BASEBOARD BRUSH

BROSSE A PLINTHE

English Abstract

A brush that simultaneously cleans and/or polishes floors and baseboards. The brush is adapted to be utilized with conventional buffing machines and will easily fit conventional water control rings. In its cleaning mode, the brush incorporates bristles on its planar undersurface and also entirely around its peripheral wall. When employed to polish, a polishing pad is positioned beneath the undersurface of the brush as is conventional in the art. A unique polishing pad is secured around the peripheral wall of the brush for contacting and polishing the baseboards.

French Abstract

Une brosse qui nettoie et/ou polit simultanément les planchers et les plinthes. La brosse est adaptée de manière à pouvoir être utilisée avec les polisseuses traditionnelles et se connecter facilement sur les anneaux de régulation de débit d'eau traditionnels. En mode nettoyage, la brosse comporte des soies sur sa face inférieure planaire et aussi sur toute sa paroi périphérique. Lorsqu'elle est utilisée pour polir, un tampon à polir est placé sous la surface de la brosse comme cela est normal dans ce cas. Un tampon à polir unique est fixé autour de la paroi périphérique de la brosse pour entrer en contact avec les plinthes et les polir.

Claims

I claim:


1. A baseboard and floor cleaning brush, comprising: a circular disc-shaped
member
having a planar undersurface and a top surface, said planar under surface
defining an
undersurface area; a peripheral wall connecting said top surface with said
planar
undersurface, said peripheral wall defining a peripheral area; a first array
of bristles
disposed on said undersurface and attached directly thereto; a second array of
bristles
disposed on said peripheral wall and attached directly thereto, said second
array of
bristles encompassing the entire peripheral area defined by the peripheral
wall; a
polishing pad disposed on said peripheral wall, wherein said polishing pad
comprises; a
narrow strip having a first end and a second end; a respective opening
disposed through
each of said first end and said second end.


2. The baseboard and floor cleaning brush according to claim 1, further
including a
mounting flange positioned on said top surface.


3. The baseboard and floor cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein said
narrow strip
encompasses said peripheral wall and including a fastener disposed through
each said
respective opening for securing said narrow strip to said peripheral wall.


4. The baseboard and floor cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein said
polishing
pad is fabricated from steel wool.


5. The baseboard and floor cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein said
peripheral
wall is perpendicular to said planar undersurface.


6. The baseboard and floor cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein said
peripheral
wall is disposed at an acute angle to said planar undersurface.



6

7. A floor cleaning machine having a mounting ring and a baseboard and floor
cleaning
brush mounted to said mounting ring, said baseboard and floor cleaning brush
comprising: a circular disc-shaped member having a planar undersurface and a
top
surface, said planar under surface defining an undersurface area; a peripheral
wall
connecting said top surface with said planar undersurface, said peripheral
wall defining a
peripheral area; a first array of bristles disposed on said undersurface and
attached
directly thereto; a second array of bristles disposed on said peripheral wall
and attached
directly thereto, said second array of bristles encompassing the entire
peripheral area
defined by the peripheral wall; a mounting flange positioned on said top
surface and
mounted to said mounting ring; and a polishing pad, said polishing pad being
disposed on
said peripheral wall wherein said polishing pad comprises; a narrow strip
having a first
end and a second end; a respective opening disposed through each of said first
end and
said second end.

8. A floor cleaning machine according to claim 7, wherein said narrow strip
encompasses
said peripheral wall and including a fastener disposed through each said
respective
opening for securing said narrow strip to said peripheral wall.

Description

CA 02570010 2006-12-05

1
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to cleaning appliances. More
specifically, the
invention is drawn to a brush for a conventional floor-cleaning machine, which
brush
allows a user to clean or polish a floor and baseboard simultaneously.

2. Description of the Related Art

Separate procedures have been conventionally required to clean and/or polish
floors and
baseboards. Typically, a cleaning machine (buffer) is employed for the floor.
The buffer
utilizes a rotary driven brush and steel wool pads for efficient floor
cleaning and
polishing. Baseboards however, have been have been cleaned manually or with
expensive
and relatively complicated machines. Thus, cleaning both floors and baseboards
has
required a relatively large investment in man-hours or the acquisition of
expensive
machines. Both of these solutions are expensive. It is obvious that the art
would welcome
an inexpensive adjunct to the popular buffing machine, which adjunct would
effectively
clean and/or polish floors and baseboards simultaneously.
The related art is rife with alleged solutions to the above-discussed problem.
For
example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,120 (De Mercado), U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,139 (Lewis)
and
U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,912 (Hall) show machines for cleaning/polishing baseboards
and
floors simultaneously. All the machines employ plural rotary driven brushes
that require
complicated and expensive operating systems.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,772 (Downing et al.) discloses a buffing machine having an
attachment that converts rotary motion to reciprocal motion. He attachment
includes a
rubbing surface that can clean baseboards. As in the above-cited patents, the
instant
attachment represents a relatively costly and complicated addition to the
conventional
buffer.

.
CA 02570010 2006-12-05

2
U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,141 (Annis, Jr.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,872 (Barber) are
drawn to
machines for treating floors and baseboards. Both machines require specialized
brushes
that cannot be used with conventional buffers.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,403 (Scharf) shows a floor brush having bristles around
the periphery
thereof for cleaning baseboards. The bristles are not continuous and are
therefore less
efficient than the arrangement contemplated in the present invention. Also
there is no
provision to include a buffing pad on the periphery.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in
combination, is seen
to disclose a brush for simultaneous cleaning or polishing floors and
baseboards as will
be subsequently described and claimed the instant invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a brush that simultaneously cleans and/or polishes
floors and
baseboards. The brush is adapted to be utilized with conventional buffing
machines and
will easily fit conventional water control rings. In its cleaning mode, the
brush
incorporates bristles on its planar undersurface and also entirely around its
peripheral
wall. When employed to polish, a polishing pad is positioned beneath the
undersurface of
the brush as is conventional in the art. A unique polishing pad is secured
around the
peripheral wall of the brush for contacting and polishing the baseboards.

Accordingly, the invention presents a novel brush for effective, efficient and
simultaneous cleaning of floors and baseboards. The brush is designed for use
with
conventional floor machines. A unique pad permits the brush to also function
to polish
floors and baseboards simultaneously.

The present invention provides for improved elements and arrangements thereof
for the
purposes described which are inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in


CA 02570010 2006-12-05

3
accomplishing their intended purposes.

A clear understanding of the present invention will become readily apparent
upon further
review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a baseboard and floor brush
according to
the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of first embodiment of a baseboard and floor brush
according to the
present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of second embodiment of a baseboard and floor brush
according to
the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a baseboard and floor brush in a polishing mode
according to the
present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a baseboard and floor brush in a polishing mode
according to the
present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a baseboard-polishing pad for a baseboard and floor
brush
according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a baseboard-polishing pad for a baseboard and floor
brush having
a water control ring according to the present invention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently
throughout the
attached drawings.


CA 02570010 2006-12-05

4
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Attention is first directed to FIGS. 13 wherein the baseboard and floor brush
of the
present invention is indicated at 10. Brush 10 is mounted on the mounting ring
12 of a
conventional, rotary floor-cleaning machine. Brush 10 is of disc-shaped
configuration as
is well known in the art. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, brush 10 comprises a
planar
undersurface 14, peripheral wall 16 and mounting flange 18. Undersurface 14
and
peripheral wall 16 are provided with an array of bristles 20 suitably attached
thereto. The
bristles are evenly and continuously disposed over the entire surface areas of
surface 14
and wall 16. In FIG. 2 wall 16 is perpendicular to surface 14 for cleaning
traditionally
configured baseboard. In FIG. 3, wall 16 is slanted inward which allow the
bristles to
clean baseboards having overhanging or convoluted surfaces.

FIGS. 4 6 are illustrative of the brush when used for polishing. A
conventional circular
polishing pad 20 is positioned beneath the brush in the usual manner. A
baseboard
polishing pad 22 is disposed around and encompasses peripheral wall 16.
Openings 22a
are provided at each end of pad 22 for receiving a fastener 26 and securing
pad 22 on
wall 16.

FIG. 7 is illustrative of the brush when used in conjunction with a
conventional liquid
feeder 30. Feeder 30 is positioned atop the brush and is designed with
conventional liquid
dispensing holes 32 and liquid control ring 34.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the
embodiments
described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of
the
following claims.

Representative Drawing