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.
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.
The present invention improves and overcomes all the problems described till now. The invention consists of 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 whose wet with the wax should be harmful (the tank""s cover and the starting devices of the wax flow tube flattening), have been studied to avoid gluing and to continue their activity without problems; in addition to this, where the points of possible obstructions of the wax flow (in particular at the exit of the tank) can easily and certainly be cleaned; and where the elements occurring for the closure of the outflow small tube by means of its flattening, have been studied to exert the minimum compression by obtaining a perfect closure and determining such a configuration of the aforesaid small tube that it does not cause any outside breaking of the small tube and that it does not favor inside the rise of deposits which could bring to the occlusion of the small tube.
One objective of the present invention is to supply a broom provided with a reservoir having a regulator for controlling the flow of liquid in said reservoir, in particular a fluid wax, which eliminates all the drawbacks found in currently marketed brooms equipped with a reservoir with a liquid flow regulator, by introducing innovative functional and structural concepts and also reducing production and handling costs.
Innovative solutions are introduced by the current patent to eliminate the above drawbacks.
The first innovation involves the discharge orifice provided on the bottom of the reservoir. Here it is realized, in continuity with the reservoir mold, by means of a robust tubular appendage equipped with a sufficiently large opening. Such opening""s dimensions are much greater than the inner section of the tube (from 1,5 to 10 times); for this reason it is solved the problem of obstruction of such tubular appendage, since with these dimensions it unlikely obstructs.
In the event of incrustations that are liable to obstruct the opening, this facilitates access to the opening and avoids the risk of breaking the tubular appendage, which would render the reservoir itself unusable. For attaching the small flexible tube that transports the liquid to the floor, a small tubular connector has been provided, which is removably nested on the extremity of the tubular appendage of the reservoir. The dimensions of this removably small tubular connector or removably coupler detachable are such that it inserts on the tubular appendage on the bottom of the tank from one side and on the other side it inserts in the small flexible tube that transports the liquid to the floor. The tubular portion of this removably coupler detachable can be easily cleaned because it is possible introduce a small cleaning rod from either end of the tubular section, or by following the short length of this tubular section. Even if the tubular appendage of the removably coupler detachable should break, this poses no problem with respect to the broom because said removably coupler detachable consists of an inexpensive replaceable part and, as an added precaution, a second removably coupler detachable can be supplied with the original broom.
The second innovation involves the mounting of the reservoir cover.
At present the cover, which is equipped with a central tubular cavity running along the length of the broom shaft, is attached to the reservoir by means of a threaded connection. According to the innovation introduced by the present patent, the cover is no longer screwed in place but pressed on with suitable force using appropriate means. Consequently, whenever the cover must be removed, even if incrustations should occur, causing it to stick to the reservoir, the user only needs to overcome frictional forces and only such force needs to be applied as is accessible to any user.
Appropriate means provided for securing the upper opening of the reservoir, using the non-screw cover, can be snap-on elements consisting of, for example, (elastically) rotatable articulated arms along appendages of the cover, which arms present a hook-shaped extremity for gripping associated appendages present on the outer surface of the reservoir.
Another innovation present in the current patent involves the fabric support, connected in oscillatory manner to an end of the shaft carrier. This support, generally cylindrical in shape, is covered with a wraparound mop on which the edges of the longitudinal opening are proved with snaps. To prevent the mop from slipping or turning around its cylindrical support when it is moved across the surface of the floor, this support is provided with rigid fins radially arranged along its upper surface of revolution, said fins being coplanar with the central stirrup together with the articulated connector joined to the fork-shaped extremity of the shaft carrier.
Another innovation involves the method of attaching the control knob, designed to control compression of the small flexible tube, on the upper extremity of the rod.
Currently, on existing brooms, the control knob and the upper extremity of the rod are attached by means of a screw engaged in the plastic of the control knob, said screw acting superficially on the rod axially threaded into the control knob by pressing it against the wall of the hole. In this way, the rod is secured by taking advantage solely of the mechanical adhesion between the wall of the hole in the control knob and the surface of the rod.
The movement transmitted from control knob to rod over relatively long periods of time compromises their mutual attachment as a result of the fragility of the threads in the plastic material of the control knob accommodating the transverse screw. The impossibility of procuring a secure connection, while eliminating possible sliding of the rod in relation to the screw exercising pressure, compromises efficient flow control through the small flexible tube because compression of the tube depends on perfect positioning of the rod. The solution to this problem was achieved by realizing a transverse cavity in the control knob, said cavity intersecting and terminating at the axial hole present in the control knob into which the rod is inserted. A locking element (preferably having a prisnmatic cross-section) is inserted into this cavity, having a transverse hole corresponding to the transverse cross-section of the rod and a threaded axial hole into which a screw is threaded.
When the rod is inserted into the control knob, it enters and extends beyond the transverse hole housing the locking element. Once the rod is in place in the correct position, the rod is tightened with the axial screw in the locking element so that this element becomes an integral part of the rod.
The coupling thus realized between the control knob and the rod is maintained because, with the locking element mounted on the extremity of the rod, a form of expansion is realized, which distributes the axial forces of the rod along the surface of the seat of the control knob in which the locking element is located.
The innovation facilitates the assembly of the various parts of the broom during construction as well as removal of the rod from the control knob located on the top of the shaft whenever the broom needs to be cleaned or should any maintenance need to be performed on the broom, without compromising the quality of the coupling.
Another innovation concerns the manner in which the small tube is compressed. Whenever compression occurs, complete blockage of the flow of liquid in the reservoir is assured without any possibility of unwanted flow, which could be harmful during use of the broom or could cause the reservoir to drain when the broom is not in use.
To this end the invention proposes a small nose realized with the exact bend radius for the type of flexible tube to be compressed and ensures that the small nose compresses the flexible tube in the middle, without causing any asymmetry. The symmetrical flattening limited to the central area of the diameter of the small tube demands the minimum efforts necessary for the perfect capacity and guarantees the safeguard of the small tube subject to tolerable pressures and it avoids both the gluing between the inner walls and the forming of deposits.
The small nose is centered on the flexible tube by realizing a prismatic coupling between the piston bearing the small nose and the sleeve in which the piston slides, or by enlarging the base of the rib whose summit forms the small nose, in such a way that, when it is near compression position, this base automatically centers the nose by resting on the edges of the opening of the sleeve in which the piston slides.