Broom suitable for mounting to a sweeping machine

Abstract: Broom (1,19) provided with means for mounting it to a power-driven shaft (7) of a sweeping machine, said broom comprising bundles (12) of bristles (13), each of said bundles (12), at the end opposite to the free active ends of said bristles (13), being provided with a connecting element (15) to connect the bundle (12) to a holding member (2,20). Said holding member can be in the shape of a truncated cone (3) or a helically shaped plate (22) mounted to a shaft (21). Said holding member (2,20) at the position of a bundle running substantially rectilinear and being provided with a number of distanced holes (10) for receiving a bolt (11) by which a bundle (12) is connected to said holding member (2,20).

Description: The invention relates to a broom as this is described in the preamble of the main claim. Such a broom is known by US-A-3,029,456. In case of this known broom the holding member is in the shape of a disc which is provided with a number of tubular holders in each of which a clamping means for a bundle is present for bringing the active end of said bundle at the desired distance from the disc. Each of said holders comprises tubular sections, one of which is having a curved part extending above the plate. The ends of the bundles, opposite the free active ends, are lying against a cover element which is connected to the disc. In view of this the adjustment of the bundles is cumbersome because the cover element has to be removed, shifting a bundle in said curved tubular part will not be easy as well as the releasing of the clamping means inside said holder. Further it is not easy to adjust all bundles such that their ends are at the same distance from the disc. The object of the invention is to remove said disadvantages and to that end the features are applied as described in the characterizing portion of the main claim. So in case of the invention each bundle is connected to the holding member by a connecting element and is guided in a simple way so that a bundle can easily be removed and mounted again. A simple support member can be obtained by applying the feature according to claim 2. Further it can be pointed to US-A-3,010,132 describing a broom the holding member of which is formed by two parallel distanced plates between which elongated bundles of bristels are fixed. To this end from both ends of a bundle a bolt will have to be screwed into a hole in a connecting element of the bundle. Because of this the mounting and so the adjustment of a bundle will not be easy because the hole in the connecting element will have to be brought exactly before a bore in the connecting element and the elongated bundle will have to be brought substantially in line with the bores in the two plates of the holding member. A further disadvantage of the known broom is that the outer ends of the bristles of two adjacent bundles will be at some distance from each other as seen in the direction of rotation. So when rotating the broom the load exerted on it will vary which can cause vibrations. In particular this will happen when the broom is not pressed firmly towards the ground so that at a given moment only one bundle is contacting the ground. Now the invention is described by means of an embodiment, shown in the drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is partly a front view and partly a cross-section of a first embodiment of a broom according to the invention, certain portions being omitted; Fig. 2 is a view from below from the broom according to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section across a bundle of bristles; and Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the bundle of bristles according to the line IV-IV of Fig. 3. The broom 1, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, consists of the holding member 2, comprising the conical skirt 3 which at its smallest end is closed by means of a disc 4 and at its largest end is provided with a ring 5. The disc 4 is provided with a bore and with a ring 6 for receiving a reduced portion of the shaft 7, which in a not further indicated way is supported by a sweeping machine and which can be power-driven. The end of the shaft 7 is provided with screwthread for receiving a nut 8 by which the broom 1 can be fixed to the shaft 7. Obviously other means can be used for fixing the broom 1 to the shaft 7. As in particular appears from Fig. 2 the ring 5 is provided with slots 9 being divided over its circumference. In the drawing eight of such slots are indicated, but obviously also more or less slots might be present. For each slot 9 a number of bores 10 is provided in the skirt 2 to receive a bolt 11 serving for fixing a bundle 12 of bristles 13. One or more bores 10 for a same bundle 12 can be united to a slotted hole which is not further indicated. In Figs. 1 and 2 only one single bundle 12 is indicated and also not all openings 10 are shown. The Figs. 3 and 4 show the construction of a bundle 12 of bristles 13. The bristles 13 are slid into an initially straight tube 14 with a substantially rectangular cross-section, such that the bristles 13 extend from both sides of the tube 14 over the same distance. Then the tube 14 is bent in the shape of a U, to obtain the shape as indicated in Fig. 3. The tube can be connected to a lug 15 in which the opening 16 is provided in which the bolt 11 can be received. Obviously the lug 15 also can be welded to the tube 14 previously. It will be obvious that for clearness sake in the Figs. 3 and 4 the bristles are shown at some distance from each other and from the tube 14, but that in praxis they will firmly engage each other and the tube 14. The number of bristles 13 per bundle 12 can be varied at will. In Fig. 1 it is shown that the bristles 13 will extend a given distance below the edge 17 of the skirt 2 so that they can do their work. When the bristles are worn off over a given distance the bolt 11 can be loosened and the bundle 12 can be slid outwardly from the conical skirt 3 so that the bolt 11 can be mounted in a next hole 10 and the bundle 12 can be fixed again. The dimensions of the slots 9 in the circumferential direction of the conical skirt 3 will be such that the sides 18 of the slot 9 may serve to support the bristles 13, in particular those bristles which are positioned directly beside the sides 18 and which in their turn will support the other bristles. The dimensions of the slots 9 in radial direction are less important. It will be obvious that only one possible embodiment of the broom according to the invention is shown in the drawing and are described above and that many modifications can be provided without leaving the inventive concept.

Claims: Broom provided with means for mounting it to a power-driven shaft (7) of a sweeping machine, said broom comprising a holding member (2) to connect bundles (12) of bristels (13) with this member in such a way that said bundles can be adjusted in respect of said member (2) for bringing the active ends of said bundles (12) of bristles (13) at the desired distance from the outer edge (17) of said holding member (2), said holding member, near its outer edge (17) being provided with support elements (18) to support the bristles (13) when the broom (1) is in use, characterized in that, said holding member (2) is in the shape of a truncated cone (3) the end disc (4) of which is mounted to the shaft (7), each bundle (12) of bristles (13), at the end opposite the free active ends of its bristles (13), being provided with a connecting element (15) to connect the bundle (12) to the truncated cone (3), said truncated cone (3), at the positon of each bundle running substantially rectilinear and being provided with a number of bores (10) being distanced from each other in the direction of the bundle (12) for receiving connecting means (11) by which said connecting element (15) can be fixed to the truncated cone (2). Broom according to claim 1, characterized in that the support elements (18) are formed by a ring (5) in which slotted holes (9) are formed through which the bundles (12) of bristles (13) extend.

Inventors: WURF GERARDUS ADRIANUS VAN DER, VAN DER WURF, GERARDUS ADRIANUS
Applicants: WURF GERARDUS ADRIANUS V D, VAN DER WURF, GERARDUS ADRIANUS
Application year: 1990
Main classification: A46B3
IPC codes: A46B13, A46B3