Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Using solid work treating agents
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-28
2004-10-12
El-Arini, Zeinab (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Using solid work treating agents
C134S018000, C134S095300, C134S172000, C134S177000, C134S198000, C134S201000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06802908
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a procedure for cleaning floors by hand with the help of flat cleaning mops, wherein mops provided with a certain quantity of cleaning solution are used.
This procedure is carried out on large surfaces by means of a device for supplying and preparing flat cleaning mops with a storage container, which stores a larger number of mops.
The use of flat cleaning mops, so called flat mops, in cleaning technology is very widespread. Flat mops are used in particular on floors that need to be cleaned by hand, e.g., in laboratories, hospitals, production facilities with high demands on purity and cleanliness, e.g., in computer technology, chip manufacture, medical technology, and the like.
Flat mops have the advantage of covering a large floor surface area, wherein the operator can easily check the result. One special advantage lies in the fact that the used flat mop need only be replaced by a fresh one at the latest when the cleaning solution applied to the fresh flat mop has been used up. The precondition for achieving a high standard of cleaning is that the operator does not have to rinse, wring and again saturate the flat mop, as is usually the case.
As a result, this invention proceeds from the knowledge that the mop replacement principle is to replace on-site mop cleaning, i.e., the used mop, whose cleaning solution has been used up, is replaced by a fresh mop saturated with fresh cleaning solution. The cleaning solution is to be applied to a fresh mop in the dosage needed for the desired cleaning result.
To ensure a suitable dosage, it is already known from EP 90850020 B1 to pack a cleaning mop in a sealed cover, which also encompasses a sealed container with cleaning solution, so that the liquid is separate from the mop, and the container can be opened without tearing open the cover, so that the liquid flows out inside the cover, and saturates the mop. After use, the mop is taken to the washing plant, where it is washed and packed in a new cover for reuse in the manner described.
Also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,977 is to have a conventional cleaning cart with rinsing bucket, mop press and waste container incorporate a metering device, which makes it possible to saturate the mop rinsed and dry-pressed for reuse with a selectable quantity of fresh cleaning solution. Metering device operation is valve-controlled, wherein a settable quantity of cleaning solution is diverted from a storage container and applied by means of a swiveling dispensing tube onto the mop bundled in a bucket, which consists of a bundle of mop element skeins. This type of metering device is unsuitable for flat mops, since it cannot be used to achieve a uniform distribution of cleaning solution. In addition, bundled mops are less suitable for the reliable performance of cleaning jobs where high demands are placed on the cleaning result.
By contrast, the object of this invention is to create a procedure and device of the kind mentioned at the outset for cleaning floor surfaces that not only satisfy the highest demands on cleaning quality; in particular, the goal is to support an environment-friendly, cost-effective cleaning procedure with a suitable device that does not require renewed on-site preparation of the cleaning mop.
This object is achieved in the procedure according to the invention in that at least one mop is removed from a storage container, that the mops are saturated with solution before or during removal, that the solution is applied onto the surface of the mop, and that the mops are kept as is after use in a holding container until disposed of for purposes of their regeneration.
This procedure can be advantageously supported by means of a suitable device for fitting and preparing flat cleaning mops with a storage container, which stores a larger number of mops, has a removal opening for removing mops, and is provided inside with a feeding device for prior saturating the removed mops with cleaning solution.
In addition to at least one storage container, this device advantageously encompasses at least one holding container, which accommodates the dirty mops following their use.
The procedure and device according to the invention provide, as it were, a novel way for mastering cleaning jobs involving large surfaces, e.g., of the kind handled in particular by large companies in the cleaning industry, and for which the solution proposed by the invention is therefore of special interest. Because the device according to the invention makes it possible to automatically control how much cleaning solution is metered per mop, requirements for an elevated cleaning quality can be harmonized in an ideal fashion with those for an economical utilization of resources. A suitable metering of cleaning solution makes it possible to adjust the quantity of cleaning solution applied per unit area of the floor surface to be cleaned in a highly reliable and accurate manner; at the same time, this sets the consumption of fresh water and cleansing agent. In comparison to the conventional, individual metering based on cleaning power, an economical use of cleaning agent can therefore also be generally achieved. The fact that the used mops are not washed on-site, but instead collected and washed in a large number at a washing plant, eliminates additional problems involving the disposal of dirty water. This means that fresh water is not used at the cleaning site, and nor must dirty water be removed. Therefore, an economic cost calculation can advantageously be based either on the cleaned surface or number of used mops. This makes it possible to calculate very precisely the financial burden placed on the customer for the “cleaning” service while still ensuring cleaning quality.
The cleaning system proposed by the invention, which is based on the use of flat mops and their exchange, is particularly suitable for use in franchise systems, which are suitably organized to perform cleaning services on-site and maintain a system for supplying fresh flat mops and disposing of dirty flat mops. This activity centers around the device according to the invention, which the franchise sets up in the number required at the customer, and there fits it with fresh flat mops, whose metering device must be serviced accordingly, and which can have a holding container for keeping the used mops, whose contents must be disposed of.
The mops are advantageously fanned out and stacked one on top of the other in a storage container of the device according to the invention. In this case, either only the mop removed from the stack, e.g., the top mop, is saturated with solution, wherein the remaining stack remains essentially dry, or several mops are moistened simultaneously, if used simultaneously or in rapid succession.
The mops are advantageously saturated with cleaning solution by spraying the mops with the solution until saturated. As an alternative, the mops can be saturated through immersion in a corresponding bath with cleaning solution.
For saturation purposes, the mops are removed from the stack of fresh flat mops in the storage container, preferably from the top, by first saturating the uppermost or lowermost mop of the stack with cleaning solution and then removing it. Another possibility is to remove the respective top mop of the stack and only then saturating it with solution in the direction taken off behind the stack. In this variant, the stack remains completely dry. Saturation can either take place by spraying immediately before removal, or drawing the mop through a bath filled with solution. To ensure a uniform saturation of the mop, it makes sense for the removal of the mop from the storage container to be automatically controlled.
The device according to the invention can be configured to have a metering device that routes an adjustable quantity of solution to the feeding device from a tank with fresh cleaning solution, which is advantageously designed as a spraying device.
Within the framework of the device according to the invention, the storage container has a magazine with a preferably horizontal cross sec
Amking Technologies
El-Arini Zeinab
Muchin Katten
Rosenman Zavis
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