The present invention relates to a device and method for coupling a floor cleaning implement to a floor cleaning machine. The floor cleaning machine can be one of many types of floor cleaning and treating machines, such as scrubbers, sweepers, and the like. These types of machines can be used for the cleaning of hard surfaces of large floor areas in hotels, factories, office buildings, shopping centers and the like.
In general such machines comprise a movable body supported by a pair of drive wheels and one or more caster wheels. With a scrubber, the body carries a scrubbing device, reservoirs for storing fresh and spent cleaning liquid, a device for dosing fresh cleaning liquid onto the floor, and a squeegee/vacuum pickup system for recovering spent cleaning liquid from the floor.
The scrubbing device normally comprises one or more cleaning implements, such as brushes or scrubbing pads and a motor for driving the implements.
Since the pads of a floor cleaning machine are replaced frequently due to wear or the need to use a pad with different abrasive characteristics, it is important that the retainer portion of the coupling device be easily released.