Apparatus for removing a liquid from a hard surface

An apparatus for removing a liquid from a hard surface comprising a roller unit including a roller rotatably mounted on a handle and covered with an absorbant sponge-like material, and a compression unit into which the roller of the roller unit may be inserted for removing water from the roller by compressing the absorbant material. The compression unit includes a surface along which the roller can be rolled and means engageable with the roller for pressing the roller against the surface to compress the absorbant material when the roller is rolled along the surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 This invention relates to an apparatus for removing a liquid from a hard
 surface, for example for removing water, spilt oil or other liquids from
 floors, walls, car bodies, windows and other hard surfaces.
 2. Prior Art
 May, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,470, discloses an apparatus for removing liquid
 from a floor with a damp pad or cloth. The apparatus comprises a mopping
 roller enveloped by a mopping pad or a band-shaped mopping cloth which
 runs endlessly over rollers or from a first to a second spool, and bears
 on the working surface disposed underneath a mopping shoe or roller. The
 mopping roller and its enveloping mopping pad is intermittently advanced
 during the mopping process to bring a previously unused portion of the
 mopping pad into contact with the working surface at a preselected forward
 stroke.
 Similar devices have been disclosed that are adapted to remove excess paint
 from a paint roller. Representative prior art devices are set forth in
 U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,949 to Heniff, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 2,911,663 to Geary,
 U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,410 to Sprung et al., and Norwegian patent 112401.
 While the above devices are useful for removing excess liquid from an
 applicator, they do not expel sufficient liquid from the applicator pad to
 be efficiently operable for removing a liquid from a hard surface.
 SUMMARY
 An apparatus for removing a liquid from a hard surface comprising a roller
 unit including a roller rotatably mounted on a handle and covered with an
 absorbant sponge-like material, and a compression unit into which the
 roller of the roller unit may be inserted for removing water from the
 roller by compressing the absorbant material. The compression unit
 includes a surface along which the roller can be rolled and means
 engageable with the roller for pressing the roller against the surface to
 compress the absorbant material when the roller is rolled along the
 surface.
 The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with
 particularity in the appended claims. However the invention itself, both
 as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects
 and advantages thereof may be best be understood by reference to the
 following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings
 in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
 The first embodiment of the invention includes a roller unit, FIG. 2,
 comprising a roller 8 rotatably mounted on a handle 11, and a compression
 unit, FIG. 1, for removing and collecting liquid from the roller unit.
 Referring first to FIG. 2, the handle 11 of the roller unit carries a
 fixed transverse axle 9 at its lower end. The roller 8 comprises two
 roller sections 8' mounted on the axle 9 one on each side of the lower end
 of the handle 11. Each section 8' comprises a hollow cylindrical shell 14
 of rigid plastics material rotatably mounted on the axle 9 by circular
 ball-bearing races 12, and each shell 14 is covered with a replaceable
 sleeve 10 of a highly absorbant sponge-like material such as cellulose or
 hydrophilic PVA foam. Between the inner end of each roller section 8' and
 the lower end of the handle 11 a respective further circular ball-bearing
 race 12, having further bearings 17 thereon, is rotatably mounted on the
 axle 9. Each further bearing 17 has an outside diameter less than that of
 the roller sections 8', and (as shown in FIG. 2) preferably less than that
 of the shells 14, for a purpose to be described.
 The compression unit includes a flat perforated sheet 1 of steel, plastics
 or other suitable corrosion resistant material mounted over a container 2.
 The sheet 1 is preferably mounted non-horizontally over the container 2,
 most preferably at an angle of about 80 degrees to the horizontal. A
 downwardly sloping bar 3 is mounted over and substantially parallel to the
 upper surface of the sheet 1. The bar 3 is spaced from the upper surface
 of the sheet 1 by a distance which is slightly greater than the distance D
 shown on FIG. 2, i.e. the distance from the outside diameter of the shells
 14 to the outside diameter of the bearings 17 on the diametrically
 opposite side of the axle 9. The container 2 is mounted on wheels 5 and
 has a handle 6 to facilitate use.
 In use of the apparatus the handle 11 is used to roll the roller 8 of the
 roller unit back and forth over a floor or other surface from which water
 or other fluid is to be removed until the sleeves 10 are loaded with
 fluid. The roller 8 is than lifted and inserted between the bar 3 and the
 upper surface of the sheet 1 of the compression unit, FIG. 1. The roller
 is inserted such that the bar 3 engages one of the bearings 17.
 Now, using the handle 11, the roller 8 is rolled up and down along the
 upper surface of the inclined sheet 1. During this motion the bar 3 is
 maintained in engagement with the bearing 7 by the handle 11 on one side
 and inner end of the shell 14 on the other side. Because the bar 3 is
 spaced from the upper surface of the sheet 1 by only slightly more than
 the distance D, FIG. 2, the bar 3 pushes the roller 8 against the surface
 of the sheet 1 to substantially fully compress the foam sleeves 10 where
 they contact the surface of the sheet 1, so that substantially all the
 fluid is expelled from the sleeves 10 after a few rotations of the roller
 8. This leaves the roller 8 relatively free of water for the next
 operation.
 The expelled fluid passes under gravity through the perforations in the
 sheet 1 for collection in the container 2. If desired, as shown in FIG. 1,
 a bucket 4 or the like can be placed in the container 2 to collect the
 expelled fluid, leaving the container 2 able to hold clean water for
 rinsing the roller and/or for rinsing or scrubbing the floor. It will be
 seen that the sheet 1 need not be perforated and that a channel can be
 provided at the bottom of the sheet so that water flowing down the sheet 1
 can be directed into the container 2 or bucket 4.
 In a modification (not shown) of the above embodiment the handle 11 may
 have a lower forked end which supports the axle 9 at each end, with a
 single roller section 8' being mounted on the axle 9 between the forked
 ends of the handle. In such a case the bearings 17 would be disposed at
 opposite ends of the roller section, and the compression unit would have
 two substantially parallel bars 3 spaced apart by the distance between the
 bearings 17 for engaging respective bearings 17.
 A second embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference
 to FIGS. 3 to 9. In the second embodiment the roller unit, FIGS. 3 to 8,
 comprises a handle 11 whose lower end is formed to provide two parallel
 spaced-apart circular load bearings 17 joined by a semi-cylindrical bridge
 20 which is connected to the handle 11. Each bearing 17 has a concentric
 hole 22 formed therein allowing a transverse axle 9 to rotate within the
 bearings 17.
 The bridge 20 and bearings 17 form a housing for a catch mechanism 21. The
 catch mechanism 21 comprises a cylindrical body 23 which is located over
 the axle 9 between the bearings 17. The body 23 is formed of a metal and a
 pair of plastics bushings 24 are fitted into either end of the body 23 to
 provide for smooth rotation of the body on the axle 9. An arm 25 depends
 from one end of the body 23 and a small roller 26 is mounted on the end of
 the arm.
 In the second embodiment the compression unit, FIG. 9, comprises an
 integrally moulded plastics container 2 having a rail 13 extending
 downwardly along and, in cross-section, upstanding from a steeply inclined
 rear surface 100. The cross-section of the rail 13 is seen in the
 embodiment of FIG. 10, which uses a similar catch mechanism 21 and rail 13
 to the present embodiment. The rail 13 has a transverse lip 27, more
 clearly seen in FIG. 10. The surface 100 formed at the rear of the
 container 2 replaces the inclined sheet 1 used in the first embodiment.
 The surface 100 does not have perforations allowing the water to pass
 through as did the sheet 1 in the first embodiment, but is formed with
 downwardly sloped channels, which direct the water into the container 2.
 To expel liquid held in the foam sleeves 10, the roller 8 is located over
 the container 2 so that the small roller 26 engages under the lip 27,
 between the lip 27 and the surface 100. The distance 60, FIG. 10, of the
 lip 27 from the surface 100 is less than the distance 70 from the inside
 diameter 40 of the roller 26 to the outside diameter 50 of the
 uncompressed foam, FIG. 10. Thus, as the roller 8 is rolled up and down
 along the surface 100, the roller 8 is pulled towards the surface 100
 causing the foam sleeves 10 to be compressed and liquid to be expelled and
 collected in the container 2.
 It is preferable for the operator of the roller unit to be able to select
 whether the roller 8 is free to rotate around the axle 9 or not. To this
 end a pair of gravity-operated pawls 28 are pivotally mounted in
 respective bearings 17, FIG. 3. Each pawl 28 comprises a cylindrical stock
 29 and a follower 30. Each stock 29 is located in a corresponding socket
 32 in the side of a respective bearing 17. The ends of each of the roller
 shells 14 adjacent the bearings 17 are recessed and a circular set of
 teeth 31 is formed on each of their respective internal surfaces. The
 pawls 28 are free to rotate in their respective bearings 17 under gravity.
 In use of the roller unit with the roller axle 9 substantially horizontal,
 when the handle 11 is rotated to a position on the left hand side of the
 vertical, as seen in FIG. 7, the gravity pawls 28 will tend to pivot under
 gravity against their respective bearings 17 and away from engagement with
 the teeth 31. This allows the roller 8 to rotate continuously when the
 roller is both pushed and pulled by the operator so that the foam sleeves
 10 absorb liquid.
 However, by rotating the handle 11 to the right hand side of the vertical,
 as seen in FIG. 7, the pawls 28 fall away from their bearings 17 into
 engagement with the teeth 31. This prevents the roller 8 rotating relative
 to the handle 11 when the roller unit is pushed forwardly and allows a
 user to scrub a floor.
 In a third embodiment, FIG. 10, each foam sleeve 10 is formed with a closed
 rounded end 33. The sides 34 of the surface 100 are correspondingly
 rounded with a slightly smaller radius of curvature so that the ends 33 of
 the sleeves may be squeezed when the roller 8 is pushed into the
 compression unit. This embodiment is particularly useful, for example, in
 cleaning car bodies, where damage to the surface from the ends of the
 rollers must be avoided.
 The embodiments of the invention will leave the surface dryer than any
 non-electrical appliance known to the applicant including all types of
 squeegees and mops with wringing devices, etc.
 While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated
 and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that
 various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from
 the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover
 in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within
 the scope of this invention.