WO1990014039A1

WO1990014039A1 - Cleaning cloth

Info

Publication number: WO1990014039A1
Application number: PCT/SE1990/000337
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ulla Eriksson
Original assignee: Ulla Eriksson
Priority date: 1989-05-24
Filing date: 1990-05-22
Publication date: 1990-11-29
Also published as: SE8901844D0; SE463594B; SE8901844A

Abstract

Repeated use cleaning cloth for wet cleaning and dry dusting and/or polishing consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields with loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields at which the fibre material in the textile skeleton and the loops consists of the same or different kinds of fibers chosen among natural, regenerated and synthetic fibers, which may be antistatic, antistat-treated or impregnated with cleaning compositions and/or compositions which increase the dust absorption, antistatic and/or polishing effect. The limiting lines between loop-covered and loop-free areas are at least partly curved i.e. their tangent forms an along the cloth varying angle with the length-axis of the cloth. The cloth shows improved dirt-catching effect and less tendency to leave local dirt accumulations behind.

Description

Cleaning cloth

The invention applies to a woven, knitted or in other known way manu¬ factured cloth consisting of a textile skeleton and from it protruding pile or loops.

Cleaning cloths of similiar kinds are known from among others the Swe¬ dish laid open patent applications No 451 426 (8500992-6) and No 431 158 (8004718-6).

The cloth according to the Swedish laid open patent application No 451 426 has a crocheted skeleton made of artificial fibers and loops made of cotton thread at just one side. The loops are located in more than one parallell rows with loop-free intermediate areas. The aim of the intermediate loop-free areas are to make the cloth lighter, easier to handle and to increase its ability of sliding over the surfaces that are to be cleaned.

The cloth according to the Swedish laid open patent application No 431 158 is woven and has loops at both sides. The layer of loops att the upper side is considerably tighter than at the lower side. The inten¬ tion is that the cloth shall be used impregnated with a cleaning com¬ position at which the layer of loops at the upper side will serve as a reservoir for the cleaning composition.

This invention applies to a cleaning cloth intended to be used repea¬ tedly and consisting of a textile skeleton at one side provided with loops that kan be cut and form a pile. In the following the term loops will be used both for un-cut loops and pile. The loops are located in more than one areas with loop-free intermediate areas. In contrast to the earlier known cloth (laid open application No 451 426) the limits between the loop-covered and loop-free areas consist at least partly of curved lines, i.e. lines with a tangent which forms an along the cloth varying angle with the length-axis of the cloth. In the term curved lines is included the case where the lines bend in such a way that a more or less sharp angle is formed between the line branches. The curved lines may have transversal waveform and limit parallell fields with constant width of loop-covered and not loop-covered areas. This is the most uncomplicated way of manufacturing. Within the frame¬ work of the invention lies, however, to let the width of the fields vary and to let the limit lines of the fields consist of mixed wave¬ forms, where amplitude and/or wave length changes along the fields. Other possibilities are circles, helices etc. Within the framework of the invention too is to let straight fields alternate with waveformed or in other ways curved fields.

A preferred use of the cloths according to the invention is as a cove¬ ring of mops and other similiar cleaning implements at which the cloth is arranged with the length-axis of the fields perpendicular to the pricipal direction of movement of the mop. The coverings may be pre- oistened, eventually with simultaneous impregnation with a cleaning composition, moistened at the use or used dry for dusting off.

Another preferred use of the cloths according to the invention is as a hand or implement hold cloth for dusting and/or polishing eventually impregnated for increasing the dust sorption, antistat and/or po¬ lishing effect.

Dirt and dust are as a rule not evenly distributed on the surfaces that are to be cleaned. Earlier types of cleaning cloths gives local accumulations of dirt, which tend to break through and be left after cleaning with the result that the work must be redone. This applies to the cloth according to laid open application No 451 426 too.

The loop-free fields form channels, which let the dirt distribute itself along the cloth. If the channels are principally perpendicular to the main direction of movement of the mop this redistribution is made impossible as the power that is caused by the friction of the dirt against the floor is directed at right angle against the row of loops and lacks lateral components. Cleaning cloths according to the invention give a lateral power component, which makes the dirt partic¬ les move along the row of loops. This decreases the danger of break through and increases the probability that the dirt particles will be caught by and permanently kept by the thread loops until the cleaning cloth will be cleaned by washing or in other known ways.

The description above is concerned with the case where the fields of loops and loop-free areas run in the length direction of the cloth. It is easily observed that comparable advantages can be achieved with the other patterns that are mentioned above. At the use as mop cloth should, however, at least one of the loop-covered fields run conti- nously from one end of the cloth to the other.

The Swedish laid open patent application No 364 438 (14065/71) discri- bes a single use mop cloth consisting of a paper foundation with glued on coarse cotton threads which may have zigzag or waveform. This is however not a preferred pattern and there is nothing i the mentioned publication that could lead to the conclusion that the wave-form might contribute to any improvement of the cleaning efficiency.

This is, in fact, probably not the case as the compact form, in co pa- rision with the relatively open system formed by the thread loops, of the cotton threads makes the catching effect minimal. One would there¬ for more likely expect an increased tendency to accumulation of dirt and break through at the backwards directed tips of the pattern.

This tendency is reinforced as one has to use twisted yarns to get enough fluffiness without reducing the strength too much. The space between the yarn parts will form a transport channel for dirt across the yarn. In the case where the threads are straight this channel will be long and mainly side-directed. In the case of wave-formed threads the channel will be short and directed across the threads.

As mentioned above the cloth can be manufactured in many different ways. It is however preferred to produce it by weaving with the same technics which are used for making Turkish towel. Weaving gives a cloth that is light, strong, form-stable and easily handled and adop- table for different areas of use. The cloth can easily be folded over a plastic plate or another fitting mop-implement and be fixed by clips or in other known ways. Another preferred method of manufacturing has been proposed relatively lately and shows features from the known technics of knitting and wea¬ ving. It can be described in the following way: columns of chain- stitches, which form loops too, are used as warp and kept together by transversal weft-threads. Cloths produced with this method shows the same advantages as woven towel cloths and can be produced in a more uncomplicated and economical way with bigger flexibility regarding choice of material, pattern etc.

The length and density of the loops may be varied within wide limits for instance from 1 to 20 mm preferably 2 to 10 mm length and from 5 to 40 loops per centimeter preferably 10 to 30 loops per centimeter.

The ratio between the areas of loop-covered and loop-free surfaces within the surface that is used for cleaning may vary from 9:1 to 1:9. However, for most purposes it is to be preferred that the part of loop-covered areas is the bigger one, ratios between 8:2 to 6:4 are preferred. Dependent on the intended area of use the cloth should be provided with a loop-free area with enough width outside the proper cleaning surface too to make it easy to fold over and fix to the intended cleaning implement. In this connection the cleaning surface is defined as the area that are limited by the outside limit lines of the outermost loop-covered fields.

If wave lines are used as pattern for the limiting lines their ampli¬ tude should not be too large. In preferred designs the amplitude is less than the wavelength, as a rule less than half the wavelength and especially less than about a fourth of the wavelength. The wave lines may run mainly parallell or be up to one half wavelength displaced in relation to each other.

Some examples of preferred designs are shown in fig. 1 to 4, where

fig. 1. is a computergenerated drawing of part of the cleaning sur¬ face of a cloth with five wave-formed, parallell, loop-covered fields with the same fibre material in all fields together with a section through the cleaning cloth along the line A - A, fig. 2 is a computergenerated drawing of part of the cleaning sur¬ face of a cloth with five wave-formed, loop-covered fields, disloca¬ ted half a wave-length in relation to each other,

fig. 3. is a computergenerated drawing of part of the cleaning sur¬ face of a cloth with five loop-covered fields limited by wave lines, which have been dislocated half a wavelength in relation to each other,

fig. 4. is a computergenerated drawing of part of the cleaning sur¬ face of a cloth with three loop-covered fields with loops with mainly dirt-catching effekt and limited by wave lines which have been dislocated half a wavelengh in relation to each other and two straight fields where the loops are made of material with mainly scouring effect together with a section along the line A - A through such a cleaning cloth.

The drawings show five loop-covered and four loop-free fields but the¬ se numbers may of course vary between wide limits for instance from 2 to 25 loop-covered fields and from 1 to 24 loop-free fields dependent upon among others the width of the cloth. It should, however, be observed that either the loop-covered or the loopfree fields should be too narrow as the danger of break through then increases. A lower limit of about .5 centimeter respectively .1 centimeter is as a rule appropiate. Usual dimensions appropriate for most areas of use are from 1 to 5 centimeter respectively from .5 to 2 centimeter. The lower and upper limit applies mainly to the cases where the width of the loop-covered and/or the loop-free fields is varying along the cloth.

The material of warp and weft may be varied. Natural fibres, especial¬ ly cotton, regenerated fibres and artificial fibres may be used. The same or different kinds of fibres may be used in warp and weft in dif¬ ferent parts of the cloth. A preferred combination is warp, which also form loops, of textured synthetic fibres especially polyester fibres and weft of cotton.

In another preferred mode both warp and weft are of the same kind of fibres for example cotton, regenerated or synthetic fibres. For clea- ning without water of surfaces and/or areas where problem with static electricity can be expected use of fibres or fibre mixtures treated to give temporary or permanent antistatic properties, for example MERAK- LON-fibres is recommended.

In a especially preferred mode the warp threads are changed systemati¬ cally i such a way that one gets loop fields with pronounced dirt catching effect alternating with loop fields with mainly scouring effect. An interesting variety of this is a scouring cloth with an uneven number for example five, longitudinal, wave formed loop fields, where the fields with uneven numbers have mainly dirt catching effect whereas the fields with even numbers have mainly scouring effect.

Scouring effect can be achieved for example by the use of more rigid fibres with larger cross section area and abrasive strength such as drawn monofilament fibres of nylon or other fiber materials with high wear strength and low water absorbtion.

Within the framework of the invention lies, however, to use sewed on or i other ways to the textile skeleton attached stripes of scouring material produced with other methods. Example of such stripes are rib¬ bons consisting of foamed plastic with coarse pore system and even¬ tually containing filling materials which increase the abrasive effect too, crocheted monofilament of different thermoplastics or rubber with rough surface or bristles eventually containing abrasives.

The whole cloth may be one-coloured. However, the production method makes i easy to vary colours and design. Beside decorative purposes this may with advantages be used as means to code the cloths for dif¬ ferent areas of use.

Claims

Patent claims

1. Repeated use cleaning cloth for wet cleaning and dry dusting and/or polishing consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields whereby the fibre material in the textile skeleton and the loops consist of the same or different kinds of fibres chosen among natural, regenerated and synthetic fib¬ res, which may be antistatic, antistat-treated or impregnated with cleaning compositions and/or compositions which increase the dust absorption, antistatic and/or polishing effect characterized in that the limiting lines between loop-covered and loop-free areas are at least partly curved to give a lateral power component which makes the dirt particles move along the loop-row which reduces the danger of break through and increases the probability that the dirt particles will be caught by and permanently held by the loops.

2. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 1 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the limiting lines between loop-covered and loop-free areas are curved in such a way that a wave- formed pattern is obtained.

3. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 2 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the limiting lines between loop-covered and loop-free areas are curved in such a way that the wavefor ed pattern will consist of plural parallell fields.

4. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 2 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the limiting lines between loop-covered and loop-free areas are curved in such a way that the waveformed pattern will consist of plural fields and where the fields are dislocated up to one half wavelength in relation to each other.

5. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 2 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the limiting lines between loop-covered and loop-free areas are curved in such a way that the waveformed pattern will consist of plural fields and where the fields are dislocated up to one half wavelength in relation to each other and with the limiting lines dislocated in relation to each other to make the width of the loop-covered and/or loop-free fields vary along the cloth.

6. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 2 to 5 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that waveformed fields alternate with straight fields.

7. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 1 to 6 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that fields with mainly dirt- catching effect alternate with fields with mainly scouring effect.

8. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 7 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that fields with mainly dirt- catching effect alternate with fields with mainly scouring effect at which the fields with mainly dirt-catching effect have uneven numbers and the fields with mainly scouring effect have even numbers counted from the outer edge of the cloth.

9. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 1 to 8 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the weft of the textile skeleton wholly or partly consists of cotton and the loopfields at least partly of textured synthetic fibres, preferably polyester fib¬ res.

10. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 1 to 6 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the cloth at least partly consists of antistat-treated fibres.

11. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 1 to 9 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that it has been impregna¬ ted with a cleaning composition or compositions which increases its dust absorption, antistat and/or polishing effect.

12. Repeated use cleaning cloth according to claim 1 to 8 consisting of a textile skeleton and plural fields of loops or pile alternating with loop-free fields characterized in that the ratio between the total area of loop-covered fields and the total area of loop-free fields is between 9:1- and 1:9, preferably between 8:2 and 6:4.