Hole cleaning device

A rotatable hand tool for cleaning soil, stones, grass cuttings and like accumulated debris from a blind hole such as a memorial vase hole. The device comprises a cylindrical head portion having a transverse plate member fitted therein in spaced relation to a terminal end thereof. The plate member has a cutout section and carries a downwardly depending cutting edge along one side of the cutout and an upwardly curved section along the opposed side. A shaft with a transverse handle is affixed to the head portion to permit rotation of the head and cutting edge about a longitudinal axis of the device. A vertical barrier plate is affixed within the head member adjacent to the cutout section to prevent accumulated material dislodged by the cutting edge and entrained within the device from escaping from a storage reservoir defined by the sidewalls and plate member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
My invention relates generally to rotary hand tools and, more particularly, 
to devices which are useful in removing accumulated soil, stone and other 
debris from difficult to clean blind holes, such as, for example, memorial 
vase holes of the type found in cemeteries. 
In a commonly used memorial marker system, a decorative bronze memorial 
plate is laid at the burial site. The memorial plate usually carries the 
name or names of the decedents along with their dates of birth and death 
and possibly other indica such as an epitaph or the like. In addition, a 
commonly used memorial plate of this type may contain one or more 
apertures for the insertion and display of a permanent bronze memorial 
vase thereon. When in use, the vase is locked at its base portion by 
several outwardly flaring tabs which matingly engage tabs and recesses 
carried by the aperture of the memorial plate. In this manner, the 
memorial vase is not likely to be overturned by strong winds and appears 
as a permanent fixture with respect to the memorial plate. When the vase 
is not in use, as in the winter months, it is rotated and unlocked from 
the aperture of the memorial plate, turned upside down and reinserted 
through the aperture in an inverted position. The inverted vase is then 
rotated and re-locked within the plate aperture such that the base of the 
vase is substantially flush with the exposed surface of the memorial 
plate, while its inverted top is about one foot beneath the plate. When 
the vase is properly stored, there are no significant protrusions above 
the upper surface of the memorial plate, which permits the operation of 
lawn movers over the plate surface, including the area occupied by the 
inverted vase. In order to provide a space for storing the inverted vase, 
memorial plates of this type are preferably fitted with a canister beneath 
each of the apertures. The plastic canister is cylindrical in shape and is 
secured to the underside of the memorial plate, extending downwardly into 
the earth about one foot in order to accommodate the length of the 
inverted vase therein. The vase canister carries a mounting flange around 
its upper periphery for attachment to the memorial plate and also is 
provided with plurality of radially extending, raised ribs formed on the 
floor to prevent tight nesting of the canisters during shipment. The vase 
canister is intended to act as an earth barrier to maintain an open hole 
so as to allow for trouble-free insertion of the inverted vase without the 
necessity of reforming a hole in the earth each time the vase is to be 
stored. Unfortunately, in practice, such trouble-free insertion is not 
always the case. It has been observed that soil, stones, grass cuttings 
and like debris accumulates at the bottom of the vase canister over a 
period of time. Rainwater tends to carry such materials into the canister 
and, while the water will eventually pass through a drain hole provided in 
the floor of the canister, the above-mentioned solid materials collect and 
remain lodged at the bottom region of the canister. If not removed, the 
accumulated layer of deposited material prevents the vase from properly 
seating within the canister. As a result, the bottom of the vase will then 
protrude above the surface of the memorial plate, resulting in a poor 
appearance with possible breakage of the bronze vase and possible damage 
to the grass cutting equipment. It has been found that dislodgment and 
removal of accumulated silt, stones and other debris from the vase 
canister holes is difficult due to the relatively small size of the 
circular opening of the aperture in the memorial plate coupled with the 
depth of the canister hole. The aperture diameter is about 4 inches and 
the depth of the canister is about 12 inches. Naturally, maintenance 
workers are reluctant to place their hands near or into blind, 
subterranean holes, particularly in areas where poisonous snakes, spiders, 
scorpions or like creatures may find habitat. Cleaning these canister 
holes has, thus, proven to be a somewhat difficult and sometimes hazardous 
task. In addition, spillage of the removed material from a small shovel or 
from some other makeshift tool often occurs when they are extracted from 
the hole which naturally soils the decorative memorial plate surface and 
requires additional maintenance time to effect removal therefrom. 
My invention solves many of the problems heretofore encountered in cleaning 
vase canister holes and like blind holes by providing a relatively simple, 
yet effective, hand-manipulated device which rotatably loosens and 
collects the material lodged within the hole for fast and easy removal 
therefrom. The hole cleaner of the present invention also provides a sharp 
cutting edge at the bottom thereof which is adapted to be manually rotated 
for digging and loosening lodged or compacted soil and stone within a 
blind hole, such as a canister vase hole, while avoiding any interference 
with the raised ribs or other irregularities which may be found on the 
floor of the blind hole. Still further, my invention provides a vase hole 
cleaner which gathers the accumulated debris in an efficient manner and 
retains such loosened material within a storage reservoir portion to 
permit quick and tidy removal thereof from the vase hole so as to minimize 
spillage and the necessity for subsequent cleaning of the decorative 
surfaces of the memorial plate. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly, my invention provides a device for cleaning a blind hole such as 
found in a memorial vase canister and comprises a cylindrically-shaped 
head portion having a circular bottom plate member affixed therein. The 
plate member is aligned generally perpendicular to the longitudinal, 
rotative axis of the cylindrical head and is spaced inwardly from a 
terminal edge portion of the head portion. The plate member has a 
pie-shaped, cutout section formed therein with one side of the cutout 
section bent downwardly from the plane of the plate to form a cutting edge 
thereon. The cutting edge extends to a plane defined by the terminal edge 
of the cylindrical head portion. The cutting edge is preferably ground to 
form a sharp edge and extends radially from the sidewall of the cyindrical 
head to the central axis thereof. A rod-shaped shaft element carrying 
handle means is attached to the cylindrical head and bottom plate along 
the longitudinal axis of the head to permit manual rotation of the device. 
In use, the terminal edge of the rotating cylindrical head portion forms a 
bearing plane which is adapted to ride on the raised ribs of the floor 
when the device reaches its lowermost position within the vase canister. 
In such a manner, the spaced relation between the plate member and the 
terminal edge of the cylindrical head serves to keep the cutting edge from 
striking the raised ribs of the canister floor, thus avoiding interference 
therebetween. When the device is rotated, the soil, stone, or other debris 
which is loosened by the rotating cutting edge, passes through the cutout 
section of the bottom plate. A surface area of the bottom plate adjacent a 
side of the cutout section opposite the cutting edge is curved upwardly to 
form an entry passage to permit ingress of loosened material through the 
cutout section. The dislodged material passes through the cutout section 
and is confined within a storage reservoir chamber formed by the bottom 
plate and sidewalls of the cylindrical head portion. A vertical barrier 
plate is affixed within the cylindrical head at the area of the cutout 
portion, opposite the cutting edge, to prevent trapped material from 
spilling from the storage reservoir. After the hole has been cleaned, the 
device is withdrawn therefrom and the soil and debris trapped within the 
storage chamber of the cylindrical head is removed simply by inverting the 
head, permitting the trapped material to spill from the open top thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The hole cleaning device, generally designated 1 in the drawings, includes 
a cylindrical head portion 3 which may be conveniently formed from a 
section of pipe of suitable diameter which is slightly smaller than the 
diameter of the vase canister hole to be cleaned (not shown). The 
cylindrical head member 3 has an open interior 25 within its sidewalls and 
a substantially open top area at upper edge 4 and a lower terminal edge 
10. A circular, flat bottom plate member 11 is affixed within the interior 
of the cylindrical head portion 3 and is spaced inwardly a small distance, 
for example 1/8 inch, from the lower edge 10 thereof. The plate member 11 
has a pie-shaped cutout section 15 formed therethrough which extends from 
the sidewalls of the cylindrical head 3 to the central axis thereof. The 
cutout portion preferably occupies an approximate 45.degree. segment of 
the plate member 11 as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. In forming the cutout 
section 15, the plate 11 is preferably cut along the edge 17 and the plate 
material is then bent upwardly along a vertical plane passing through the 
line 19. While bending this plate section upwardly, a curved surface area 
21 (as seen in FIGS. 1-2) is formed in plate member 11 which provides a 
tapered entrance region for the soil and debris to more easily enter the 
interior of the device. The edge 17 which is first cut to permit the 
formation of the pie-shaped area 15, is bent downwardly to form a cutting 
edge. The terminal end of the cutting edge 17 does not exceed the plane 
defined by the lower edge 10 of the cylindrical head so as to prevent 
interference with the raised ribs of the vase canister when the device 1 
is rotated therein. The cutting edge 17 is also filed or ground to form a 
sharpened surface therealong so as to improve the digging performance of 
the device. A vertically extending barrier plate 23 is also secured within 
the cylindrical head portion 3 extending from the sidewall thereof 
radially inward to the center. Barrier plate 23 is preferably attached to 
the bent-up section 19 of the bottom plate 11, adjacent the edge of the 
cutout area 15, opposite the cutting edge 17. 
An elongated shaft 5 is secured at its lower end 9 to the cylindrical head 
member 3 and is aligned along the longitudinal axis of rotation of the 
head. Attachment between shaft 5 and cylindrical head 3 is made by way of 
a web element 13 which is welded to the shaft 5 and to the sidewall of the 
head at the upper portion 4 thereof. Shaft 5 is also preferably welded to 
the plate 11 and may protrude through the plate member and terminate at 
the plane defined by the lower edge 10 of the head 3. The upper portion 7 
of the shaft 5 is fitted with a transverse bar 6 which forms a convenient 
T-shaped handle to permit the manual rotation of the device 1 within the 
vase hole or like blind hole. 
It will be noted that the sidewalls of the cylindrical head 3, the plate 
member 11, and the vertical barrier plate 23 form a storage chamber or 
reservoir within the interior 25 of the cylindrical head for retaining 
loosened soil and other material therein. In operation, the device 1 is 
inserted in a vase canister hole and rotated by the operator who turns the 
handle 6 in a clockwise direction (for the device depicted in the 
drawings). The moving cutting edge 17 carried by the plate 11 will 
diggingly engage the lodged soil, rock, mud or other debris within the 
hole and tend to force the loosened material upwardly along its sloped 
surface toward the storage reservoir area 25 of the cylindrical head. 
Entry of loosened material into storage reservoir 25 is facilitated by the 
upwardly curved entry section 21 of the bottom plate 11. As perhaps best 
be seen in FIG. 2, the opposed sides of the cutout section 15, represented 
by the downwardly sloped cutting edge 17 and the upwardly curved section 
21, provide a clear path for entry of the loosened material. Continued 
rotation of the handle 6, shaft 5, cylindrical head 3 and cutting edge 17 
causes the loosened and accumulated material to move around the bottom 
plate 11 until the material impinges upon the vertically extending barrier 
plate 23. Barrier plate 23 halts further movement of the material and 
traps it within the confines of the cylindrical head to prevent spillage 
from the reservoir 25 into the cutout section 15. The device 1 is rotated 
until all of the lodged material within the hole has been loosened and 
trapped within the storage reservoir 25. In its lowermost position within 
a vase hole, the terminal edge 10 of the head 3 impinges upon the raised 
radial ribs on the floor of the vase canister (not shown). The spaced 
relation between the bottom plate member 11 and the terminal edge 10 is 
important in that it permits the cutting edge 17 to be bent downwardly so 
as to form an inclined plane surface to facilitate the required digging 
action. The plane of the terminal edge 10 is at, or slightly beyond, the 
tip of the cutting edge 17 and bears against the radial ribs of the vase 
canister and thus serves to space the cutting edge 17 from the 
irregularities of the floor of the blind hole. In this manner, 
interference between the cutting edge 17 and the raised ribs in prevented 
which yields a faster and more thorough cleaning operation. Such spacing 
also prevents damage to the floor of the vase canister which would 
otherwise possibly occur if the cutting edge were to contact the ribs. 
When the storage reservoir 25 is filled with material, the device 1 is 
withdrawn from the hole of the canister and the contents thereof are 
removed by simply inverting the device and rapping the head 3 to permit 
the accumulated material to be dumped through the opening at the top 4 
thereof. 
The hole cleaning device 1 of the present invention may be formed of a 
metal, such as steel or aluminum, or of a high strength, impact resistent 
thermoplastic, depending on the expected severity of service. Likewise, 
the device could be constructed of a combination of materials, for 
example, the cutting edge may be metal while the balance of the components 
are of a plastic material. Dimensionally, the shaft 5 is of a convenient 
length to permit the operator to insert and rotate the device within a 
vase hole without undo stooping or bending. It is also beneficial to have 
a shaft which is longer than the striking range of most snakes. A shaft 5 
of about three feet in length has been found to be convenient and 
preferred. Likewise, the diameter of a cylindrical head 3 is sized to 
closely fit the hole of the vase canister which is usually about 4 inches 
in diameter. The height of the cylindrical head 3 from terminal edge 10 to 
top 4 is sized to accommodate the maximum expected accumulated debris or 
soil to be found in the canister hole, which is generally not in excess of 
3 inches. It is also anticipated that several cylindrical heads 3 of 
varying diameters could also be supplied with a single shaft and be 
detachably affixed thereto to accommodate holes of varying diameters which 
may be encountered at a given location. Thus, it is readily understood 
that the device 1 of the present invention is relatively simple to use and 
inexpensive to construct and performs a heretofore difficult operation in 
a quick, safe and easy manner.