Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Apparatus – For vehicle or wheel form work
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-17
2001-09-04
Coe, Philip R. (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Apparatus
For vehicle or wheel form work
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283135
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automatic vehicle washing systems and, more particularly, to a new and improved reciprocating gantry-type washing system designed to efficiently wash the top, front, rear and sides of a vehicle.
2. Background of the Invention
There are many techniques for washing vehicles without conventional hand scrubbing. Perhaps the most common washing system is the tunnel-type car wash system wherein a vehicle to be washed is passed through a series of linearly spaced cleaning stations. Each cleaning station executes a different sequential cleaning operation such as pre-soaking, rinsing, scrubbing, waxing, and related operations. However, although tunnel-type washes are generally considered to be effective in washing vehicles, tunnel-type washes may be detrimental to a vehicle's finish.
In some conventional tunnel-type wash systems, “mitter curtains” comprised of strips of cloth that are rocked back and forth transversely across the path of the vehicle, abrasively scrub dirt and other debris from the surface of the vehicle. Alternately, or in combination with a mitter curtain, revolving brushes may rotatably engage the surface of the vehicle. In either case, the vehicle surface may be scratched by contact with granular dirt particles that may have collected on the mitter curtains or brushes, and/or may contact with the brushes or curtains themselves.
Alternately, “brushless car washes” do not scratch the surface of vehicles because no parts of the brushless car wash contact the surface of the vehicle. Instead of using mitter curtains or brushes, brushless car washes spray clean exterior surfaces of a vehicle with pressurized fluid jets that are passed adjacent to the surface of the vehicle. The jets are arrayed in a washing frame which revolves around the vehicle or passes linearly along the vehicle, or the frame may be kept stationary while the vehicle is passed through the frame. In any case, the object is to submit the entire readily visible exterior surface of the vehicle to the spray jets to remove dirt and grease from the vehicle surface.
Unfortunately, the cleaning ability of the system is largely dependent upon the pressure generated by the jet sprays, and the further away the spray jets are from the vehicle, the less fluid pressure is delivered to the vehicle surface. Accordingly, those parts of the vehicle which are furthest from the washing frame may not be adequately cleaned. Improved automated systems have been devised for moving the washing frame along a curved track in front and behind the vehicle to minimize the problem but such systems may be costly because they typically are mechanically more complex and/or must be suspended from an overhead surface.
Systems have also been devised for spraying after-wash conditioning liquids or foams onto the surface of a vehicle to protect the surface. An example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,852 issued to Chase. In this system, a plurality of inverted L-shaped tubes are mounted on a gantry-type car wash system with each tube having a mixing zone adjacent the top center of the gantry, a buffer zone at an elbow of the tube, and a fluid delivery zone extending vertically downwardly along the side of the vehicle being washed. A mixture of chemical solution and air is introduced to the mixing station and then delayed through the buffer zone before being delivered to the discharge zone from which the pressurized chemical solution is sprayed onto the side of the vehicle through spray nozzles. Such systems are somewhat clumsy and awkward to mount since they extend across the top of the gantry as well as down its sides and, further, are fairly long in length due to the required buffer zone between the mixing and discharge zones. The afore-noted patent has addressed the clumsiness of the system by incorporating the buffering zone in one embodiment into the mixing zone but in either event, the tubes still relatively long and extend horizontally across the top and vertically along the sides of the gantry.
Another prevalent drawback of conventional brushless systems resides in the fact that they typically have spray nozzles disposed along the sides of the vehicle adapted to spray pre-soak or other cleansing solutions substantially perpendicularly at the sides of the vehicle. Since the nozzles are oriented perpendicularly to sides of the vehicle, they do not provide sufficient coverage on the front and rear surfaces of the vehicle and, therefore, typically the wash system will have to make a pass in each direction along the length of the vehicle so that the front and rear of the vehicle are sprayed twice in an attempt to get a sufficient amount of solution onto the surfaces for adequate cleansing of the car. Making a double pass, of course, is time consuming and also is a waste of solution to the extent that it is sprayed twice on the sides of the vehicle where adequate coverage should be obtainable in one pass.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the afore-noted shortcomings in prior art car wash systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of the present invention has been designed to provide a more efficient cleaning of the upper and side surfaces of a vehicle in a brushless vehicle washing system and also an improved system for applying a paint preservative. The more efficient cleaning of the vehicle is achieved through the use of dual selectively operated nozzles that eliminate excessive exposure of the apparatus to the vehicle.
In accordance therewith, the apparatus provides an improved reciprocating gantry-type vehicle washing system. Upper and side surface tilting washing mechanisms on the gantry are movably connected to the gantry so that they can be pivoted into positions in front of and behind the vehicle. The apparatus also includes pairs of fixed nozzles disposed along the vertical sides and top of the gantry with these nozzles primarily being adapted to spray pre-soak chemical solutions or the like onto the vehicle during the wash process. One nozzle in each pair of nozzles is angled rearwardly relative to the vehicle while the other nozzle in each pair is angled forwardly relative to the vehicle. In this manner, when the apparatus is positioned adjacent the front of the vehicle, the rearwardly angled nozzles are supplied with pressurized fluid which is sprayed onto the front and top of the vehicle and as the apparatus is moved rearwardly along the vehicle the fluid is sprayed on the sides and top of a front half or so of the vehicle. At a predetermined location along the side of the vehicle, the supply of fluid to the rearwardly angled nozzles is terminated and the same chemical solution is then supplied to the forwardly angled nozzles which continue to spray the solution on the sides and top of the vehicle until the apparatus reaches the rear of the vehicle where the forwardly angled nozzles are desirably positioned for spraying the chemical solution on the rear of the vehicle. In this manner, a complete and adequate coverage of the surface of the vehicle is obtained in one pass of the apparatus along the length of the vehicle so that the double pass necessary with conventional prior art systems is avoided.
After the pre-soak solution has been applied to the vehicle and rinsed therefrom with the tilting mechanisms, a new and improved auxiliary treatment system that is secured to the gantry applies a paint preservative or the like to the vehicle with the system including a plurality of vertically upwardly extending tubes on each side of the gantry that are in communication with pressurized air and a liquid supply of the paint preservative solution. Each vertically extending tube is identical but mounted at a different elevation. Each tube includes a delivery zone at the top thereof that includes a plurality of vertically spaced discharge openings and a contiguous mixing zone immediately therebeneath. The mixing zone includes an insert of reticulated foam or the like so that the mixture of pr
Fratello Daniel
Sample Roy
Coe Philip R.
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Mark VII Equipment Inc.
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