Power mop

A power mop is provided having a tank for holding a liquid positioned for gravity-induced flow of the liquid from a gravity feed conduit into a hand grip. Inside of the hand grip is a liquid inlet, a valve for controlling the flow of the liquid, a pump for providing flow pressure to the liquid, and a battery for powering the pump. Additionally, a switch is accessible external to the hand grip for powering the pump and switching the valve between open and closed liquid flow positions. A handle tube is connected to the hand grip. The handle tube contains a pressure feed conduit for receiving pressurized flow of the liquid from the hand grip. A nozzle is mounted on the handle tube to disperse the liquid onto the surface to be mopped. A mop head is attached to the end of the handle tube remote from the hand grip.

TECHNICAL FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a power mop used for applying a liquid to a surface for removing dirt, grime or other undesirable substances from a floor, or for waxing the surface of a floor. Specifically, this application discloses a power mop where the pump, switch, and battery are located in the hand grip of the mop.

Conventional mops require a bucket of liquid into which the mop head is dipped periodically. This method for cleaning or waxing a floor results in an uneven application of liquid, a problematic result, especially when waxing surfaces. Additionally, continuously repositioning and returning to the bucket for more liquid also increases inefficiency to the task. These conventional mops also have straight handles of wood, plastic or some other material that are not conducive to the ergonomics of a human hand.

More recently, mops with a tank located along the lower end of the mop handle have become popular and are widely available at most retail establishments that sell cleaning merchandise. The pumps for these household consumer products are either battery powered or manually operated for spraying the liquid onto the floor. While these mops are good for household use, they do not have the capability to store the large amount of liquid required for use in larger spaces such as in commercial applications. These more recent mops also do not allow for adjusting the spray of the liquid onto the surface for different applications like waxing, routine cleaning, or heavy-duty cleaning.

Other recent commercial applications include a separate sprayer and tank. These separate sprayer and tank devices add to the complexity of mopping by having to maintain control of multiple devices and having to control the liquid spray in conjunction with performing the task of mopping.

Another type of commercial mop has an attached tank with an offset control for the pump. An example of such mop is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,683. This offset control configuration is awkward to use and requires removing a hand from the mop interrupting the mopping process and adding inefficiency to the task. Additionally, the disclosed mop does not have an ergonomic handle and has no way to adjust the spray of liquid onto the surface for different types of applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a power mop that has the pump, control switch, and battery housed in the hand grip to provide a compact, ergonomic and inexpensive product.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a power mop with an ergonomic hand grip.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a gravity-fed flow of liquid from the tank to the hand grip.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved in the preferred embodiments set forth below by providing a power mop with a tank for holding a liquid positioned for gravity-induced flow of the liquid from a gravity feed conduit into a hand grip. Inside of the hand grip is a liquid inlet, a valve for controlling the flow of the liquid, a pump for providing flow pressure to the liquid, and a battery for powering the pump. Additionally, a switch is accessible external to the hand grip for powering the pump and switching the valve between open and closed liquid flow positions. A handle tube is connected to the hand grip. The handle tube contains a pressure feed conduit for receiving pressurized flow of the liquid from the hand grip. A nozzle is mounted on the handle tube to disperse the liquid onto the surface to be mopped. A mop head is attached to the end of the handle tube remote from the hand grip.

According to another embodiment, the hand grip has a left handle cover and a right handle cover that connect to define a chamber that contains the valve, the pump, the switch, and the battery.

According to another embodiment, the hand grip is angled in relation to the handle tube to be ergonomically correct.

According to another embodiment, the switch is configured as a finger trigger adapted to the ergonomics of a human hand for engagement by an index finger.

According to another embodiment, the finger trigger has a safety button protruding from the hand grip perpendicular to the finger trigger. The finger trigger maintains an unusable, locked state when the safety button is unengaged and a usable, unlocked state when the safety button is engaged by a thumb.

According to another embodiment, the battery is encased in a waterproof enclosure.

According to another embodiment, the nozzle is located on a nozzle component section located between the handle tube and the mop head.

According to another embodiment, the nozzle is adjustable to allow the nozzle to spray the liquid at varying patterns onto the surface.

According to another embodiment, the nozzle is interchangeable and housed in a nozzle receiver. The nozzle receiver is mounted on the handle tube and communicates with the pressure feed conduit to receive pressurized flow of the liquid.

According to another embodiment, the handle tube includes a quick change nozzle holder that stores a plurality of interchangeable nozzles.

According to another embodiment, the handle tube has a plurality of handle tube sections that connect to form the handle tube for a reduced footprint during shipping, storage, or manufacture.

According to another embodiment, the power mop includes a tank for holding a liquid positioned for gravity-induced flow of the liquid from a gravity feed conduit into a hand grip. The hand grip is formed by a left handle cover connected a right handle cover to define a chamber. Inside the hand grip is a liquid inlet, a valve for controlling the flow of the liquid, a pump for providing flow pressure to the liquid, and a battery for powering the pump. Additionally, a switch is accessible external to the hand grip for powering the pump and switching the valve between open and closed liquid flow positions. The switch is configured as a finger trigger adapted to the ergonomics of a human hand to be engaged by an index finger. A handle tube is connected at an angle relative to the hand grip to be ergonomically correct. The handle tube contains a pressure feed conduit for receiving pressurized flow of the liquid from the hand grip. A nozzle is mounted on the handle tube to disperse the liquid onto the surface to be mopped. A mop head is attached to the end of the handle tube remote from the hand grip.

According to another embodiment, the power mop includes a tank for holding a liquid positioned for gravity-induced flow of the liquid from a gravity feed conduit into a hand grip. Inside of the hand grip is a liquid inlet, a valve for controlling the flow of the liquid, a pump for providing flow pressure to the liquid, and a battery for powering the pump. Additionally, a switch is accessible external to the hand grip for powering the pump and switching the valve between open and closed liquid flow positions. A handle tube is connected to the hand grip. The handle tube contains a pressure feed conduit for receiving pressurized flow of the liquid from the hand grip. A nozzle receiver is mounted on the handle tube and houses an interchangeable quick-change nozzle to receive pressurized flow of the liquid from the pressure feed conduit and disperse the liquid onto the surface to be mopped. A quick change nozzle holder is positioned on the handle tube for storing a plurality of interchangeable nozzles. A mop head is attached on an end of the handle tube remote from the hand grip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings,FIG. 1shows a power mop10being used in the preferred embodiment. A tank20is at an elevated position with respect to a hand grip30and configured as a backpack. This elevated position enables the liquid to be gravity-fed into the hand grip30via a gravity feed conduit22. The liquid then flows through a chamber60inside of the hand grip30, through a handle tube70, and is finally sprayed by a nozzle80onto the surface to be mopped. The hand grip30is designed such that it can be held in an ergonomically correct position while mopping and the handle tube70is angled in relation to the hand grip30to allow an ergonomical mopping motion. A mop head100is attached to the opposite end of the handle tube70as the hand grip30so that the surface can be mopped. This tank20configuration allows for cleaning or waxing of larger spaces due to a larger volume capacity that does not interfere with the ability to easily manipulate the mop10as needed.

Referring now toFIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the hand grip30is formed by a left handle cover46and a right handle cover48connected together to form the chamber60. The two covers46,48are connected by screws at several screw hole locations (for example50) to permit assembly and disassembly of the hand grip30. The chamber60in the hand grip30contains a battery40, a finger trigger switch38, a motor36and a pump34.

Liquid passes into the chamber60of the hand grip30from the gravity feed conduit22at a liquid inlet32and flows through a liquid inlet conduit56into the pump34. The trigger38controls the power to the pump34and extends out of the hand grip30so that an index finger can engage the trigger38. The trigger38has a safety button62perpendicular to the trigger38that protrudes out of the hand grip30though an opening for the safety button63. When the safety62is unengaged the trigger is in an unusable, locked state. In order to engage the trigger38the safety62must be held down by the thumb of the hand holding the hand grip62. This feature prevents unintentional spraying of liquid during mopping. Optionally, the trigger38may have a different type of safety feature such as a “lock-on” feature that enables the trigger38to be engaged when on, or may even have no safety feature included at all.

When the trigger38is not engaged, the circuit is open and the motor36and the pump34are not connected to the battery40and therefore inactive. Liquid is unable to flow beyond the inactive pump34because an internal valve (not shown) to the pump34maintains a closed flow position without power from the battery40. However, when the trigger38is engaged, the battery40and the motor36are in a closed circuit enabling the battery40to power the motor36that operates the pump34which opens the internal valve (not shown) such that liquid can flow through the pump34. The pump34provides a constant pressure to the liquid such that the spray maintains a similar pressure irrespective of the quantity of liquid in the tank20.

In the preferred embodiment the battery40is a 3.6 volt lithium battery and has a waterproof encasing. Attached to the battery40is a circuit board64with a charging port66and an LED indicator (not shown). Both of these circuit board64features are accessible as openings on the hand grip with a waterproof plug42covering the access opening for the charging port66and a LED indicator cover52covering the opening for the LED indicator (not shown) while still allowing visibility.

When the pump34is active, the valve (not shown) is open and fluid pressure is applied to the liquid. This pressurized liquid then flows into a water outlet connector58. The water outlet connector58serves to guide the pressurized liquid out of the chamber60of the hand grip30and into a pressure feed conduit24. The pressure feed conduit24is located inside of the handle tube70. The pressure feed conduit24terminates at the nozzle80allowing for liquid to be sprayed in front of the mop head100onto the surface.

The nozzle80is removable and located inside of a nozzle receiver82. The nozzle receiver82is adjustable to allow for altering the angle of spray in relation to the floor. A plurality of interchangeable nozzles86are stored in a quick change nozzle holder84located on the handle tube70. The nozzle holder84wraps around the circumference of the handle tube70and contains several holsters (for example85) for holding the interchangeable nozzles86. The interchangeable nozzles86allow for varying rates of spray, spray direction, and spray shape onto the surface to be mopped. Optionally, one or more of these interchangeable nozzles86stored in the nozzle holder84can be identical and therefore serve as spares in the event of loss or wear and tear.

In the embodiment of this application the handle tube70has a separate nozzle component section88where the nozzle receiver82is located. Both the nozzle component section88and the hand grip30are attached to the handle tube70by a female threaded connector92and a male threaded connector90. The female threaded connector92is twisted until it is firmly mated to the male threaded connector90. For the hand grip30and handle tube70connection, the female connector92is located on the handle tube70and the male connector90is located on the hand grip30. For the nozzle component section88and handle tube70connection, the female connector92is located on the nozzle component section88and the male connector90is located on the handle tube70. Optionally, the handle tube70can be formed by several connected sections. This can be advantageous for shipping, storage and manufacture.

A power mop according to the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments and examples. Various details of the invention may be changed without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention and best mode for practicing the invention are provided for the purpose of illustration only and not for the purpose of limitation, the invention being defined by the claims.10Power Mop20Tank22Gravity Feed Conduit24Pressure Feed Conduit30Hand Grip32Liquid Inlet34Pump36Motor38Finger Trigger Switch40Battery42Waterproof Plug46Left Handle Cover48Right Handle Cover50Screw Holes52LED Indicator Cover56Liquid Inlet Conduit58Water Outlet Connector60Chamber62Safety Button63Opening for Safety Button64Circuit Board66Charging Port70Handle Tube80Nozzle82Nozzle Receiver84Quick Change Nozzle Holder85Holsters86Interchangeable Nozzles88Nozzle Component Section90Male threaded connector92Female threaded connector100Mop Head