Pickup cleaning device with static electric bar/roller
The invention is directed to a device used for cleaning up hair, fibers and other debris from surfaces, furnishings and carpets. More specifically, the invention relates to picking up such items using a mechanized apparatus with a static electric charged bar or roller and rotating gears that transfer torque to rotate a collecting roller. The collecting roller picks up and stores the hair, fibers and other debris that have been lifted by the static electric charged bar or roller and deposits them in a collection section of the device for disposal.
This application is a non-provisional patent application claiming priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/856,204 filed on Nov. 1, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe invention is directed to an apparatus used for cleaning up hair, fibers, and other debris from surfaces, furnishings and carpets.
BACKGROUNDPrior art cleaning apparatuses use a variety of methods to remove hair, fibers, and other debris from a surface to be cleaned, such as moving brushes, suction, and adhesives. Electric vacuum cleaners often use suction and moving brushes to clean surfaces. Vacuum cleaners are usually heavy and need to be plugged into an electrical outlet to function properly. In addition, vacuum cleaners typically require a supply of bags that must be replaced from time to time to be effective, and long hairs and fibers can become entangled in the mechanical parts of vacuum cleaners. Other prior art includes lighter weight floor cleaning devices that are quieter than electric vacuums. These, however, are designed to work on solid hard floors, not carpeted or fabric surfaces. Lint removers are typically designed in a small format, such as a hand-held brush or roller, and can quickly become saturated with hair and debris, losing their effectiveness. Due to their small size, lint removers do not have the attracting and collecting capabilities necessary for cleaning large surfaces or floors.
SUMMARYIn general, in an aspect, the invention provides a pickup apparatus comprising a housing, a handle mounted to the housing, two wheels connected to the housing, and a collection container. A static roller is connected to the housing and disposed at a parallel, vertically offset position relative to a collection roller that is connected to the housing. A stripper bar periodically engages with the collection roller and is adjacent to the collection container. A pivot arm engages with the collection container. The housing has rotatable drive wheels mounted on it for enabling the housing to roll along a surface. Also, the rotation of the wheels causes the collection roller to rotate.
Capabilities and advantages of the invention may include one or more of the following. The static electric charged bar or roller on the leading edge of a device may attract hair, fibers, and other debris, lifting them from the surface to be cleaned toward the charged bar or roller. This lifting may promote easier ensnaring and collecting of the hair, fibers, or debris by a collection roller. The static bar may be disposed below and at a parallel and vertically offset position relative to the collection bar. Unidirectional bristles along a surface of the collection roller may comb forward at a rate faster than the forward motion of the device and help to ensnare and gather the static standing hairs/fibers onto points of the bristles. The bristles extend at an angle from the roller's surface to maximize their engagement with the collected hairs/fibers. Therefore, short hairs/fibers may become collected entirely within the protruding bristles of the collection roller, and longer hairs may become partially intertwined. Hairs, fibers, and other debris may be collected continually when the device is in forward motion.
When the drive wheels are rotated in reverse, the collection roller rotates in reverse and a friction clutch engages a stripper bar. The stripper bar may easily remove hairs/fibers by combing the hair/fibers against the orientation of the unidirectional bristles on the collection roller. Hair/fibers may then be collected in a bundle along an edge of the stripper bar. When forward motion again commences, the bundle of hair/fibers may be entangled by adhesive covered flanges of the collection box and may stay attached while more hair/fibers are collected. The hair/fibers and/or the box containing the hair/fibers can ultimately be disposed of.
Referring to
The static bar 12 is disposed and attached to the device 8 at a parallel and vertically offset position relative to the collection bar 14. In addition, the static bar 12 is preferably offset below the collection roller 14. The position of the static bar 12 relative to the collection roller 12 helps to ensure the collection roller 14 will contact and ensnare at least some of the hair, fibers, and/or other debris disposed along the static bar 12. A plurality of unidirectional bristles 50, as shown on
The static bar 12 is electrically insulated from the remainder of the device 8 and is composed of a dielectric material. Therefore, the contact between the bristles 50 on the collection roller 14 and the static bar 12 may produce a static electric charge along the static bar 12. Also, contact between the static bar 12 and surface over which the device 8 is moving, for example, a carpet, may produce a static electric charge along the static bar 12. Once charged, the static bar 12 may attract hair, fibers, and other debris from a surface beneath the bar 12 that causes hair, fibers, and other debris to lift from the surface to thereby help to make contact with the collection roller 14. The bristles 50 on the collection roller 14 face in a forward direction and engage and hold onto the hair, fibers, and other debris that the collection roller 14 encounters.
When the device 8 is rolled in reverse, the drive wheels 10 and collection roller 14 rotate in the direction opposite to that shown by arrow 22 in
Referring to
A plurality of unidirectional bristles 94, similar to those on the collection roller 14, are disposed along at least a portion of the front edge of the pivot arm 42. Each bristle 94 is configured to protrude up from the front edge of the pivot arm 42, as shown in
The static bar 12 is disposed on the front of the devise 8. Made of dielectric material, the static bar 12 is electrically insulated from the frame 48 and lightly touches the bristles 50 of the collection roller 14. This contact with collection roller 14 may cause static electrical charge to build up on the static bar 12, which could cause the hair, fibers, and other debris to lift from a surface and be more likely to be captured by the bristles 50 of the collection roller 14.
Referring to
Referring to
When the device 8 encounters hair, fibers, and other debris on the surface, the static electric charge on the static bar 12 may attract the hair, fibers, and other debris and lift the hair up toward it, as shown in
Referring to
In one configuration, a friction clutch to provide such motion consists of an internally threaded cylinder 80 affixed to the hollow bearing tube 60. The bearing tube 60 is drilled through on the axis of the threaded bore so that a friction disk 72 bears against the drive shaft 64, creating a frictional connection to the drive shaft 64. The friction disk 72 is loaded by a coil spring 74, which is also placed into the threaded bore following friction disk 72. The coil spring 74 is held by a set screw 76 or other threaded fastener which, when threaded into the bore, compresses the coil spring 74 and increases the load on the friction disc 72. In such manner can the amount of friction be adjusted.
Having described at least one illustrative embodiment of the invention, various alterations, modifications and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications and improvements are intended to be within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended as limiting. The invention's limit is defined only in the following claims and the equivalents thereto.
Claims
1. An apparatus for picking up hair, fibers and other debris on a surface comprising:
- a housing;
- a handle connected to said housing;
- two opposing wheels mounted to said housing;
- a collection roller connected to said housing and disposed between said two opposing wheels;
- a static roller connected to said housing and disposed below and at a parallel, vertically offset position relative to said collection roller;
- a stripper bar adapted to periodically engage with said collection roller to remove hair, fibers and other debris along said collection roller;
- wherein said static bar obtains a static electric charge during back and forth motion of said device along said surface.
2. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein a static bar is connected to said housing and disposed at a parallel, vertically offset position relative to a collection roller
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 1, 2007
Publication Date: Jul 24, 2008
Inventors: Sung K. Park (Waban, MA), Douglas C. Dayton (Harvard, MA)
Application Number: 11/982,529