Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CLEANING DEVICE WITH A CLEANING PORTION COMPRISING AN ADHESIVE SURFACE AND A
CLEANING CLOTH SURFACE
Technical Field
This invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning surfaces to be
cleaned,
for example a floor surface such as a flooring, a plastic tile, and a tatami
mat inside a
building and the like, surfaces of furniture, and so forth. More particularly,
this
invention relates to a cleaning device capable of removing dust, sand, and the
like
having sizes exceeding a predetermined size that have been difficult to remove
by using
conventional cleaning methods.
Background of the Invention
An example of a conventional cleaning device is shown in Fig. 1. This cleaning
device 1 includes a cleaning cloth 6 such as a non-woven fabric cloth that is
wound on
the surface of a holding sheet 2 and is fixed by fixing members 5 such as
screws to a
surface 4 opposite a cleaning surface 3. A support arm 7 is fitted to the
surface 4 of the
holding plate 2 through pivot 8 for pivotally supporting it relative to the
holding plate
2. Therefore, even when the angle of the support arm 7 changes, the cleaning
surface 3
of the cleaning cloth 6 always keeps contact with the surface to be cleaned.
When the
support arm 7 is moved back and forth, dust and the like is entrapped between
the
fibers of the cleaning cloth 6 and are thus removed from the surface to be
cleaned.
In such a cleaning device according to the prior art, however, the size of
dust
entrapped between the fibers of the cleaning cloth is limited, and dust and
sand having
sizes exceeding a predetermined size cannot be removed from the surface to be
cleaned
using the cleaning device. The present invention is directed to solving such.
a problem,
and to providing a cleaning device capable of reliably removing not only small
dust but
also dust and sand having sizes exceeding a predetermined size from the
surface to be
cleaned.
Summary of the Invention
In certain aspects of the present invention, a cleaning device is provided
comprising a cleaning portion having a cleaning surface arid an opposing
surface
opposite the cleaning surface, a support arm having a handle portion, a pivot
for
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affixing the support arm on the opposing surface, wherein the cleaning surface
of the
cleaning portion comprises an adhesive surface and a cleaning cloth surface,
and
wherein the adhesive surface and the cleaning cloth surface can individually
come into
surface contact with a surface to be cleaned. The cleaning device may also
include a
stopper for restricting movement of the handle portion relative to the pivot.
The
cleaning cloth surface can contact the surface to be cleaned when the support
arm is
tilted within a predetermined angle relative to the surface having the pivot,
and the
adhesive surface can contact the surface to be cleaned when the support arm is
tilted
beyond the predetermined angle relative to the surface having the pivot.
In the cleaning device according to the present invention, the cleaning
surface
of the cleaning portion comprises the adhesive surface and the cleaning cloth
surface.
The cleaning device is generally used while the cleaning cloth surface is
brought into
surface contact with the surface to be cleaned. When large dust that cannot be
collected
by this cleaning cloth is to be collected and removed, the adhesive surface is
brought
into surface contact with the surface to be cleaned. A user can change from
the
cleaning cloth surface to the adhesive surface easily by tilting the support
arm beyond a
predetermined angle from the surface having the pivot.
Brief Description of the Drawings
The invention is described with reference to the following Figures, in which
Fig. 1 is a side view of a conventional cleaning device;
Fig. 2 is a side view when a cleaning cloth surface of a cleaning device
according to an embodiment of the present invention is brought into surface
contact
with a surface to be cleaned;
Fig. 3 is a side view when an adhesive surface of the cleaning device
according
to the present invention is brought into surface contact with the surface to
be cleaned;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the construction of the adhesive surface
and the cleaning cloth surface;
Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing another construction of the adhesive
surface and the cleaning cloth surface; and
Fig. 6 is a graph showing the results of cleaning performance evaluations.
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Detailed Description of the Invention
Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to the
drawings. Fig. 2 is a side view of a cleaning device according to one
embodiment of
the present invention. The cleaning device 9 shown in Fig. 2 includes a
cleaning
portion 10 having a cleaning surface 13, a support arm 11 equipped with a
handle 16,
and a pivot 12 for pivotally supporting the support arm 11 on the surface
opposite the
cleaning surface 13 of the cleaning portion 10. In the cleaning portion 10, a
flexible
member 15 is fitted and fixed (preferably by an adhesive) to a holding plate
14, and the
cleaning surface 13 is disposed on the bottom surface of this flexible member
15. The
cleaning surface 13 comprises an adhesive surface 17 and a cleaning cloth
surface 18.
A stopper 19 is provided next to the pivot 12 for restricting movement of the
support
arm 11.
The holding plate 14 is made of a rigid plastic material such as an ABS resin,
for example. The flexible member 15 is made of a flexible material such as a
rubber or
foamed urethane. Besides the non-woven fabric that has been used for cleaning
devices
in the past, the cleaning cloth 18 can use woven fabrics such as a dust-cloth
and a
knitted fabric. The adhesive surface 17 must have tackiness to such an extent
that it
can adhere to the dust or the like having a size exceeding a predetermined
size.
Therefore, an adhesive is applied to the surface, or an adhesive tape is
bonded, to form
the adhesive surface 17. These cleaning cloth and adhesive surface are
preferably
replaceable. Further preferably, they are individually exchangeable.
The support arm 11 is interconnected to the cleaning portion 10 by the pivot
12.
Movement of the support arm 11 is restricted by the stopper 19 provided next
to the
pivot 12 within a predetermined angle 8 from the surface having the pivot. In
other
words, the support arm is freely movable within the range of this angle 8,
where the
cleaning portion stays parallel to the surface 20 to be cleaned at any angle
within this
range, so that the cleaning cloth surface 18 keeps surface contact with the
surface 20 to
be cleaned.
The support arm 11 can be freely tilted within the range of the angle 0.
However, when the support arm 11 is tilted beyond this angle ~, the stopper 19
restricts
the movement of the support arm 11, so that the support arm 11 cannot be
tilted beyond
the angle 0. When the stopper arm 11 is further tilted against the stopper 19,
the
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cleaning portion 10 is tilted as shown in Fig. 3. As a result, the cleaning
cloth surface
18 separates from the surface 20 to be cleaned, and the adhesive surface 17
comes
instead into surface contact with the surface 20 to be cleaned.
As described above, the cleaning surface 18 can collect fine dust between the
fibers and can remove the dust. However, this cleaning cloth surface 18 cannot
collect
the dust greater than a predetermined size. Therefore, this cleaning cloth
surface 18 is
used for ordinary cleaning and when the large dust gathered by the cleaning
cloth
surface 18 is collected, the support arm is tilted so that the adhesive
surface 17 can be
brought into surface contact with the surface 20 to be cleaned and the large
dust is
caused to adhere to the adhesive surface and is removed.
Switching between the cleaning cloth surface 18 and the adhesive surface 17
can be easily made during the cleaning operation by merely changing the tilt
angle of
the support arm. While the cleaning cloth surface 18 keeps surface contact
with the
surface to be cleaned, the adhesive surface is out of surface contact with the
surface to
be cleaned. Therefore, the cleaning cloth surface can freely come into sliding
contact
with the surface to be cleaned and its movement is not impeded.
As shown in Fig. 4, for example, the cleaning cloth surface and the adhesive
surface have a unitary structure, in which the adhesive 22 may be applied to a
predetermined position of the non-woven fabric 21, and may be affixed to the
clearring
portion so that the adhesive surface and the cleaning cloth surface can be
arranged to a
predetermined position of the bottom surface of the flexible member 15 when
held by
the cleaning portion 10. According to such a structure, the adhesive surface
and the
cleaning cloth surface axe exchangeable. This adhesive portion 22 may be
covered with
a peelable protective sheet 23, in such case the adhesive surface can be
formed by
peeling the protective sheet at the time of use. When the non-woven fabric and
the like
applied with this adhesive layer has a laminate structure, the cleaning effect
can be
maintained for a longer time by peeling the outermost layer when the
adhesive/cleaning
effects drop.
As shown in Fig. 5, it is also possible to constitute the flexible member 15
equipped with the adhesive surface 17 and the flexible member 15 equipped with
the
cleaning cloth surface 18 by separate members and to fix them to the holding
plate 14
so as to form the cleaning cloth surface and the adhesive surface. When the
cleaning
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cloth surface and the adhesive surface are separately constituted in this way,
the
cleaning cloth surface and the adhesive surface can be exchanged individually,
and
only the contaminated portion can be exchanged.
Examples
Example 1:
In the cleaning device having the construction shown in Fig. 2, a dust
removing
sheet commercially available from Kao K. K. under the trade name "Quickie" was
fitted to the cleaning cloth surface 18 and an adhesive tape commercially
available
from Sumitomo 3M Co. under trade name "Sole Mat No. 5900A" was fitted to the
adhesive surface 17.
Example 2:
In the cleaning device having the construction shown in Fig. 2, a dust
removing
sheet commercially available from Kao K. K. under the trade name "Quickie" was
fitted to the clea~.zing cloth surface 18, and a dust removing sheet of Kao K.
I~. under
the trade name "Quickie", applied with an adhesive, was fitted to the adhesive
surface
17.
Example 3:
In the cleaning device having the construction shown in Fig. 2, a dust
removing
sheet available from Sumitomo 3M Co. under the trade name "Duster Cloth Extra"
was
fitted to the cleaning cloth surface 18 and a dust removing sheet available
from
Sumitomo 3M Co. under the trade name "Duster Cloth Extra" applied with an
adhesive
was applied to the adhesive surface 17.
Comparative Example 1:
A commercially available cleaning device, a product of Kao K. K., having the
construction shown in Fig. 1 was used, and a dust-removing sheet commercially
available from Kao K. K. under the trade name "Quickie" was fitted as the
cleaning
cloth 6.
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Comparative Example 2:
In a cleaning device having the construction shown in Fig. 2, a dust-removing
sheet commercially available from Kao K. K. under the trade name "Quickie" was
fitted to both cleaning cloth surface 18 and adhesive surface 17.
Evaluation of cleaning performance:
On flooring (wooden floor) were scattered as the dust 0.3 g of bread crumbs,
0.2
g of paper pieces and 0.3 g of cotton dust. While the cleaning cloth surface
was
brought into surface contact with the flooring, the cleaning cloth surface of
each of the
cleaning devices produced by Examples and Comparative Examples was passed once
on the dust. Then, while the support arm was tilted, the adhesive surface was
brought
into surface contact with the flooring and the dust was collected. The dust
collection
operation by this adhesive surface was carned out three times. Next, the
weight of the
dust adhering to the cleaning cloth surface and to the adhesive surface was
measured,
and the dust adsorption ratio was calculated by the following equation to
evaluate
cleaning performance. Incidentally, because the cleaning device of Comparative
Example 1 was not equipped with the adhesive surface, the dust collecting
operation by
the adhesive layer was not conducted.
Expression 1:
(dust amount (g) adhering to cleaning
cloth surface and to adhesive surface)
dust collection ratio (%) = x 100
(scattered amount of dust on floor)
The result of evaluation of cleaning performance is shown in Table 1 and Fig.
6.
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Table 1.
Cleaning Performance
Example No. bread crumb paper piece cotton dust
Ex. 1 56.7 80 75
Ex. 2 93.3 95 80
Ex. 3 85 97.5 65
Comp. Ex. 1 23.3 20 58.3
Comp. Ex. 2 21.7 22.5 63.3
It could be seen clearly from the result that the cleaning devices not
equipped
with the adhesive layer in Comparative Examples l and 2 exhibited lower
cleaning
performance with respect to the dust having large sizes such as bread crumbs
and paper
pieces than the cleaning devices of Examples 1 to 4, and could not
sufficiently collect
the dust.
In the cleaning device according to the present invention, the cleaning
surface
of the cleaning portion comprises the adhesive surface and the cleaning cloth
surface
individually capable of coming into surface contact with the surface to be
cleaned. The
cleaning device is generally used while the cleaning cloth surface is kept in
surface
contact with the surface to be cleaned, and the adhesive surface is brought
into surface
contact with the surface to be cleaned when a large dust that cannot be
collected by the
cleaning cloth are collected. Switching of the cleaning cloth surface and the
adhesive
surface can be easily achieved as the support ann is tilted by a predetermined
angle
from a surface having a pivot.
