Abstract: A vehicle wash component includes a rotatable hub portion having an outer surface and an axis of rotation. The rotatable hub portion is in driving communication with at least one core portion to effectuate rotation thereof. At least one media element is fixedly secured to the at least one core portion for rotation therewith. The media element includes a plurality of upstanding finger portions, which are configured to contact an exterior surface of a vehicle. The core portion includes at least one light retaining aperture formed therein. At least one illumination element is disposed between the plurality of upstanding finger portions and in the at least one light retaining aperture so that it rotates as the at least one core portion rotates and can be seen by a vehicle occupant.

Abstract: A grinding lamella 1 for being arranged on a grinding wheel 19 which is rotatingly drivable around an axis of rotation, comprising an outer edge 2 which is at least partially convex, an inner edge 3 which is at least partially concave, a front edge 4 which connects together the outer edge 2 and the inner edge 3 on the front side of the grinding lamella 1, and a rear edge 5 which connects together the outer edge 2 and the inner edge 3 on a rear side of the grinding lamella 1, wherein the front edge 4 is longer than the rear edge 5 and wherein the outer edge 2 is longer than the inner edge 3.

Abstract: A tire dressing applicator comprises a support and one or more foam plastic elements mounted on the support so as to contact a tire sidewall and transfer dressing onto the tire sidewall. A distribution system drips or drizzles dressing onto the element(s) after which it is spread over and into the element(s) surface. The elements can be toroidal or rectangular and have anti-distortion pins embedded therein.

Abstract: A tire dressing applicator station for use in car wash installations wherein the applicators are tolerant of large degrees of vehicle misalignment, misorientation and entry contact shock. In each applicator structure, an additional pivot or “knuckle” is placed in one of two support arms which are pivotally connected between floor anchors and an elongate mounting carriage to which the dressing applicator elements are attached. Flared tire guides are located on the entry ends of the applicator structures to make contact with the tires of approaching vehicles whereby one or both of the two applicator structures is/are reoriented as necessary to accommodate the actual location of the vehicle, whether it be on the intended path of travel or off to one side and/or angularly misoriented relative to die intended path of vehicle travel.

Abstract: An apparatus for treating a dovetail in a dynamoelectric machine is provided. The apparatus includes a housing, at least two pads for treating, cleaning or polishing a dovetail surface, at least a pair of guide wheels for aligning the apparatus within the dovetail, and at least one motor connected to the pads. The motor is operatively configured to rotate the pads. The dovetail surface is treated, cleaned or polished by sliding the apparatus along the dovetail and activating the motor to rotate the pads.

Abstract: A car wash brush is constructed by sliding multi-layered, wheel-shaped foam plastic cartridges onto a hub with three keyways formed in the outer surfaces thereof. The cartridges use spacers interspersed with foam layers and adhesively bonded to the foam layers. The spacers have keys which fit into die hub keyways to prevent relative rotation while allowing, longitudinal sliding motion. Multiple cartridges are used to produce a brush of desired length. Old style hubs can be salvaged for use in this construction.

Abstract: A cloth-type vehicle laundering implement includes a support mechanism consisting of a rotatable drive shaft and a plurality of generally parallel, adjacently arranged spacers mounted on the support mechanism. Each of the plurality of spacers includes a first face and a second face. The implement includes a plurality of individual circular fabric disk elements disposed between the first face of one of the plurality of spacers and the second face of another of the plurality of spacers. Each of the plurality of individual circular fabric disk elements extends outwardly beyond the spacers. Each of the individual circular fabric disk elements consists of a single piece of non-woven material having an inner diameter and an outer diameter. The inner diameter is retained in a single plane by a securing mechanism such that more material is located adjacent the inner diameter than the outer diameter to provide a more rigid element.

Abstract: A cleaning tool generally comprises a hub having a longitudinal axis and a plurality of cleaning members. The cleaning members, formed of a fibrous material, are connected to the hub. In accordance with one embodiment, the cleaning members are distributed along the longitudinal axis. Also disclosed is a floor cleaning machine that includes a mobile body, the cleaning tool and a motor. The mobile body supports the cleaning tool and the motor and is configured to travel over a surface. The motor is configured to drive a rotation of the cleaning hub about the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a washing brush for automatic motor vehicle washing systems, comprising a cylindric body on the side outer surface thereof are provided a plurality of bands defining the cleaning elements of the brush. The main feature of the invention is that the band or strip elements extend on the side surface of the cylindric body along direction which are inclined with respect to the axial direction.

Abstract: A buffing ball is formed by compressing a stack of generally circular buffing pads along a central axis. The individual pads have a generally wave-like outer peripheral surface having valleys and mounds. When compressed together, the mounds form small knobs that are ideal for buffing or cleaning intricate surfaces.

Abstract: A cloth-type vehicle laundering implement includes a support mechanism consisting of a rotatable drive shaft and a plurality of generally parallel, adjacently arranged spacers mounted on the support mechanism. Each of the plurality of spacers includes a first face and a second face. The implement includes a plurality of individual circular fabric disk elements disposed between the first face of one of the plurality of spacers and the second face of another of the plurality of spacers. Each of the plurality of individual circular fabric disk elements extends outwardly beyond the spacers. Each of the individual circular fabric disk elements consists of a single piece of non-woven material having an inner diameter and an outer diameter. The inner diameter is retained in a single plane by a securing mechanism such that more material is located adjacent the inner diameter than the outer diameter to provide a more rigid element.

Abstract: A car wash brush is constructed using elements of pleated synthetic material. In one form, radially-pleated fabric discs are stacked on a shaft. In another form, a single length of material is laterally pleated and punched to form a continuous pattern of holes along one edge, and assembled onto a spring or flexible cable which can be wrapped around a rotatable drive shaft.

Abstract: A cleaning device has a cleaning element having an axis, an axial inner region and an axial outer region and being formed so that at least the axially outer region is bendable to follow a shape of a surface to be cleaned when pressed against the surface, a holding element which is substantially more rigid than the cleaning element so as to hold the cleaning element, and a connecting element which releasably connects the cleaning element to the holding element so that after use of the cleaning element the cleaning element can be disconnected from the holding element and removed, to install in the cleaning device a new cleaning element or to clean a used cleaning element and to install it in the cleaning device again.

Abstract: A brush for a car wash has radial arrays of fingers cut from flat sheets of closed cell foam. The finger arrays are stacked atop each other with interposed spacer discs, bonded together to form sections of the brush. A top brush has a center section core formed by the spacer discs of a larger diameter than two smaller core diameter ends to provide a larger diameter center section core caused to roll when encountering a vehicle surface to pass over the some without damage, and smaller core diameter end sections able to accommodate antennas with less bending. The fingers of the scrubbing section of the brush are short, no longer than and are held sufficiently stiffly to support the brush on the side rails of pickup cargo beds at a high enough height as to avoid finger contact with the cargo bed bottom surfaces.

Abstract: An abrasive pad removably attachable to a driven rotatable shaft and including a plurality of angularly offset abrasive members. Each abrasive member includes an outwardly facing surface having an abrasive disposed thereon. A first abrasive member is partially received within a loop formed by a second abrasive member. Likewise the second abrasive member is partially received within a loop formed by a third abrasive member. Finally, the third abrasive member is partially received within a loop formed by a fourth abrasive member. Each abrasive member is angularly offset from a radially adjacent abrasive member by approximately 45° with each abrasive member lying substantially in a single plane. Also disclosed is a method for forming such an abrasive pad.

Abstract: A brush alignment apparatus and method of using the same for aligning a hollow cylindrical brush on a cylindrical roller member comprising first and second ends and an outer surface defining a internal cavity, provided with a plurality of orifices extending from the outer surface to the internal cavity, a first receptacle having a channel running therethrough in fluid communication with the first end of the roller member, a second receptacle, a spine member, a first support arm supporting the first end of the roller member and a second arm supporting the second end of the roller member.

Abstract: An assembly of buff or brush wheels with or without spacers is stacked, compressed, and held together as an integrated unit to form an assembly of such wheels having a specified face width which then may be mounted as a unit on a machine arbor or drive shaft. The assembly is held together in such a manner that the ganged stack is yieldable and may be further compressed when assembled on the machine arbor. The assembly may also be slightly expanded to obtain a better fit on the machine. The wheel assembly in one form is held at the desired face width by adjustable ties extending through paired holes in core plates in the wheels. In another embodiment carriage bolts extending through the core plates form adjustable screw clamps.

Abstract: A vehicle washing apparatus for mounting on a rotatable shaft which includes a substantially cylindrical surface having an inner face and an outer face, said substantially cylindrical surface having a plurality of spaced apart slots disposed therethrough; and a plurality of flexible elongated pads, each of said pads for insertion through adjacent said spaced apart slots for radially extending from the outer face of the cylindrical surface, a portion of each of the pads being exposed adjacent to the inner face of the cylindrical surface.

Abstract: A cleaning brush for a power-driven robotic pool cleaner is formed from a plurality of cylindrical sections of water-expandable compressed cellulose sponge material that are preferably die-cut from a sheet or web, each section having a central opening corresponding in both size and shape to the cross section of the rotatable shaft on which the cylindrical sections are mounted in spaced relation. When wet with water, the compressed cellulose sponge material expands many times its original compressed thickness to provide a cleaning brush having continuous coverage over the entire length of the shaft.