Cleaning apparatus

Abstract

Laminated cleaning apparatus comprising a pad of synthetic material having a front side scrubbing surface with a colored wear indicator attached to the back side of the pad and a hook and loop attachment fabric secured to the wear indicator for mounting the pad and wear indicator combination to a mop head or similar device.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years several new cleaning pad products have been introduced including Procter & Gamble's “Magic Eraser” and another product known as “Extreme Sponge.” Both of these products include a compound containing melamine and formaldehyde. Microfiber, a textile type of material having a blend of ultra fine fibers of polyester and nylon polyamide has also found cleaning uses including pads for mops that may be used with or without water or cleaning solutions.

In addition to household and commercial cleaning uses, these new material pads have been found by this applicant to be useful and highly effective for cleaning oil, grime and other dirt from aircraft surfaces, especially those having high solids polyurethane coatings such as defined by military specification MIL-PRF-85285.

While these pads have been found effective for cleaning such surfaces they also have a limited life span, especially when used without a lubricating cleaning solution or when used on abrasive surfaces. Repeated uses wear the pads and without notice the pads may become thin to the point where the metal or plastic mop head that supports one or more pads may be exposed, creating potentially damaging contact with the surface being cleaned.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a wear indicator in combination with a mop head and its synthetic mop pad.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of the cleaning apparatus of the present invention mounted on a mop head.

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of the cleaning apparatus mounted on a mop head.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the cleaning apparatus taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The cleaning apparatus 2 of the present invention comprises a conventional mop head 4 having a rigid flat or slightly curved generally rectangular plate 6. Glued to the underside of the plate 6 are strips 8 of the hook side of a hook and loop type attachment fabric.

A flat synthetic scrubbing pad 10 having a scrubbing surface 12 and an opposing parallel back side surface 14 is sized to be similar to that of the flat surface of the head plate 6. A first surface 15 of a correspondingly sized pad 16 of sponge or similar material is glued or otherwise attached to the back side surface 14 of the cleaning pad 10. A second surface 18 of the sponge pad 16 is provided with a thin fabric 19 that corresponds to the loop half of a hook and loop combination. When the loop fabric 19 is placed in contact with the hook material 8 that is glued to the head plate 6, the sponge pad 16 and its attached scrubbing pad 10 adheres to the plate 6, thus detachably mounting the combination to the mopping head 4.

The color of the sponge pad 16 is made to be a contrasting color to that of the scrubbing pad. For example, if the scrubbing pad is white, the sponge pad is preferably blue. Thus, when the scrubbing pad wears thin in a specific location, the blue sponge pad is revealed, indicating that a new scrubbing pad/sponge pad combination should be installed on the mopping head.

To the rectangular plate 6 of the mop head is attached an elongated conventional handle 20.

Claims

1. Cleaning apparatus comprising,

a mop head having a lower surface area,

a colored layer of material having a surface area that corresponds to the surface area of the mop head,

a flat cleaning pad having a thickness aspect and a surface area aspect that corresponds to the surface area of the colored layer and which surface area is laminated to the surface area of the colored layer, and

hook and loop attachment means for detachably interconnecting the mop head and the colored layer of material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 where the colored layer of material is a sponge.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 where the sponge is thin with respect to the thickness of the cleaning pad.

4. A laminated scrubbing pad comprising,

a layer of synthetic cleaning material having a scrubbing surface and a back side surface,

a colored wear indicator attached to the back side surface of the layer of cleaning material, and

attachment means mounted on the wear indicator.