Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Including application of electrical radiant or wave energy...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-05
2002-06-18
El-Arini, Zeinab (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Including application of electrical radiant or wave energy...
C134S019000, C134S006000, C015S021100, C015S036000, C015S053400, C015S097100, C015S097200, C015S097300, C015S302000, C015S311000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06406549
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The objective of the invention relates to a method and a device for cleaning the undersurface of footwear and the wheels of shopping trolleys, wheelchairs, perambulators and similar items in the entrance areas of frequently used public facilities such as shopping centers, administrative and commercial buildings, healthcare centers or other complexes in public use and with predefined standards of cleanliness.
In supermarkets and stores providing non-prepackaged foods (sausage, meat, dairy products, fruit and vegetables on display), there exist requirements of cleanliness which include the floors. It has to be ensured that no dirt from outside the building reaches displays of non-packaged foods. The greatest source of dirt in this case is from. customers entering shopping centers with their trolleys from the parking lot.
The operators of such markets are obliged to install particularly standardized cleaning mats in the area of the entrance. The said mats are supposed to remove and absorb the dirt from footwear and wheels while the customers push their trolleys over them.
Numerous embodiments of mats of this kind are known. They can be manufactured simply and at reasonable cost and obtained in practically any dimensions wanted. The low constructional height of the mats is also advantageous since they can be laid out over large surfaces of even flooring without being perceived as a hindrance by those entering.
In cases of rain and snowfall, however, it is clearly visible that these measures are not adequate to meet the floor cleanliness required. The mats usually installed in the entrances of supermarkets are capable of soaking up about four liters per square meter. The absorption capacity of such mats is already exhausted after 30 minutes if customer traffic is heavy and the weather conditions unfavorable. Subsequently they are no longer a barrier, and dirt and water are borne in and spread around the entire shopping center by the footwear of the public and the wheels of the shopping trolleys.
Although the markets usually make an effort to master the situation by deploying cleaning staff, this is not always possible, depending on the staff available, very cost intensive, and ultimately not effective either.
In addition to the above, the cleaning mats laid out are unattractive from n aesthetic point of view since the impression of a dirty and soaking wet mat has a repellent effect on the public and as a rule displays an undesirable contrast to the other design of the premises.
For the purpose of increasing the absorption capacity of dirt and moisture, cleaning devices with rotating cylindrical brushes or fixed or moveable rows of brushes are known. A supporting structure of parallel rods or belts, into which the upright bristles are clamped or glued, is arranged in a frame structure.
Since devices of this kind have a certain structural height they are usually let into recesses in the floor constructed for this very purpose in the entrance area of the building and wherein the upper edge of the brushes is almost flush with the floor level. The cleaning brushes in such cases may be fixed, free running or driven by a motor.
Since the relatively stiff bristles are also capable of penetrating the footwear sole patterns, they clean more intensively than mats. In addition to the above, the intermeshing of adjacent rows of brushes also introduces a cleaning effect by; stripping off any material adhering to the bristles.
In order to avoid the accumulation of dirt in the underlying recess, dirt and water collecting basins are frequently arranged in the recesses underneath the cleaning brushes.
Because of the self-cleaning effect of the brushes and the uptake capacity of the collecting basin, cleaning devices of this kind clearly have a longer operational period. The dirt collected only needs to be removed after longer time intervals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to provide additional support for brush cleaning at the entrance to commercial buildings with a high frequency of visitors and higher cleaning requirements, Patent No. DE 4447498 A1 proposes a footwear sole cleaning device based on rotationally moving belts of brushes wherein the cleaning brushes are automatically cleaned by counter brushes acting on them during operation.
The said facility consists of a large number of motor driven cleaning brushes running parallel to one another transverse to the direction of the people passing through. To achieve the removal of adhering soilage the brush belts are engaged by fixed counter brushes or rotating drums of brushes outside the level walked on.
The measures proposed undoubtedly improve the cleaning effect and prolong the servicing intervals.
A disadvantage of the aforesaid cleaning device in the nomenclature of the independent claim is that they are not suitable for application in sales amenities designed to be visited with a shopping trolley. The reason is that trolleys can only negotiate such devices with difficulty since the mainly small wheels tend to become jammed in the interspaces between the brush carriers.
A device for cleaning wheels is known from Patent No. WO 95/23715. The said device consists of a platform with a trough shaped recess reached via a ramp. A cleaning device consisting of brush segments is arranged at the base of the recess, whereas the sloping sides exhibit pairs of rollers opposite one another., At least one of the rollers is motor driven in order to set the wheels in rotation during the cleaning process.
The remedy proposed above, however, fails to provide any criterion for cleaning the wheels of shopping trolleys, particularly at the entrance to or inside highly frequented commercial buildings, since the device is relatively difficult to negotiate and the actual cleaning process requires the trolley to stand still. In addition to the above, the simultaneous cleaning of footwear is not possible.
The chains of stores are striving for a larger throughput of customers. The aforementioned effective cleaning devices can only be negotiated in a time consuming way however. They limit the throughput of customers and ultimately the turnover.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention was thus based on the objective of setting up a method as well as a device which does not exhibit the aforementioned disadvantages and reveals an efficient cleaning effect of long endurance, particularly at times of unfavorable weather conditions and intensive use.
The objective is achieved according to the invention by a method and device such as classified in independent claims
1
and
12
.
Further advantageous developments of the invention are recorded in the subordinate claims.
The advantage of a long sustainable efficient cleaning effect is achieved by the use of a cleaning mat designed as a continuous loop running between at least two guide rollers. The mat serves at least partially as a public access surface in the accessible section, absorbing solid and liquid soilage, the said soilage being subsequently removed again by mechanical, pneumatic, thermal or other suitable treatment in a spatially remote section running in the reverse direction.
A cleaning device with a rotationally moving cleaning mat is let into an opening in the floor of the entrance area of the building in such a way that a public access surface flush with or slightly lower than the surrounding floor results, while the soiled mat is subjected to reconditioning processes within the floor opening in the section running in the reverse direction on the opposite side from the walk-in surface.
The cleaning facilities comprise facilities for removal of the dirt trodden in and such for expulsion of the liquid absorbed.
Mechanical, hydraulic and/or pneumatic mechanisms actuate on the mats for the removal of the dirt and dirty water adhering to the surface. As examples of the former within the meaning of the invention are blades for scraping off dirt or cleaning brushes, the latter are to be understood as belts of brushes sweeping back and forth or rotating cy
Berg Gunther
Holtkamp Viola
Spaltmann Dirk
2R Reha-Technik GmbH
El-Arini Zeinab
Norris McLaughlin & Marcus P.A.
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