Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – Brushing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-05
2001-02-13
Jones, Deborah (Department: 1775)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
Brushing
C015S050100, C015S097100, C015S098000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06185776
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an assembly for a head of a surface maintenance machine, a surface maintenance machine comprising such, and to a process of surface maintenance.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Surface maintenance machines, for example hand-held surface scrubbers which typically have a rotatable head attached to an elongated handle, wherein a motor situated in the head causes a series of brushes or a cleaning pad to rotate, suffer handling problems caused by vibrations due to unbalanced paddrives, pads or brushes. These vibration problems are especially disturbing on high speed machines, whereby the brushes and the pads rotate up to 400 rpm, and make such surface maintenance machines very difficult to operate and manage, and have even led in some cases to operator injury. These machines are very difficult to control since they typically operate at a frequency of 6.6 movements per second which is difficult to follow with the hand. Furthermore the scrubbing pads and brushes often become deformed through use which increases the vibrations travelling through the head. These handling problems caused by vibrations when operating surface maintenance machines, have been recognised in the prior art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,061 refers to a rotary brush floor polisher containing shock absorbing members which are indicated to reduce vibrations and noise in operation. The floor polisher disclosed in this document contains an upper disk and a lower disk which are connected to each other by a plurality of bolts arranged around the perimeter of the upper disk which bolts are associated with shock absorbers. However, this rather complicated constuction does not fully eliminate vibrations when operating the floor polisher.
Another type of problems relating to known surface maintenance machines is concerned with the following. On starting up known surface maintenance machines, a high torque has to be produced in order for an effective working status to be achieved whereby a high current is required which often greatly exceeds the limitation set by fuses within the machine and at the source. This has led to the problem of fuses often blowing on starting up such machines. Furthermore during the start up period, especially on rough surfaces, a large “contra-torque”, which can be unmanageable, must be exerted by the operator in order to remain in control over the machine. An object of the present invention is to provide a head assembly for a surface maintenance machine which substantially overcomes one or more of these problems.
DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an assembly for a head of a surface maintenance machine, said assembly comprising:
scrubbing means for directly contacting, scrubbing/maintaining surfaces such as floors, walls and he like;
support means for the scrubbing means, whereunder the scrubbing means are arranged;
buffer means arranged on the opposite side of the support means to the scrubbing means, for absorbing forces exerted during operation of the surface maintenance machine;
coupling means in association with the buffer means for coupling the scrubbing means to a motor of the surface maintenance machine,
wherein the buffer means are centrally positioned with regard to the coupling and scrubbing means. According to a second aspect, there is provided a surface maintenance machine comprising an assembly according to the present invention. According to a third aspect, there is provided a method of maintaining a surface using such an assembly.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The inventors have found that by arranging a buffer between the motor coupling and the scrubbing/maintenance means, vibrations in substantially all directions are able to be buffered and dissipated such that the handling ease of such a machine is greatly facilitated. Since an imaginary axis preferably substantially bisects the coupling and scrubbing means and also the buffer, deformation of the buffer is substantially obviated due to its “centrally aligned position”, whereby any unbalanced mass of the head assembly is reduced within a handle of the machine itself.
The buffer means are preferably substantially elastic in nature and can have a predetermined hardness whereby on starting up of the machine, the buffer first “turns in on itself” to act as a kind of soft start whereby vibrations travelling through the machine are reduced.
The buffer means are preferably “sandwiched” between support means, arranged between the coupling means and the buffer means, whereby these support means preferably extend out over the edges of the buffer so that the scrubbing/maintaining means can directly follow the contour of a surface and whereby the buffer therefore acts as a sort of cardanic unit and absorbs movements of the lower plate which may be caused by travelling over contoured surfaces.
A good effectivity is provided when the buffer comprises a rubber block which is vulcanized to the support means which preferably complies metal plates. Safety means to ensure that the two plates are prevented from clashing together on operation are preferably arranged therebetween.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1677533 (1928-07-01), Staehle
patent: 4271557 (1981-06-01), Caron
patent: 4319434 (1982-03-01), Brejcha
patent: 4463469 (1984-08-01), Green
patent: 5507061 (1996-04-01), Miyazaki
patent: 5579554 (1996-12-01), Plazanet
patent: 5849097 (1998-12-01), Windmeisser
patent: 5875506 (1999-03-01), Plazanet
patent: 39 22 552 (1991-01-01), None
patent: 049 885 (1982-04-01), None
European Search Report dated Mar. 6, 1998.
Diversey Lever Inc.
Jones Deborah
McNeil Jennifer
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