BUILT-IN WIPER SYSTEM FOR SINGLE AND MULTIPLE PLANAR SURFACES

Abstract

A set of wiper blade assemblies built into a fixed frame and along the edge of a movable planar surface whereby the opening and closing of a movable panel engages both the wipers to wipe two parallel planar surfaces. The fixed wiper mounted to the frame squeegees water and particles away when the movable plane or door is slid opened or closed. Simultaneously, the movable panel with a mounted wiper serves to wipe the other parallel planar surface. Another embodiment has more than two wiper assemblies mounted along the edge of two or more planar surfaces and a fixed wiper across the frame whereby moving any of the movable plane engages all the wipers to wipe water and particles away from the planar surfaces. Another embodiment has one fixed wiper assembly mounted from the top to the bottom of the frame whereby moving a single plane engages the wiper to wipe the surface of the single panel. An alternative embodiment has all the wiper assemblies fixed into the frame and engage the wipers when the movable panels are slid opened or closed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/856,421, filed Jul. 19, 2013.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of wiping implements, and more specifically, to an improved wiper system for wiping sliding planar surfaces such as glass, plastic, and tiled panes without the need for manual squeegeeing.

B. Discussion of the Prior Art

Several wiping improvements have been attempted such as a squeegee with integrated track system for use in shower doors and windows by Farmer et al. Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 8,021,241) The Farmer Patent consists of a squeegee with handle mounted on a set of tracks. To operate, one has to use the squeegee with handle to clean the surface along a hanged set of tracks on a shower door. This maybe useful if the shower enclosure only consists of one glass panel. With common shower doors, at least two squeegee and two sets of tracks would need to be installed to clean two panels of the sliding glass doors. It is also cumbersome to deal with handles and would be quite dangerous to have battery operated automated squeegee in the shower in one of its embodiments.

The Meaden et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,764) discloses a retractable bathtub shower curtain in place of shower doors with built in wipers that squeegees water out of the retractable curtain before it is stored in its casing. This invention is limited to squeegeeing water away from retractable surfaces and does not address non-retractable planar surfaces that are widely common in shower enclosures.

Similar retractable shower barrier enclosures disclosed by Bowen (U.S. Pat. No. 7,328,466) whereby a retractable splashguard and Shearon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,281) whereby a vertically moveable flexible water barrier both works to return water back to the bathtub but does not address glass or plastic doors commonly found in shower enclosures.

The Shepherd Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,755) is a wiper attached to the bottom of a shower door or window, whereby water and other particles are wiped cleaned when the shower door or window is opened or closed. However, this does not address the problem or chore of keeping wet planar surfaces such as shower doors and windows.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a built-in wiper system designed to wipe single and multiple parallel planar surfaces when at least one of the plane is slid open or close. This invention eliminates the frequent need to manually squeegee or wipe liquid from glass, plastic, or tiled panes from sliding shower enclosures, sliding windows, and sliding doors.

The invention is primarily comprised of at least one wiper blade assembly wherein the first wiper blade assembly is mounted on the frame and the subsequent wiper blade assemblies are mounted along the edge of the planes. Each wiper blade assembly is comprised of a wiper blade and a blade housing that holds the full length of the blade.

The wiper blade assemblies are mounted whereby the wiper blades maintain constant pressure against the planar surface and allows for even wiping. Once installed, the first wiper blade assembly mounted on the frame will wipe the surface of the first plane when it is slid opened or closed while the second wiper blade assembly mounted along the edge of the first plane will wipe the surface of the second plane.

An alternative embodiment has all the wiper blade assemblies mounted on the frame wherein sliding the plane will wipe the planar surfaces. Another embodiment consists of one wiper assembly mounted to the frame and will wipe the planar surface when the shower, window, or door is slid opened or closed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying illustrations provide visual understanding for the parts and how each contribute to the current invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a door or window assembly with the wiper blades installed.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective showing the wiper blade assembly installed.

FIG. 3 is a top view cross section taken along line 1-1 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the door or window assembly showing the sliding door or window partially open.

FIG. 5 is a top view cross section taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view where both panels are partially opened and the surface is partially wiped.

FIG. 7 is a top view cross section of the panels and wiper blades wiping the surfaces as both panels are moving taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a closed single-paneled door or shower enclosure.

FIG. 9 is a top view cross section taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1-5 illustrates a sliding door or shower enclosure where there is one fixed panel and one movable panel in both a closed position and half-opened position. In addition, FIGS. 6-7 illustrations an alternative embodiment with two movable sliding door or shower enclosure in a half-opened position to show partial results. FIGS. 8-9 illustrates another alternative embodiment with only one movable panel.

FIG. 1 illustrates the preferred embodiment of a sliding door or shower enclosure frame 15 that holds a movable panel 16 and a fixed panel 18. Furthermore, both panels 16, 18 have interior planar surfaces namely movable planar surface 17 and fixed planar surface 19. The invention comprising of wiper blades 11 and blade housings 12 are mounted along the longitudinal length of the frame 15 and on the interior planar surface 17. The movable panel 16 can be slid opened or closed using a handle 20.

Referring to FIG. 2, a closer perspective view illustrates the installed wiper assemblies 13, 14 wherein it maintain constant pressure against the planar surfaces 17, 19 and allows for even wiping. A top view cross section as shown in FIG. 3 illustrates a fixed wiper assembly 13 mounted to the frame 15, where it functions to wipe the planar surface 17 of the movable panel 16 and a movable wiper assembly 14 mounted along the edge of the movable panel 16, where it functions to wipe the planar surface 19 of the fixed panel 18.

The invention eliminates manual squeegeeing of planar surfaces 17, 19 by engaging the wiper assemblies 13 simply by opening or closing a movable panel 16 as illustrated in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. Both illustrations depict the movable panel 16 being half opened and show partially dry planar surface 17. As shown in FIG. 5, the fixed wiper assembly 13 on the frame wipes water and particles away from the movable planar surface 17 when the panel 16 is slid opened; while the movable wiper assembly 14 mounted on the movable panel 16, wipes water and particles away from the planar surface 19 of the fixed panel 18.

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative embodiment where there are two movable panels 16 and both panels 16 are partially opened. Referring to FIG. 7, although the panels are both movable, one of the wiper assemblies 13 is still fixed to the frame while one of the wiper assemblies 14 is mounted to one of the movable panel 16. In this embodiment, sliding the movable panel 16 closest to the frame 15 wipes both planar surfaces 17, 19; while sliding only the outer movable panel 16 will only wipe one planar surface 19.

In another embodiment, see FIG. 8, where there is only a single movable panel 16 on a door or shower enclosure, a fixed wiper assembly 13 is mounted to the frame 15. The fixed wiper assembly 13 can also be mounted on the wall 21 where the interior surface of the movable panel 16 is wiped when the panel is slid opened or closed.

Claims

1. A mounted wiper system comprising:

(a) at least one wiper blade; wherein the wiper blade allows for bi-directional wiping movements; wherein the wiper blade touches the longitudinal length of the planar surface; wherein the wiper blade is held in place by the blade housing;

(b) at least one blade housing; wherein at least one blade housing is fixed from the top to the bottom of the framed shower enclosure or door which allows for wiping the moving surface (e.g. Surface A); wherein a blade housing is mounted along the edge of a movable panel (e.g. Panel A) which allows for wiping the opposite surface (e.g. Surface B) when the prior panel (e.g. Panel A) is slid opened or closed;

2. A mounted wiper system comprising:

(a) at least one wiper blade; wherein the wiper blade allows for bi-directional wiping movements; wherein the wiper blade touches the longitudinal length of the planar surface; wherein the wiper blade is held in place by the blade housing;

(b) at least one blade housing; wherein one or more blade housing is fixed from the top to the bottom of the framed shower enclosure or door which allows for wiping one or more surface when at least one panel is slid opened or closed;

3. The mounted wiper system of claim 1, further comprising of two or more blade housing mounted along the edge of subsequent movable panels (e.g. Panel A, Panel B, Panel C) which allows for wiping the subsequent opposite surfaces (Surface B, Surface C, Surface D) when the prior panels (e.g. Panel A, Panel B, Panel C) are slide opened or closed.

4. The mounted wiper system of claim 1 and claim 2, wipes parallel interior planar surfaces or parallel exterior planar surfaces.

5. The mounted wiper system of claim 1 and claim 2, wherein the wiper blades are made of flexible plastic.

6. The mounted wiper system of claim 1 and claim 2, wherein the wiper blades are replaceable.

7. The mounted wiper system of claim 1 and claim 2, wherein the blade housings are made of stiff metal, glass or plastic.

8. In sliding window embodiment, the wiper blade system in claim 1 and claim 2 is mounted left to right of the window frame.