Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Many consider wall-to-wall carpeting to
be the peak of luxury; housewiYes love it ~or
the warm atmosphere it brings, businessmen value
it for the air of corporate dignity it lends
their offices; but to those who m~st clean and
: 15 maintain it, wall-to-wall carpeting is an immense
: headache. It must ba cleaned in place, the clean-
ing must be accomplished in~a relatively short
time and if the carpet i5 not kept scrupulously
clean, its life may be severly shortened. For
these reasons, the carpet cleaning industry is
constantly seeking improved methods and machinery
for cleaning carpets.
Recently, a radically new approach to
cleaning carpets has been developed which uses
a po~wdered cleaning composition containing a
mixture of extremely porous solid paxticles and
a solvent. This new cleaning co~positlon is
- described in U. S. Patent Number 4~013,594 and
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and has proved especially effective in removing
soil from carpets. Furtherl only a short inter-
v~l is required between appli.cation and removal
o~ the powdered cleaning composition. Using
this new cleaning composition, it has now become
possible to clean wall-to-wa:Ll carpets in offices,
stores and residences with little disruption of
normal affairs.
It is therefore an object of the invention
to provide a lightweight, low cost carpet cleaner
which uses a powder~d clea~in~ composition to
clean carpets in place.
In accordance with the invention, there is
provided a device for applying a substantially dry
cleaning powder on a surface to to cleaned~ such as
a carpet comprising: a hollow container having a
first section and a second section at an angle to
said first section, a cylindrical powder transfer
element rotatably mounted in said hollow container,
said first section having a wall member which is . -
substantially perpendicular to the surface to be
cleaned when such surface is contacted by said
cylindrical powder transfer element, a brush member
mounted on said wall member having the bristles
thereof substantially perpendicular thereto, means
mounting a disposable powder container in said
second section in communication with said cylindrical
powder transfer element to supply cleaning powder
thereto and a handle means connected to the outside
of said hollow container to aid in moving said hollow
container over the surface to be cleaned.
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Other objects and ~dvant~ges of the inven-
tion will become readily apparent as the specifi~
cation proceeds to descr~be the invention with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 ls an end yiew of the new carpet
cleaner in the powder distri.bution position
Figure 2 is a view telken on line 2-2 o~
Figure l;
~igure 3 is an end view o~ the new carpet
cleaner in the cleaning position; and
Figure 4 is a modification of the carpet
powder container and its mounting in the carpet
cleaner.
Looking now t~ Figures 1 and 2, the
reference numeral 10 represents generally the
new and improved carpet cleaner. The carpet
cleaner 10 consists basically of a container
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support member 12 and a handle 14. The container
support member 12 consists of a hollow powder
support portion 16 and a cleaning section 18 at
an. angle to the powder support portion 16. The
cleaning section 18 has a cylinder with a rough
or porous surace, such as a reticulated ;Eoam
cylinder 20 rotabl~ mounted thereon in communi~
cation with -the hollow powder support portion 16
and a brush 22 mounted on the end thereof for
reasons hereina~-ter explained. The h~ndle 14
is secured -to the back 24 of the hollow powder
support portion 16 by a paix o~ U-shaped 1anged
brackets 26 by screws 28.
The powder dispenser 29 is preferably a
throw-away container, which is opened at one end
and slid downward until it engages the ~langes
30 at the bottom o~ the hollow powder SUppQrt
portion 16 adjacent the ~oam cylinder 2~. In
Figures 1-3, the bottom 32 of the ~o~der dis-
penser 2~ is ~1anged and is enga~ed by a clip 34
which is secure~ to the handle 1~ b~v Wing nut 36.
In the fo~m of the invention shown in Fi~yre 4l
the flanged bottom 32 i~s eliminated and integral
elastic cord or wire member 38 is used to wrap
around and/or slide over the handle 14.
OPERATION
When the carpet cleaner lQ is to be used,
the powder container 2~ is opened at the lower
end and placed in the holIow powder section 16
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and secured to the handle 1~, as in Fiyures 3 or
4. The cleaner lO is then placed on the carpet
or surface 36 -to be cleaned and guided over -the
surface 36 by the handle 14. As -the cleaner 10
is moved over the surEace, the cylinder 20
rotates to deposlt cleaning powder rom the
container 29 onto khe surface 36. When the
surface 36 has been covered with powder, the
cleaner lO is turned over and the brush 22 is
l~ ~laced into contact with the sur~ace 36, as in
Figure 3. The powder is rubbed on-to the sux~ace
36 to loosen the di.rt therein which, along wlth
powder, is swep-t up a~terwards by a Vacuum
cleaner.
lS As described above, it can readily be
seen that an improved carpet cleaner has been
provided which is simple in construction, in-
expensive to manufacture and easy to use, espec-
ially by a housewi~e.
2Q Although the p~eierred embodiments ~f the
invention have been descri.bed in detail, it is
contemplated that many changes may be made with-
out departing from the scope or spirit of the
invention, and I desire to be li~ited only by the
claims.
