Abstract: A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising a conveyor hub rotatably mounted substantially concentrically within a rotating bowl, the conveyor hub including at least one passageway connecting an inside surface of the conveyor hub to an outside surface of the conveyor hub for a feed slurry exiting the conveyor hub. The passageway may be associated with a variety of feed slurry accelerator enhancements such as a baffle extending into a slurry pool formed on the inside of the conveyor hub, a divider, a U-shaped channel, an extension tube, and/or a flow directing and overspeeding member. These accelerator enhancements may be combined within the passageway or incorporated into a feed slurry accelerating nozzle apparatus remoyably secured to the passageway. The passageway and/or the nozzle apparatus may include a cross-sectional area having a longer axis approximately parallel to the conveyor hub axis of rotation.

Abstract: A device for removing cobwebs comprising a handle (6) housing electrical storage cells (16), and a motor (14); said motor (14) being drivably connected to a length of rod (8) which when made to come in contact with cobwebs while being spun by the energized motor (14) causes cobwebs (30) to stick to and get tightly wound around said rod resulting in the effective removal and disposal of the cobwebs.

Abstract: A floor-cleaning mop head includes an oblong textile base fabric with, attached to the top at both ends, slide-in pockets for the head-holder and, attached underneath, material designed to collect moisture and dirt in the form of hair tufts, fringes, loops, foam-rubber strips, and so forth. The oblong base fabric consists, at least in the zone of the slide-in pockets, of a material which is more highly heat-shrinking than the textile material of which the pockets are made, in order to ensure that the pockets on top of mop remain open even after repeated washing of the mop head, without effecting other useful characteristics of the mop.

Abstract: A toothbrush (10) has a head portion (14) with a plurality of individual bristles (16) wherein each bristle consists of a smooth stabilizing post (22) which is rigidly attached to the head portion, a smooth tip (18) at a free end of the bristle, and a roughened intermediate portion (20) or portions between the stabilizing post (22) and the smooth tip portion (18). The roughened portions are made in the form of grooves (26) produced by squeezing the bristles between several pairs of die plates such as (40a), (40b) and (42a), (42b), etc. In a squeezed state of the bristles one die plate of the pair is moved in a longitudinal direction. At the same time, the toothbrush is turned back and forth with respect to now-stationary die plates which are maintained in a bristle-squeezing state. As a result, grooves or knurlings which extend in a circumferential direction of the bristles are formed on the side surfaces of the bristles.

Abstract: A cleaning mop includes a hollow device handle carrying a mop head at its lower end. A cylindrical press sleeve is mounted on the outside of the device handle for longitudinal movement relative thereto. A press head stick is slidably mounted inside the device handle for longitudinal movement relative thereto. A press head is affixed to a lower end of the press head handle. The press head handle can be positioned such that the press head is spaced from a lower edge of the press sleeve to form a press gap therewith. By then raising the device handle, the mop can be pulled through the press gap to squeeze water therefrom.

Abstract: A vacuum cleaner having a floor traveling head with wheels and an elongate handle pivotably connected to the head. The head has two motors; one connected to an impeller and one connected to a rotatable brush. The head has rechargeable batteries therein for supplying electricity to the motors and a three position electrical switch. All working components of the vacuum cleaner, including an air filter and dust/dirt collection cup, are in the floor traveling head. The handle has no working components thereon.

Abstract: A floor cleaning machine having an additional nozzle which is slidably insertable with respect to the machine's dirty liquid suction duct to thereby by-pass the dirty liquid suction duct to provide suction to a suction conduit associated with the additional nozzle and to simultaneously provide a source of cleansing liquid through a valve to the additional nozzle.

Abstract: A brush-type sweeper unit includes a prism-like body that has a base with an open front part, an open front face, and an upper face provided by a removable cap from which a handle for moving the sweeper unit extends. The body also includes parallel sidewalls between which first, second and third shafts extend, with the second shaft being between the first and third shafts. Front and rear cylindrical brushes are mounted on the respective first and second shafts, and a set of front wheels are also mounted on the first shaft at opposite ends thereof. Mounted on the third shaft are a set of rear wheels that are in edge-to-edge frictional engagement with a set of driven wheels on the second shaft. In this way the rear brush is driven by rotation of the rear wheels transmitted through the driven wheels, with rotation of the rear brush being in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the front brush.

Abstract: A golf grip cleaning device mounted on a support which is in turn mounted on a base. The base can be stationed at the tee box of the golf course or can be mounted on a golf car itself. For convenience and economics, the entire assembly can be made out of readily available PVC plumbing parts. The washer section includes a tube having a plug at the bottom end and a cap at the top end. The cap has an open mouth so that the golf club can be inserted into the tube. The tube is aligned vertically and has a series of brush rings stacked in the tube and spaced from each other by spacers inserted between each brush ring. The brush rings include bristles projecting radially inwardly toward the axial center of the tube with the brush tips terminating generally in a circular pattern. The diameter of the circular pattern of the brush tips is generally consistent throughout the length of the tube and at a diameter equal to or slightly larger than the maximum outside diameter of the grip of a standard golf club.

Abstract: A vacuum cleaner with a removable collection module. The module has a combined collection assembly and filter element. The collection assembly has a one-piece frame and a cover attached to an open rear end of the frame. The filter element is permanently attached to the cover on an interior side. The cover has ribs that space the filter element from a rear side of the cover and form an air flow space between the filter element and the cover. The cover is mounted on a flange of the frame with a frictional airtight connection.

Abstract: A blower vacuum device of the kind having a motor (2) which is located in a housing (4) and which drives an impeller (12) located in a the volute (16). The volute (16) has an air inlet (18) and an air outlet (20). When the device is used as a blower a blower attachment (28), formed in a single piece from a blower duct (28) and a grill (22), is releasably attached to the volute so that the grill (22) is attached over the air inlet of the volute and the blower duct (28) is attached over the air outlet. When the device is used as a vacuum, a vacuum attachment (36) which is formed in one piece from a suction duct (30) and a collecting bag duct (34) is releasably attached to the volute so that the suction duct (30) is attached over the air inlet and the collecting bag duct (34) is attached over the air outlet. This means that it is easy to change the device between a blowing mode and a vacuum mode by detaching a single piece blowing attachment from the device and replacing it with a single piece vacuum attachment.

Abstract: A stick cleaner is provided with a dirt cup that can be inserted partially into the housing of the stick cleaner and swung to a fully mounted position by an automatic camming action. The dirt cup includes a latching mechanism which also cammingly engages a latch hook on the suction tube of the stick cleaner to maintain the dirt cup in an assembled position.

Abstract: A washer for a fruit processing machine includes a rotary nozzle paddlewheel gear mounted in a nozzle housing. The rotary nozzle paddlewheel gear meshes with combination gears which in turn mesh with a wash nozzle. Fluid pumped into the housing drives the gears and blows out through the rotary wash nozzle creating a spray pattern. As the rotary wash nozzle completes a revolution, a hemispherical or larger region is sprayed by the fluid, cleaning the equipment to be washed.

Abstract: Drain Cleaning Apparatus for rotating a drain cleaning snake comprises a frame and housing assembly supporting an axially displaceable clutch actuating shaft which supports a first clutch actuator for rotation relative thereto and axial displacement therewith. A second clutch actuator is coaxial with the first actuator and supported in the housing for rotation relative thereto. A radially expandable and contractible clutch is captured between the two clutch actuators for engaging and disengaging a drain cleaning snake extending therethrough. A motor drives the first clutch actuator through a transmission pulley and belt arrangement in which the belt is axially slidable relative to a pulley in response to axial displacement of the first clutch actuator relative to the second clutch actuator. The clutch and second clutch actuator are in a shroud at one end of the housing, and the axial position of the second actuator relative to the first actuator is adjustable.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for mixing solid and liquid components of a slurry which have settled in a storage tank, suspending the solids in a substantially homogeneous slurry mixture are practiced by directed flow apparatus. A plurality of jet nozzles or propeller mixers is located in the storage tank within an annular band ranging between 25 percent and 75 percent of the radial length from a center of the tank to a tank wall. They are directed either in a tangent direction or at an angle away from the center of the tank to provide a substantially volume-filling mixing flow to suspend the solid slurry component in the liquid slurry component.

Abstract: A device for cleaning floors or other hard surfaces is disclosed. The device includes a roller, a shear member, and a pump. The cylindrical surface of the roller contacts a hard surface as it is being cleaned. The roller has an absorbent outer surface adapted to scrub the hard surface and remove a waste fluid from the hard surface. The shear member may take various forms, such as a fixed blade or a squeeze roller. The shear member selectively contacts the absorbent outer surface of the roller and channels away a fluid previously absorbed in the absorbent outer surface of the roller. The pump conveys away a fluid removed from the roller by the shear member. The device may be used much like a mop for cleaning floors, and is particularly suited for residential use by consumers.

Abstract: A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising a conveyor hub rotatably mounted substantially concentrically within a rotating bowl, the conveyor hub including at least one passageway connecting an inside surface of the conveyor hub to an outside surface of the conveyor hub for a feed slurry exiting the conveyor hub. The passageway may be associated with a variety of feed slurry accelerator enhancements such as a baffle extending into a slurry pool formed on the inside of the conveyor hub, a divider, a U-shaped channel, an extension tube, and/or a flow directing and overspeeding member. These accelerator enhancements may be combined within the passageway or incorporated into a feed slurry accelerating nozzle apparatus removably secured to the passageway. The passageway and/or the nozzle apparatus may include a cross-sectional area having a longer axis approximately parallel to the conveyor hub axis of rotation.

Abstract: A suction device for removing liquids from a surface such as a floor. The device includes an air chamber formed from a top and a bottom plate, each of the plates having a respective top and bottom surface. The air chamber is in fluid communication with a fitting adjacent thereto. The bottom plate includes a plurality of holes therethrough. The bottom surface of the bottom plate additionally includes fabric adjacent thereto and feet to hold the bottom plate of the device up off the floor to enable fluid to be suctioned through the bottom plate holes and into the chamber via a conventional source of suction.

Abstract: A device for cleaning gravel and breaking up clusters of gravel in a fish pond comprises an integral body having a lower housing into which gravel is received and an upper housing which has an outlet for connection to a pump for drawing water and gravel into the integral body. The upper housing has a greater cross-sectional area than the lower housing so that the lower housing limits the size of gravel clusters entering the integral body from the pond bottom. A manifold encircles the lower housing of the integral body and has aligned perforations therein with the lower housing so that water introduced into the manifold radially and inwardly projects into the lower housing for breaking up the gravel clusters.

Abstract: A toothbrush is described whose head has a different design in comparison to a conventional flat-trimmed toothbrush in that the heights of the bristles are arranged to create a concave cylindrical brushing surface at the free ends of bristles which has a curvature approximating that of a user's frontal dental arch. Moreover, the heights of the interior bristles at the inner rows are further shortened to follow a more concave cylindrical shape or to form a plane surface. The toothbrush of this design is an improvement to the conventional flat-trimmed toothbrush in terms of dental cleaning and gums stimulation but does not have the drawbacks of the designs found in the prior art.