, e.g. by hand; Apparatus comprising containers fixed to the discharge device
  • B05B7/244—Apparatus to be carried on or by a person, e.g. by hand; Apparatus comprising containers fixed to the discharge device using carrying liquid for feeding, e.g. by suction, pressure or dissolution, a carried liquid from the container to the nozzle
  • B05B7/2443—Apparatus to be carried on or by a person, e.g. by hand; Apparatus comprising containers fixed to the discharge device using carrying liquid for feeding, e.g. by suction, pressure or dissolution, a carried liquid from the container to the nozzle the carried liquid and the main stream of carrying liquid being brought together downstream of the container before discharge
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B08—CLEANING
  • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
  • B08B3/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use or presence of liquid or steam
  • B08B3/02—Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays
  • B08B3/026—Cleaning by making use of hand-held spray guns; Fluid preparations therefor

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a cleaning lance, of the type used for cleaning the exterior of vehicles for example.
• cleaning lances normally incorporate a barrel having a high pressure nozzle which is used to direct a high pressure water jet at the exterior of the vehicle.
• cleaning lances are normally supplied with pressurised water from a pump driven by an electric motor or a petrol engine and in many cases detergent is fed into the water flow at the site of the pump.
• FR-1, 363,426 discloses a cleaning lance having a mixing chamber in which an axially directed water jet sucks in air from an air inlet and detergent from a detergent inlet and forms a foam which is ejected axially from the outlet of the chamber.
• the air inlet and detergent inlet are diametrically opposed within the mixing chamber.
• the present invention provides a cleaning lance comprising a mixing chamber having an outlet nozzle, the lance having an air inlet outside the mixing chamber adjacent the outlet nozzle, the lance being arranged and used to draw detergent into the mixing chamber by the Venturi action of a water jet injected into the mixing chamber and the resulting mixture being arranged to draw in and mix with air by Venturi action at the air inlet.
• a detergent supply located near the proximal end of the cleaning lance is spaced apart from and communicates with the mixing chamber via a conduit provided with a flow control valve, the mixing chamber being located at the mid portion or distal end of the cleaning lance. It has been found that this construction results in an ergonomic arrangement and reduces the tooling costs associated with the couplings of the detergent supply and the mixing chamber.
• FR-A-2 , 519, 881 discloses a hand held cleaning lance having two barrels mounted on a common body and valve means incorporated in the body of the lance and operable by the user to switch pressurised fluid from an inlet of one barrel to an inlet of the other barrel, the barrels being arranged to form jets of different characteristics and the valve means comprising a freely movable valve member which is retainable by fluid pressure to selectively block said inlets .
• the two barrels are located side by side and the movable valve member is movable by inclining the lance slightly about its longitudinal axis.
• valve member easily rolls from one side to the other if pressure is interrupted, so it is possible to accidentally switch to a detergent stream. This can be dangerous because detergent is sometimes corrosive.
• a cleaning lance comprises first and second barrels located one above the other and arranged to form cleaning streams of different characteristics, the lance having a common water inlet, valve means arranged selectively to couple the water inlet to each of said barrels, a coupling for a detergent container arranged to hold the container below both barrels.
• the above arrangement is more ergonomic than that of FR '881 and particularly in a preferred embodiment in which a first barrel is arranged to form a rinsing stream and a second barrel is arranged to form a stream of foam from a mixture of air, water and detergent and the valve means has a default position in which it selectively couples the first barrel to the water inlet, the valve means being operable by the user on reducing the water pressure at the water inlet, the arrangement prevents accidental generation of a foam stream.
• the valve means comprises an elongate arcuate (preferably semi-circular) chamber having an inlet and having respective spaced apart outlets communicating with the barrels, a rolling or sliding valve member (such as a steel ball for example) being located in the chamber and being arranged to move within the chamber to block one of the outlets on tilting the lance and to block the other of the outlets automatically (eg. by the action of gravity) when the pressure is interrupted.
• the lance is preferably provided with trigger means for blocking fluid pressure to enable such movement of the valve member and for reapplying fluid pressure to maintain the valve member in position against the last-blocked outlet by fluid pressure irrespective of the angle of tilt of the lance.
• valve means can be employed.
• the valve means is latched by fluid pressure which allows for rapid change in comparison with a non-latching, manually operated arrangement which involves a significant delay and dividing of the flow.
• FIG. 1A is a longitudinal cross-section showing the proximal end and mid-portion of a cleaning lance in accordance with the invention
• FIG. IB shows the distal portion of the cleaning lance of Fig. 1A
• FIG. 2 is a section taken on II-II of Figure 1A.
• an elongate cleaning lance is shown to comprise a water inlet 1 provided with a trigger attachment (not shown) for applying and releasing water under pressure.
• the water inlet 1 communicates with a valve comprising a steel ball 14 which runs within a semi-circular ball valve chamber 15 as best seen in Figure 2.
• the ball 14 has a lower default position in which it blocks an inlet 18 to the foamer barrel 12 and has an upper position at which it blocks an inlet 17 to a pressure stream barrel 5 which generates a water jet.
• the path of the steel ball 14 between these two extreme positions is semi-circular and accordingly it can be moved between these two positions by tilting the lance about its longitudinal axis after releasing the pressure with the trigger attachment connected to water inlet 1.
• a water jet is formed within a mixing chamber 19 by a Venturi nozzle 3 which is supplied with high pressure water by conduit 6 from inlet 18.
• the resulting jet draws in detergent 11 via a feed tube 10, mounting 8, detergent conduit 7 and needle valve 2 which controls the flow of detergent into the mixing chamber 19.
• the resulting mixture of water and detergent exits the mixing chamber via a further Venturi nozzle 4 which draws in air by Venturi action through an annular air inlet 20 which communicates with an annular passage 21 ( Figure IB) which in turn has an air inlet open 23 to the atmosphere.
• the mixture of air, water and detergent passing along the foamer barrel 12 is foamed by a mesh 13 ( Figure IB) and forms a stream of cleaning foam.
• the mesh is a conventional mesh of plastics material (polypropylene or nylon) .
• Annular passage 21 extends axially of the lance around barrel 12 and at its end remote from that end coupled with air inlet 20 there is provided one or more axially extending walls circumferentially spaced about the outer peripheral surface of the barrel 12 and defining passages therebetween communicating with the external atmosphere via opening (s) 23 in the external surface of barrel 12 prior to but adjacent to foaming mesh 13 in the direction of movement of the water detergent and air mixture through barrel 12. Therefore when air is required it is drawing through opening 23 into the passages between walls 22 and then into the Venturi 4 via the annular passage 21 and. air inlet 20.
• a removable detergent cartridge 9 provided with its own detergent feed tube 10 and associated cap is attachable to mounting 8 by a standard bayonet fitting (not shown) .
• the ball 14 will normally fall to the lower position at which it blocks inlet 18 by the action of gravity.
• the ball 14 can be moved to block inlet 17 and at this point pressure can be reapplied by the trigger (not shown) to maintain the ball in this position and form a foam jet by flow through inlet 18 to mixing chamber 19.
• the water pressure is momentarily released by releasing the trigger, the lance is tilted slightly about its longitudinal axis to enable the ball 14 to roll back to its lower position, and fluid pressure is then reapplied by the trigger, allowing water to flow directly via inlet 17 to the upper barrel to form a cleaning stream.
• the cleaning lance of the present invention can be used not only for vehicle cleaning but also for other cleaning applications, such as abattoir sanitising for example.

Landscapes

• Nozzles (AREA)
• Air Bags (AREA)
• Aiming, Guidance, Guns With A Light Source, Armor, Camouflage, And Targets (AREA)
• Cleaning By Liquid Or Steam (AREA)
• Non-Flushing Toilets (AREA)
• Vehicle Cleaning, Maintenance, Repair, Refitting, And Outriggers (AREA)

Priority Applications (10)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=26310000

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (13)

Cited By (4)

Families Citing this family (4)

Citations (10)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 1997
  • 1997-09-04 EP EP97939027A patent/EP0925124B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1997-09-04 DK DK97939027T patent/DK0925124T3/da active
  • 1997-09-04 CA CA002266023A patent/CA2266023A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-09-04 AU AU41257/97A patent/AU741321B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1997-09-04 DE DE69704431T patent/DE69704431T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1997-09-04 WO PCT/GB1997/002373 patent/WO1998009739A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1997-09-04 AT AT97939027T patent/ATE200040T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1997-09-04 ES ES97939027T patent/ES2158578T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1997-09-04 NZ NZ334455A patent/NZ334455A/xx unknown
  • 1997-09-04 PT PT97939027T patent/PT925124E/pt unknown
  • 1997-09-05 GB GB9718946A patent/GB2316893B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1999
  • 1999-03-04 NO NO19991070A patent/NO313230B1/no unknown
• 2001
  • 2001-03-29 GR GR20010400498T patent/GR3035649T3/el not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (10)

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