Coating implements with material supply – Including means for dispensing material directly to work... – Reservoir on elongated handle
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-20
2003-09-02
Walczak, David J. (Department: 3751)
Coating implements with material supply
Including means for dispensing material directly to work...
Reservoir on elongated handle
C401S139000, C401S270000, C401S272000, C401S273000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06612768
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of cleaning implements, and more particularly to a broom provided of a regulator for the exit of the products for the cleaning and treatment of floors; it is particularly fit to be used with wax, where all the movable elements which can come into contact with wax have been studied to avoid gluing and where the points of possible obstruction of the wax flow, starting from the tank on the handle containing the wax till its exit from the outflow tube, have been studied to be easily cleaned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the past, floors have generally been cleaned by hand, using mops. The sequence of activities comprised, respectively, washing, drying, and polishing. The materials involved included liquid detergents, pure water without additives, and wax emulsions.
In the case of large floor areas, the mop was used in conjunction with a stiff broom head. The original combination of mop and stiff broom head has been gradually perfected, resulting in true brooms, consisting of a shaft and a support provided with a shaft carrier and equipped, on its lower section, with suitably attached mop heads. The requisite amount of liquid (at the beginning of the process) or wax (at the end) were poured by the operator directly on the floor from various containers. They were then spread across the floor using mops or stiff brooms or a series of brooms equipped with a shaft and a support with an underlying softer element.
Because it was difficult to easily and uniformly spread detergents or polishing products over floors, brooms appeared on the market that were equipped with a bottle holder or their own reservoirs, which were connected either to the bottle holder or to attached reservoirs containing specific devices for regulating the flow of fluids (liquids, waxes, etc.) contained in those reservoirs. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,573 from the tank, containing the cleaning products, applied on the handle, a certain quantity of liquid which was controlled and had the desired direction was released by means of a valve on the bottom of the tank itself and by means of the valve's control on the tank's top surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,557 the tank was put under pressure and the liquid was sprayed on the floor.
Other broom subsequently appeared on the market and these were provided with a reservoir mounted coaxially with respect to the shaft and connected, at the lower part of the reservoir, to a small flexible tube that descended toward the floor after traversing, at a certain distance from the floor, the shaft structure. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,920 in order to avoid the restriction of the liquid flow, or its crimping, the transfer of the fluid from the tank to the dispenser is carried out by means of a fluid transfer tube that is positioned within the ball of the universal joint, which connects the tank to the dispenser.
Among brooms now present on the market, stopping and regulating the flow of fluid contained in the reservoir, which passes through the small tube, is based on compression of the small tube, which is effected along a predetermined section of tube using appropriate means. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,299 the closure of the flexible small tube is carried out by the bending of the same flexible small tube.
Control of the compression of the small tube is effected by acting on a control knob located on the top of the shaft, which, by means of a wire (using tension) or rod (using pressure), counterbalances the action of a spring, which, during the period the broom is not in use, maintains the small tube in a compressed state.
Brooms sold on the market having a reservoir mounted on the shaft, where regulation of the flow of liquid from the reservoir is realized through compression of a section of small tube made of a flexible material and connected to the lower part of the reservoir, are made as follows.
These brooms consist of:
a reservoir configured with an opening and mounted coaxially on the shaft, whose outside wall, extending the bottom of the reservoir, rises along the center part, forming a tube that surrounds the shaft
a small tube made of flexible material connected to a tubular appendage at the bottom of the reservoir and descending toward the floor, traversing the broom shaft
a shaft that supports a reservoir and is connected, by means of a pivot, to a base plate equipped with a piece of fabric
a control knob on the top of the shaft grip, which is connected to a device for compressing the small flexible tube where it crosses the shaft (or an extension of the shaft)
a spring activated device, which, when at rest, maintains the small flexible tube issuing from the reservoir in its fully compressed state at the point where it crosses the shaft (or an extension of the shaft)
a cover in the shape of an inverted cup, provided with a central tubular cavity running along the shaft.
The interior of the cover is provided with an edge designed to make contact with a corresponding outside edge of the reservoir.
The cover is provided with a skirt along the upper outer part, near the shaft.
The lower outer part of the cover is configured in such a way that, once the cover is lifted upward, it is elastically engaged by the lower part of the shaft grip and retained in place. This enables the operator to use both hands without having to hold the cover open while engaged in activities involving the mouth of the open reservoir.
To initiate the flow of liquid from the reservoir downward, the operator interacts with the control knob located on the top of the shaft grip by moving said control knob downward, whereupon the rod connecting the control knob to the device that compresses the small flexible tube where it crosses the shaft (or an extension of the shaft) is compressed. By varying the extent to which the control knob is depressed, the user can vary the compression of the rod, which acts proportionally against the spring of the device that compresses the small flexible tube.
Liquid spreading brooms available on the market, which have been previously described, present certain drawbacks that become apparent after a short period of use. These drawbacks render the broom itself unusable or result in fairly costly repairs to return the device to its original working condition.
These drawbacks result from the fact that products designed to be spread on a floor are not simple liquids but consist of wax emulsions, which lsoe some oil their own solvent into parts of their containers or along the pathway leading to the floor or, as a result of polymerization problems, become so thick that they form colloid deposits or dense incrustations. This results in the obstruction of small openings and the gumming of joined parts whose function requires that they be separated. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,401 it is shown a broom of this type, in which it is not considered the cleaning problem caused by the obstructions of the exit orifice of the conduit from the tank. In addition to this, the closure of the conduit by means of the closure device causes some problems as regards the lasting in time of the conduit, it does not adopt the minimum stress on the conduit's walls, besides, it does not consider the possibility that the tank's plug can easily close and open again even though there are dry or colloidal wax residues caused by the pouring out during the phase of the tank filling up.
Orifices must be cleaned with small rods to clear passages; joined parts that must be separated require the use of the appropriate tools since the force needed to unscrew threaded male and female elements is much greater than the force an operator can exercise manually.
These efforts at cleaning and removal or unlocking not only require more or less lengthy periods of time and related costs, but involve the risk of breaking the coupled parts themselves, which can render the entire broom dysfunctional.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention improves and overcomes all the problems described till now. The invention consists of a broom provided of a regulato
Baker, Jr. Thomas S.
Walczak David J.
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