US3528076A - Mop with pad securing means - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 8, 1970 H. A. ANDERSON MOP WITH PAD SECURING MEANS 6 INVENTOR.

HOWARD A. ANDERSON Filed Feb. 9, 1968 A r eys United States Patent 3,528,076 MOP WITH PAD SECURING MEANS Howard A. Anderson, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Bissell Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Feb. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 704,461 Int. Cl. A471 13/24 U.S. Cl. 228 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rnop with a head and handle, is provided with three triangularly spaced circular openings on the flat bottom surface of the head. The openings each have a plurality of teeth spaced about the circumference and extending radially inward. The teeth releasably engage a myriad of tiny loops on the surface of a mop pad, which is comprised of a lofted, fibrous and very lightweight material that naturally provides the myriad of loops on its surfaces.

The invention relates to a surface cleaning device such as a mop and pad. More particularly, it relates to the manner of attaching an improved pad to the mop head.

In recent years, it has become possible to provide cleaning devices which employ disposable pads or the like instead of reusable pads which required time and effort to clean. With the development of cheaper materials having the necessary capability to absorb or pick up dirt, it has become more desirable to simply remove and throw away the pad rather than clean it.

Paralleling the development of disposable pads, efforts have been made to simplify the manner of attaching them to the mop head. However, the developments to date have involved rather complicated structures, which were correspondingly expensive to construct and market, and which did not fully satisfy the requirements of easy attachment and removal.

Previous disposable pad mops often unduly restricted the usable working area of the pad, and required multilayer pad elements. Furthermore, the means for attaching the pad to the head have often lacked durability.

Also, prior head clamping devices were undesirably heavy, and could not be used with the extremely light weight disposable pads available today.

The present invention solves the above problems, and provides further advantages as revealed in the description below.

The invention may be utilized with any number of mop or like cleaning structures. The embodiment shown has a mop with a handle and a head hinged thereto to allow the head to extend generally laterally from the handle. The head has a planular surface on its end remote from the handle and has an opening therein, with a plurality of rigid teeth spaced about the periphery of the opening and extending radially inwardly into the open space. A mop pad is provided and is comprised of a lofted fibrous material which forms a myriad of tiny loops on its surfaces. The pad is shaped to have one surface adapted to fit fiat against the lower planular surface of the mop head in a manner such that the teeth removably engage some of the myriad of the tiny loops in the pad surface.

The drawing shows the presently most preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mop employing the invention therein;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the mop head with mop pad attached;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the teeth.

Referring to the drawing, the mop includes a handle 1 and a head 2 which may be interconnected by any suitable means, such as the pivotal hinge 3. Head 2 is shown as generally triangular and is preferably constructed of a lightweight plastic material which is nevertheless rigid when in relatively thin segments, and it is here shown to have a thickness on the order of A; of an inch. Many such plastics are commercially available.

Head 2 has a flat planular bottom surface 4, which acts as a pad backup surface for a flat pad and which is usually preferred for most cleaning operations, and a flat planular upper surface 5 with strengthening ribs therem.

In accordance with the invention, means are provided to secure a disposable pad to head 2. For this purpose, and in the embodiment shown, a hole 6 is disposed in head 2 at each corner of the triangle. As shown in the drawings, the area of the holes should be such that the surface 4 is substantially greater, to provide suflicient backup area to maintain a pad flat against the floor.

Holes 6 are shown as generally circular and have pointed teeth 7 spaced about their circumference and extending radially inward. Teeth 7 are preferably of the same material as head 2. and may be integral parts thereof. They are pointed at their inner ends, and in the embodiment shown, these pointed ends extend upwardly from the plane of head surface 5. The depth of each tooth root is the same as the depth of head 2, but the edges leading to the point are bevelled, thus narrowing the tooth to a relatively small depth at its point. With this construction, each tooth 7 resembles a three dimensional arrowhead with one side being flat and the other two surfaces being defined by three lines converging to a point.

For the cleaning operation, a disposable pad 8 is utilized with head 2. Pad 8 is comprised of a fibrous material whose surface provides a myriad of tiny loops 9 through out. The pad is shaped to correspond to the shape of head 2, with the coarse upper and lower pad surfaces .10 being flat in this embodiment. Pad 8 shown in the drawings is of uniform composition, of a lofted non-woven material such as nylon, or such as a combination of Dacron and viscose. A loosely woven material would also be satisfactory. The material used should be lightweight, inexpensive, resilient, flexible and of substantial tensile strength so as to be self supporting when of moderate thicknesses, such as /2 inch or the like. The pad 8 can be of varying sizes or shapes and, as shown, can extend outwardly beyond head 2 to provide more cleaning surface area without requiring a larger or heavier pad support structure.

In utilizing the device of the invention, the operator places pad 8 next to the flat pad backup surface 4 so that the upper pad surface 10 conforms and fits flat against surface 4-. The operator may then apply localized pressure, as with the thumb, to the bottom surface 10, so that portions of pad 8 will protrude through the holes 6. As this occurs, the pad will ride up onto the bevelled portions of rigid teeth 7 until some of the pad loops 9 extend over and around the planular upper tooth surfaces. The bottom surface 10 will then temporarily be depressed in the area corresponding to the positions of the holes 6. Since the pad material is resilient and since the backup surface covers a large area of the pad, the bottom surface 10 will return to a generally flat shape within a short period of time, and will do so particularly during operation when pressure is being applied against the pad 8. As this occurs, the fiber loops over the teeth will be extended above the top surface of the pad. Thus, the invention leaves nearly of the bottom surface 10 available for cleaning surface duty.

It is also possible to secure the pad to head 2 by ap plying general pressure instead of localized pressure. For

example, by merely positioning the pad on a floor, and by pressing the mop head 2 against one of the surfaces and jiggling or reciprocating the mop, the teeth will engage pad 8 sufiiciently for operation. Generally, no force will act to disengage the pad 8 during operation. Since teeth 7 extend in numerous directions, any direction of movement of the mop during operation will serve only to force more fiber loops 9 into engagement with the teeth 7. Thus, operation of the mop serves to secure the pad 8 thereto and the operator need not worry about constantly retrieving his cleaning pad.

Pad 8 is easily removed from head 2 by either pushing downwardly with the fingers through holes 6 to disengage the fiber loops 9, or by placing the foot on the extended portion of pad 8 and pulling up on mop handle 1. The fiber loops 9 are flexible enough to be disengaged by moderate pressure applied in the above manner.

When one surface of pad '8 is dirty, the pad may be reversed on head 2 to expose the clean surface. Also, easy removal and the low expense of replacement allow the operator to remove and dispose of a used pad, and easily substitute another.

The invention provides a light, cheaply constructed mop and head, with a disposable, single unit cleaning pad which is efficient, lightweight, easily attached or removed and adaptable to many cleaning operations.

I claim:

1. In a mop:

(a) a generally triangular mop head having a lower side defining a backup surface for pressing upon a surface to be mopped, and having an upper planular surface,

(b) said head having an opening disposed adjacent each corner of the triangle;

(c) a plurality of rigid teeth extending inwardly from around the edges of each opening, the teeth having pointed inner end portions which extend upwardly from the plane of said planular surface; and

(d) a mop pad of flexible resilient material having a 4 myriad of loops on its surface, said mop pad being disposed firmly with its upper surface, against said backup surface and with portions of said upper pad surface being positioned so that the loops thereof are held by said teeth.

2. In a mop:

(a) a mop head having a planular backup usrface on its lower side; 1 I

(b) said backup surface having a plurality of openings with the planular surface being substantially greater in area than the plurality of openings therein;

(c) a plurality of teeth extending radially inwardly from around the edges of said openings, and

(d) a removable mop pad-having a flat upper surface with a myriad of fiber loops which are extendible above said pad surface, the pad having some of said loops extending over said teeth and attaching the pad to the head, the remaining portion of said fiat upper surface of said pad being disposed flat against the backup surface on the lower side of said head.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,118,989 12/1914 Wolf. 1,653,652 12/1927 Melniker 15-209.51 1,899,552 2/1933 Bookman 15-209.51 1,921,921 8/1933 Harvie. 2,611,147 9/1952 Kampouris 15244.4 2,885,713 5/1959 Morrill 15-244 XR 2,954,649 10/1960 Carroll et a1. 3,295,155 1/1967 Belsky et a1. 15-147 3,302,232 2/1967 Wasilotf et a1. 15230.17 3,395,416 8/1968 Hughes 15-228 FOREIGN PATENTS 214,267 9/1956 Australia.

DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 24-204

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