Hand-held implement for cleaning smooth surfaces

Details Hand-held implement for cleaning smooth surfaces Hand-held implement for cleaning smooth surfaces

1996-03-05

1997-09-16

Soohoo, Tony G.

Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning

Implements

Combined

152201, 15245, A47L 106

Patent

active

056666853

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a hand-held implement for cleaning smooth surfaces and for removing with a squeegee member washing liquid from such surfaces in accordance with the preamble of Patent Claim 1.
Hand-held implements of this generic type are known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,052, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,338, or International ("P.C.T") Patent Application Publication No. WO 93/8725. They make it possible to clean and dry smooth surfaces in one operation, because the cleaning member and the squeegee member are arranged at the front end of the hand-held implement. The cleaning member and the squeegee member frequently comprise a cleaning pad and a squeegee. The cleaning pad serves, inter alia, for absorbing the washing liquid when the latter is squeegeed downwards on the smooth surface in order as far as possible to avoid soiling of surfaces which bound the smooth surface at the bottom end, e.g. a window frame. The known hand-held implements may be equipped with a handle in order that the user can also reach and clean more remote spots on the surface which is to be cleaned.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to improve a hand-held implement of said known generic type in order to provide a hand-held implement which is extremely compact, streamlined, can be handled optimally during use, and in the case of which the cleaning member and the squeegee member are arranged one behind the other at one end of the hand-held implement and can be used together, but also separately from one another as an independent unit in each case, the means for the releasable connection of the cleaning unit and squeegee unit being barely visible, or not visible at all, and not having an adverse effect on the handling of the units. In this arrangement, said virtually invisible connecting means are to permit secure connection of the two units, but, nevertheless, are to ensure that the two units can be separated easily by hand.
The invention achieves this object by the features in the characterizing part of Patent Claim 1.
Since the cleaning member and the squeegee member are arranged directly behind one another at the same end, as is the case for the non-dismantleable units of said known generic type, the hand-held instrument permits approximately simultaneous washing-down and squeegeeing of surfaces which are to be cleaned. It is likewise possible to separate the two units by hand in a simple manner, with the result that, if required, the cleaning unit and squeegee unit can be used simultaneously, but independently of one another, e.g. even by two people.
According to a first embodiment of the hand-held implement of the invention, the squeegee unit is inserted, by means of a lateral engagement part, in the lateral receiving part until a front squeegee mount for a squeegee-lip-retaining guide rail of the squeegee unit strikes against a front edge of the wiper plate of the cleaning unit. The two units are then connected to one another in a releasable manner by the insertion of a locking cone into ends of the handles, located coaxially one inside the other, of the two units, these ends being located coaxially one behind the other and forming a common, conical locking opening towards the inside. This creates a connection between the two units which is positively locking in the axial direction of the hand-held implement and is secured by the locking cone in the direction transverse with respect to the longitudinal axis of the hand-held implement.
In the case of a second embodiment of the hand-held implement according to the invention, the handle of the squeegeeing unit is pushed with a sliding fit into a front plug-in opening of the hollow handle of the cleaning unit until its front squeegee mount strikes against the front edge of the wiper plate of said cleaning unit, and the handle of the squeegee unit, in its end position, is connected in a releasable manner to that of the cleaning unit by a latching device which is provided between the two handles.
In the case of a third embodiment of the

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