Automatic hand washer

An automatic hand washer apparatus comprised of a housing capable of holding a supply of cleaning fluid. A pair of hand access openings are provided in the housing to receive hands and arms to be cleaned. The openings define axes along which the arms and hands can be inserted into the housing. A pair of opposed horizontal brushes are provided adjacent to the openings and are mounted for reciprocal movement such that they move perpendicular to the opening axes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to motorized washing machines that will scrub 
the dirt and grease which may accumulate on a person's hands at their 
workplace. 
In prior art, previous hand cleaning machines such as U.S. Pat. No. 
3,066,336 used brushes that reciprocated parallel to the axis of the arm 
and had a circular opening in the brushes in which to insert your hand. 
The obvious problem with this design was that the circular opening in the 
brushes must fit your hand closely or your hand would not be cleaned 
completely or if your hand was large, it may not fit into the circular 
opening. Reciprocating the two brushes perpendicular to the axis of the 
arms solves these problems. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of hand 
washing devices, the present invention provides an improved hand and arm 
cleaning device. To attain this, the present invention reciprocates two 
brushes perpendicular to the axis of the arms. The bristle tips of the 
lower brush would be in contact with the bristle tips of the upper brush 
while they are reciprocating which would make them self cleaning. With no 
circular opening, the long flexible bristles would accommodate any size 
hand whether large or small and the cleaning action could be concentrated 
to areas which needed it the most. Also, any injured areas could be 
avoided. Reciprocating the brushes perpendicular to the arm axis also 
allows the use of a secondary brush with short bristles designed to clean 
under the fingernails. This is the only machine with this feature. A pump 
shall spray cleaning solution of hot soapy water onto the person's hands 
while the brushes are moving. The cleaning water shall be recycled until 
it is too dirty for reuse and shall be flushed away by pulling a lever. A 
float valve mechanism will fill the inside of the machine with clean fluid 
and shut off after it has refilled to the correct amount. The float valve 
to the wash water shall automatically dispense a liquid antibacterial 
soap. A thermostatically controlled heater shall warm the water to 
increase the cleaning action. 
The unit should pay for itself in time because the cleaning solution is 
reused several times before being discarded. Also, this unit uses a 
cheaper soap rather than the more expensive hand cleaner compound which is 
used extensively in more traditional hand cleaning methods. Cleaning dirty 
sinks should be a thing of the past since this unit contains the mess 
within itself and is self-cleaning.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference now to the drawings, the new and improved automatic hand 
washer will be described. 
In the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the machine from the front depicting the 
horizontally reciprocating scrubbing brushes (3) and the location of the 
round access openings (11) through which the hands and arms are inserted 
and guided in between the brushes. Also depicted is the crank mechanism 
(2) and driving motor (1). Located above the scrubbing brushes is a spray 
nozzle (5) for dispersing soapy water from an electric water pump (4) to 
the brush scrubbing area. FIG. 2 shows the machine from a side view 
illustrating the housing (10), the reciprocating scrubbing brushes located 
adjacent to the hand access openings which are positioned in the upper 
part of the machine. These access openings and brushes have a unique 
downward slant to keep cleaning fluids draining into the machine interior. 
Attached to the lower edge of the bottom scrubbing brush is a short 
bristle brush (9) for providing an aggressive cleaning action for the 
fingernails. Illustrated in the bottom of the housing is a flapper valve 
(6) for disposing dirty cleaning fluids to the sewer, a float valve 
mechanism (7) for refilling the machine, a thermostatically controlled 
heater for heating the fluids and an electric pump for spraying cleaning 
fluids to the scrubbing brush area from the spray nozzle. 
In detail, the rotating crankshaft (2) shown in FIG. 1 will produce a 
scrubbing action by the brushes (3) onto hands and arms inserted 
therebetween. The pump motor (4) will spray hot soapy water onto both 
hands and brushes (3) from the spray nozzle (5). Simply inserting both 
hands in between the brushes (3) to clean the area desired and withdrawing 
them should produce excellent results. The wash water will be continuously 
recycled until it is too dirty for reuse and then disposed of into the 
sewer by opening the flapper valve (6) as shown in FIG. 2. The float valve 
(7) will open and spray clean water into the machine interior and shut off 
after the machine has refilled. A thermostatically controlled heater (8) 
will warm the wash water to increase the cleaning action.