WO2010112858A1

WO2010112858A1 - Trolley

Info

Publication number: WO2010112858A1
Application number: PCT/GB2010/000645
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christopher Robert Duncan
Original assignee: Numatic International Limited
Priority date: 2009-03-31
Filing date: 2010-03-31
Publication date: 2010-10-07
Also published as: GB0905582D0

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of commercial and contract cleaning and in particular relates to janitorial trolleys for carrying cleaning equipment such as cleaning fluids, mops, cloths and buckets. The present invention seeks to provide a more convenient cabinet storage system in janitorial trolleys (10). There is provided a janitorial trolley comprising wheel means (15) permitting translational movement of the trolley over a floor surface and provided with at least one storage cabinet (20) provided with at least one door (25,26), wherein latching means (34,35) for the door comprises at least one magnetic latch which is adapted to hold the door in a cabinet closed configuration and which may be unlatched to allow the door to open.

Description

Trolley

The invention relates to the field of commercial and contract cleaning and in particular relates to storage trolleys such as janitorial trolleys for carrying cleaning equipment such as cleaning fluids, mops, cloths and buckets. Janitorial (or storage) trolleys are also used as maid service trolleys in the hotel industry, wherein they are used both for cleaning material storage and for towel and bed linen carriage.

A typical prior art janitorial trolley is available from the present applicant Numatic International Limited under the trade name VersaCare. This trolley comprises a base portion provided with has four castor wheels and superstructure including a storage cabinet with left and right side access doors.

One problem with known trolleys provided with storage cabinet is that the doors tend to swing freely once unlatched and open. There is a tendency to keep the doors open for ease of access to the cabinet for access to cleaning materials or other cabinet contents. However the open doors make the trolley somewhat unwieldy during movement in confined areas such as hotel corridors or bathrooms. If the doors are latched in the closed position, then it is inconvenient to have to unlatch and re-latch every time the trolley is moved.

US2002/0109318A discloses a typical prior art janitorial trolley or cart which has a storage cabinet with doors which may be opened to access interior storage shelves.

FR-A-2 833 913 discloses a janitorial trolley which has a compartment for a refuse sack, with upstanding compartment doors which permit access to the refuse sack for replacement of the refuse sack.

US 2007/0267832 discloses a cleaning cart or janitorial trolley having a cabinet for a refuse receptacle which has a lid and two cabinet doors provided with a latch handle.

US-A-3, 573, 879 discloses a cleaning cart which has a storage cabinet which may be accessed via two doors which are provided with knobs for opening and closing thereof.

These prior art arrangements suffer from the problems identified generally in the art - that is to say that positive manual latching and unlatching of door latches or knobs is necessary to access trolley cabinets. This can be inconvenient if done by a cleaner/operator for many cleaning or other tasks in a working shift, such as in multiple hotels rooms in which travel of the trolley is necessary between rooms.

Thus the present invention seeks to provide a more convenient cabinet storage access in trolleys, and in particular janitorial trolleys.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a trolley comprising wheel means permitting translational movement of the trolley over a floor surface and provided with at least one storage cabinet provided with at least one door, wherein latching means for the door comprises at least one magnetic latch which is adapted to hold the door in a cabinet closed configuration and which may be unlatched to allow the door to open .

The provision of a magnetic latch considerably improves the ease of use of the trolley, because doors may be automatically latched on door closing contact, whether intentionally or during travel of the trolley. Thus the doors will not repeatedly swing during use but tend only to swing once before closing. The doors may also be opened more easily as no latch twisting manipulation is necessary (as would be the case for a turnbuckle latch or conventional door knob). Thus, the magnetic latch is preferably arranged to permit the door to be automatically latched on door closing contact of the door with the cabinet (typically at a cabinet door frame region) . A magnetic latch requires no latching engagement force, and in fact draws contact surfaces together when they are sufficiently close, due to magnetic attraction.

Thus operator fatigue over a long working shift is reduced, because repeated mechanical latching and unlatching is avoided. The door may be latched on closing, and may be closed by bumping the door, such as by use of the leg, shoulder, hip or waist as well as, of course, by the hand.

In one embodiment there are two magnetic latches associated with each door.

The door may be is attached to its cabinet via hinge means having a vertical pivotal axis. The hinge means may comprise one or more bracket-mounted spigots which enter into corresponding annular seats .

When the door has two latches one door latch may be associated with an upper region of the door distal from the door hinge means and the other may be associated with a lower region of the door distal from the door hinge means .

Each magnetic latch may comprise a magnet portion and a ferromagnetic mating portion. One portion may be attached to the door and the other portion may be attached to the cabinet. One portion may comprise a steel plate and the other comprises a magnetic member. The magnet and/or plate may each have a protective covering at a contact surface, such as a thin plastics film or plate.

The trolley is typically a janitorial trolley, which can be a cleaning trolley for contract cleaning or a hotel service trolley which may be used for cleaning and service tasks such as laundry collection, bathroom consumable restocking, refreshments re-stocking and refuse collection.

A magnet portion of the latch may be attached to the door and a corresponding ferromagnetic mating member may be attached to the cabinet.

Each door may be further provided with one or more mechanical latches, such as a turnbuckle or other latch known in the field. The mechanical latch or latches may be lockable to prevent unauthorised access to the cabinet .

Following is a description by way of example only and with reference to the figures of the drawings of one mode for putting the present invention into effect.

In the drawings : -

Figure 1 is perspective three quarter view of a janitorial trolley in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of a cabinet door of the trolley.

A janitorial trolley in accordance with the invention is shown generally as 10 in figure 1. The trolley comprises a base portion 11. The base portion has a generally rectilinear plan, with raised shallow sidewalls 12,13 along side and end regions. The base portion is formed of moulded engineering plastics material, and may be provided with an internal tubular metal frame (not shown) . At each corner region of the base portion there are mounted four castor wheels 15 (three visible in figure 1). First and second rectilinear storage buckets 16, 17 are disposed in a front region of the base portion, and constrained by the sidewalls. Each bucket is provided with a snap-fit hermetically sealed lid. A generally rectilinear storage cabinet 20 is disposed upstanding in a central portion of the base portion. The cabinet has a front wall 21, a recessed top wall which provides a storage tray for four square plan buckets 22 (three visible) and a back wall (not visible) . A front upper region of the front wall is provided with four storage beakers 23, 24.

The cabinet also has two full height doors 25, 26 provided on respective opposite sides of the cabinet. Each door is provided at a rear end region thereof with upper and lower hinges 27, 28. Each hinge comprises a vertically oriented door spigot 29 (visible in figure 2) which is accommodated in an annular retaining cap 30 or bore 31 provided on the cabinet.

A front edge region of the door is provided with upper and lower latching levers 32, 33. The levers are connected to an internal latching mechanism (not visible) in which a latching tongue is retained in a slot in the cabinet to hold the door closed.

A leading edge region of the door is provided with upper and lower latching magnets 34, 35. Each magnet is an elongate rectangular bar magnet which is set into the door inside front edge face (not visible) . The door is shown detached from the trolley in figure 2. The magnets mate with underlying mild steel ferromagnetic plates (not visible) which are fixed to a door frame outer face. The door thus latches on contact with the door fame when swung closed.

A rear region of the base portion is provided with a bin 40 which has a lid 41. The bin comprises a flexible bag of disposable plastics material suspended from a mounting loop (not visible) which projects rearwards from the back side of the cabinet.

In use the user unlatches the mechanical latches and opens the door by pulling on the latch handles, which also releases the magnetic latches. If the trolley is then moved or bumped against an obstacle then the doors tend to swing closed, and magnetically latch automatically on closing. Similarly the user can slam the doors closed without having to rotate a mechanical latch. This makes the cabinet more convenient to use during a working shift.

Claims

1. A trolley comprising wheel means permitting translational movement of the trolley over a floor surface and provided with at least one storage cabinet provided with at least one door, wherein latching means for the door comprises at least one magnetic latch which is adapted to hold the door in a cabinet closed configuration and which may be unlatched to allow the door to open .

2. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 wherein there are two magnetic latches associated with each door.

3. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the door is attached to its cabinet via hinge means having a vertical pivotal axis.

4. A trolley as claimed in claim 3 wherein one door latch is associated with an upper region of the door distal from the door hinge means and the other is associated with a lower region of the door distal from the door hinge means .

5. A trolley as claimed in any preceding claim wherein each magnetic latch comprises a magnet portion and a ferromagnetic mating portion.

6. A trolley as claimed in claim 5 wherein one portion is attached to the door and the other portion is attached to the cabinet.

7. A trolley as claimed in claim 6 wherein one portion comprises a steel plate and the other comprises a magnetic member.

8. A trolley as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the magnetic latch is arranged to permit the door to be automatically magnetically latched to the cabinet on door closing contact therewith.

9. A trolley as claimed in any preceding claim wherein each door is further provided with one or more mechanical latches.

10. A trolley as claimed in claim 9 wherein the mechanical latch or latches is/are lockable.

11. A trolley as claimed in any preceding claim which is a janitorial trolley or a hotel service trolley.