Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
- SURFACE PREPARATION MACHINE
This machine is a simple powered means to remove such substances
as carpet, tile, roofing, ice or other substances which have been adhered
or otherwise applied to floors, sidewalks, drives, roofs or other surfaces.
The above-mentioned substances have been classically removed with
shovels, hoes, forks or other sharp bladed instruments.
The available machines suffered from these disadvantages:
1. Because the blade was moved by direct means such as a powered
crankshaft, action-reaction caused the machines to vibrate violently.
2. To keep the machine from vibrating violently, weight had to be
10 added to increase the machine's inertia making such machines unnecessarily
heavy and cumbersome.
My invention is a surface preparation machine for removing material
adhered to a planar surface. It has a wheeled frame having an upper portion
and a lower portion. A motor is mounted on the upper portion of the frame.
Attached at one end of said motor and extending clownwardly therefrom is a
vertical shaft. The shaft has an annular shaped flywheel attached thereto,
the shaft being offset from the center of the flywheel and extending there-
through. A horizontal base plate is attached to the lower portion of the
~rame, and the base plate has an aperture therein for receiving the shaft
20 therethrough. A horizontal tool holding plate is disposed below the base
plate and parallel thereto. The other end of the shaft is attached to the
tool holding plate. A tool is mounted on the tool holding plate for in
operation removing material adhered to a planar surface. The machine -
has coupling means for attaching the tool holding plate to the base plate
and suspending same therefrom. In operation the mo~or rotates the fly-
wheel and the shaft, and the shaft provides an eccen~-ric motion in providing
an orbital movement of the tool holding plate in a horizontal plane.
The drawing Figure 1 shows a complete machine mounted on a wheeled
frame set up with blade for removal of soft materials such as carpet or foam
30 padding. Other materials such as tile, ice, linoleum or vinyl can be removed
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with a narrower blade, increasing the cutting force. Paint, varnish or
other substances are removed efficiently with a sanding attachment placed
where the blade normally is.
The drawing ~igure 2 shows the internal view of the machine with
the floating flywheel and tool holding assembly.
The drawing Figure 3 shows an arrangement used to allow the tool
holder-flywheel assembly to float or move with respect to the machine.
Figure 1:
C. Tool ~blade) attached to a tool holding plate
W. Wheels mounted on the bottom of a frame
D. Motor (electric, could be internal combustion) attached to the
frame.
F. Cord and switch wired to the motor
G. Telescoping handle attached to the frame.
~igure 2:
C. Tool (blade) attached to the tool holding plate
E. Pillow block bearing attached to the top of the holding plate
;` ~. Flywheel with a shaft of~set from the center of the flywheel
D. Motor attached to the frame
H. Flexible coupling arrangement between motor D. and flywheel A.
M. Base pla~e of machine attached to the frame
L. Tool holding plate attached to the base plate by a flexible vibration
dampener
Figure 3:
S. Bolt with nut
0. Was hers
Base plate of machine attached to the frame
L. Tool holding plate of machine attached to the base plate by a
~lexible vibration dampener
X, Spacer bushing
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K. 1-4 rubber gromets
In order to eliminate the circular motion generated by the tool holding
plate L. and flywheel A. from being transmitted to the rest of said machine,
a flexible vibra~ion dampener, shown in Figure 3, is used to attach the base
plate M. of said machine to the tool holding plate L. of said machine. Notice
K. 1-4 are used, allowing flexure or movement between M. and L.
Flexible coupling H. between motor D. and flywheel A. prevents
excessive vibration from being transmitted from A. to D.
The above said flexible vibration dampening attachments effectively
10 isolate the circular motions generated by A. and L. from reaching M. and
D. Thus~ A. and L. could be said to "float".
The arrangement shown in Figure 3 so effectively keeps the vibra-
tion of the flywheel from reaching the rest of the machine that practically
no vibration reaches the operator at the handle. The stiffness of this rubber
coupling arrangement can be varied by tightening or loosening bolt S.
Besides providing the inertia or "base" from which to move the tool
holder L., the flywheel A. also acts as a power storage device as is the
character of a flywheel. Because the flywheel does store a considerable
amount of power, it is able to keep the blade cutting through obstructions
20 that the motor alone would not have the power to cut through in the conventional
design. Thus, a n~achine of this type can use a much smaller motor than a
machine of conventional design.
Because the shaft that passes through the flywheel A. is offset from
the cen~er of the flywheel, as the flywheel revolves, the shaft moves in an
eccentric motion about the center of the flywheel. The reason for this is
that thel,flywheel centers itself as it spins gyroscopically. The eccentric
motion of the shaft is transmitted to the tool by means of bearing E. and
plate L.
It should be understood that the matter hereinbefore shown and
30 described should not be tal~en in a limiting sense. For example, the fly-
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~ 22~69wheel arrangement shown could be used in a horizontal position and not in
a vertical position as shown in the drawing. When used in the horizontal
position, the flywheel imparts more of a chopping action to the tool than it
does when the axis of the flywheel is vertical.
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