Patent ID: 6655866
Filing Date: 2003-12-02
Classification: A46B,A47L

Abstract:
A mop having a handle with a lower end, and a cleaning implement, the mop comprising:a. said handle having an exterior circumferential wall and an interior air passage running from a transverse opening at a location in the circumferential wall and extending to the lower end of the handle; b. a grip tube slidably affixed to said handle and having a cylindrical interior wall, an interior top plug having an interior opening surrounding said handle and affixed to said cylindrical interior wall and a fixed piston having an interior opening surrounding said handle and affixed to said handle at a location adjacent said transverse opening in the exterior circumferential wall of said handle so that it can slidably move within said cylindrical interior wall, such that the top plug, cylindrical interior wall and fixed piston form a variable internal chamber surrounding the handle at the location of the transverse opening; c. a fluid reservoir containing cleaning fluid therein attached to a section of the mop handle and having a closing means to retain the cleaning fluid therein; d. a first rod means extending into the closing means and connected at one end to an air supply rod which extends into the fluid reservoir and terminates adjacent the interior top of the reservoir above the level of the cleaning fluid, and the rod's opposite end connected to an air supply line; e. a second rod means extending into the closing means and in fluid communication with the cleaning fluid and connected at its end outside the reservoir to a fluid discharge line; and f. a valve actuation diaphragm divided into an upper chamber and a lower chamber by a flexible valve actuation seam, the lower end of the mop handle and its interior air passage connected to said valve actuation diaphragm such that the air passage in the handle is in fluid communication with the upper chamber, the upper chamber housing a valve actuation force which exerts a downward positive force on the valve actuation seam, the lower chamber housing a first valve shutoff means connected to said air supply line and a second valve shutoff means connected to said fluid discharge line, the positive force from the valve actuation force causing the valve actuation seam to close both shutoff valves, the air supply line extending through the lower chamber and ending at a source of atmospheric air, and the fluid discharge line extending through the lower chamber and terminating in a fluid discharge nozzle; g. whereby, when said grip tube is pulled upwardly on said handle, the volume of space in said chamber in the grip tube is expanded driving air into the chamber from the transverse opening in the handle and generating a suction vacuum force in said handle interior air passage, which suction force is sufficient to overcome the positive force of the valve actuation force to cause the valve actuation seam to be removed from the valve shutoff means to open both lines so that cleaning fluid runs through said fluid discharge line and squirts out of said nozzle in front of said cleaning implement while an equal volume of air fills the fluid reservoir, and a downward push on said grip tube causes the volume of the chamber within the grip tube to decrease and force air back into the handle interior air passage and eliminate the suction force so that the positive force from the valve actuation force acts upon the valve actuation seam to close both shutoff valves.