Abstract:
An upstanding brush assembly for attachment to a cleaning apparatus includes a brush element and a brush clip receiving and constraining the brush element. A mounting bracket attached to a surface of the cleaning apparatus is engaged by the brush clip for positioning the brush element in a substantially vertical upstanding position.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     This invention relates generally to the field of cleaning attachments for floor cleaning devices and more particularly to a vertically upstanding brush system for attachment to vacuum cleaners or similar floor cleaning devices to allow simultaneous dusting of indented overhangs on furniture or cabinet toe-kicks and due to its fanlike shape, uneven areas horizontally as well. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Vacuum cleaners and other floor cleaning appliances including push brooms and similar devices are adapted for cleaning the floor surface which may include carpeting, wood or composite substrates. In most homes and businesses, furniture such as sofas, couches and lounging chairs as well as straight back chairs or other wooden furniture having support cross pieces or rungs are present on the floor and toe-kicks or other indentations at the floor level are present in cabinetry or built-in wall units of various forms. Cob webs, dust and other detritus, commonly referred to as “dust bunnies”, may be adhered to the undersurface of such furniture and fixtures. Floor cleaning appliances typically do not provide a means for cleaning the underside of furniture or fixtures to properly extricate the dust bunnies. Such cleaning usually requires additional cleaning elements or hand cleaning effort. 
     It is therefore desirable to provide a device which cleans the underside of furniture and fixtures concurrently with normal floor cleaning without requiring separate cleaning effort. It is also desirable that such a device be adaptable for retrofit or original equipment manufacturing of existing floor cleaning appliances. 
     SUMMARY 
     The embodiments disclosed herein overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing an upstanding brush assembly for attachment to a cleaning apparatus including a brush element and a brush clip receiving and constraining the brush element. A mounting bracket attached to a surface of the cleaning apparatus is engaged by the brush clip for positioning the brush element in a substantially vertical upstanding position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1A  is an isometric view of an embodiment of the invention as installed on a vacuum cleaner wand attachment for a canister type vacuum; 
         FIG. 1B  is an isometric view of an embodiment of the invention as installed on an upright vacuum cleaner; 
         FIG. 2A  is a front view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  as assembled for installation on a floor cleaning appliance; 
         FIG. 2B  is an isometric view of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2A ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded isometric view showing the individual components of the embodiment; 
         FIG. 4A  is a side section view of the embodiment showing the inter engagement of the components; 
         FIG. 4B  is a side section view of the embodiment with the brush element mounted on an angle flange; 
         FIG. 5A  is a side view of the embodiment with the in a first orientation with a vertical extension attachment of the brush element; 
         FIG. 5B  is a side view of the embodiment in an angled protrusion attachment of the brush element; 
         FIG. 5C  is a side view with the mounting bracket reversed to accommodate a sloped top surface of the appliance allowing a vertical extension attachment of the brush element on the angle flange; 
         FIG. 5D  is a side view as in  FIG. 5C  with the brush element attached in an angled protrusion; 
         FIG. 6  is a detailed isometric view of the brush clip; 
         FIG. 7  is a side section view of the brush clip; 
         FIG. 8  is a front section view of the brush clip; 
         FIG. 9  is a front section view of an alternative form of the brush clip for a brush element having a flexible spine; and, 
         FIG. 10  is a representation of the insertion of the flexible spine brush element into the brush clip of  FIG. 9 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments shown in the drawings and described herein provide an upstanding brush assembly extending from the top of a vacuum cleaner attachment or similar appliance which provides for simultaneous cleaning of the underside of furniture or fixtures when the floor under such furniture or fixtures is cleaned by the appliance. Bending the brush assembly at the lateral edges into a fan shape allows simultaneous cleaning of vertical surfaces such as toe-kicks. Referring to the drawings,  FIG. 1A  shows a canister type vacuum cleaner wand attachment  10  which is employed for cleaning carpet or floors. An upstanding brush assembly  12  extends from an upper surface  14  of the attachment  10 . A brush element  16  extends between 4 and 6 inches above the attachment for the embodiment shown, but may be any desired height. As shown in  FIG. 1B , the upstanding brush assembly may be employed on an upright vacuum cleaner  11  as well, attaching to an upper surface  15 . The embodiments disclosed may additionally be employed on robotic vacuum cleaners or applied to unpowered broom or sweeping apparatuses for concurrent upward and downward cleaning effectiveness. 
     Details of the upstanding brush assembly  12  are shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B . The brush element  16  (detail of individual brush bristles is not shown for greater clarity in the overall brush shape) is held by a brush clip  18  which will be described in greater detail subsequently. For flexibility in installing and removing the brush assembly  12  from the vacuum cleaner or attachment, a mounting bracket  20  is employed. The mounting bracket may be attached to the upper surface  14 ,  15  adhesively, with mechanical fasteners or, in alternative embodiments molded directly into the upper or front surface. The individual components are clearly seen in the exploded view of the upstanding brush assembly shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     Once attached to the head of the brush or vacuum, the embodiments shown will easily clean and disturb spider and cobwebs and other caught debris, such as pet hair or dust bunnies that collects under furniture, toe-kicks, chair and table rungs and around potted plants, or other items standing on the floor. When used with a canister machine, the brush can easily be raised using the wand, to clean any surface from the ceiling to the baseboards. The embodiments will catch the webs for removal and encourage caught debris to fall to the floor where it will suctioned up during normal cleaning. Any debris caught in the bristles can also be sucked up directly by detaching the attachment and using the end of the suction wand. The bristles of the brush element  16  are resiliently bendable up to 90 degrees, thus taking up little additional vertical space on the equipment and flexing for inserting under low overhangs. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4A , the brush element  16  incorporates a spine  22  which is received in the brush clip  18  and supported on a web  24 . The brush element  16  extends upward through a slot  26 . The mounting bracket  20  incorporates an upright flange  28  which is received by the brush clip through a bottom aperture  30 . The mounting bracket  20  employs a horizontal engagement flange  32  perpendicular to the clip flange  28  which is mounted to the upper surface  14  of the vacuum attachment or other appliance to provide a vertical extension of the brush element  16 . An angle flange  34  is provided as a secondary mounting for the brush clip  18  which provides an angled protrusion of the brush element  16  as an alternative angled cleaning position as shown in  FIG. 4B . The mounting bracket may be reversed as shown in  FIG. 3  as element  20 ′ which places the engagement flange  32  at an angle for mounting to a sloping surface such as the upright vacuum cleaner shown in  FIG. 1B  with angle flange  34  providing the vertical positioning of the brush element and upright flange  28  providing mounting for the alternative angled cleaning position. The three elements of the mounting bracket, the clip flange  28 , engagement flange  32  or angle flange  34  may provide the attachment surface to the cleaning device depending on whether the attachment surface is horizontal, vertical or sloped. As previously described, the attachment may be by mechanical fastener or adhesive. In various embodiments, the mounting bracket may be extruded or molded rigid plastic, aluminum or steel depending on strength and durability requirements for the desired application. 
     As seen in  FIGS. 5A and 5B , attachment of the mounting bracket  20  to a horizontal surface  14  allows vertical extension of the brush element  16  when mounted on the upright flange  28  ( FIG. 5A ) and angled protrusion of the brush element  16  when mounted on the angle flange  34 . Similarly, with the mounting bracket reversed as shown in  FIGS. 5C and 5D , mounting of the bracket  20  to a sloped surface  15  allows vertical extension of the brush element  16  when mounted on the angled flange  34  ( FIG. 5C ) and angled protrusion of the brush element  16  when mounted on the upright flange  28  ( FIG. 5D ). 
     Securing of the brush element  16  is accomplished with the brush clip  18  shown in  FIG. 6 . For the example embodiment, the brush clip is a molded or extruded plastic element having a front wall  40  and a rear wall  42  joined by a web  44  as best seen in  FIG. 7 . In alternative embodiments an aluminum extrusion may be employed. An upper channel  46  formed by the front wall, web and rear wall with lips extending from the walls receives the spine  22  of the brush element  16 . For an example embodiment, lips  48 , front wall  40  and rear wall  42  resiliently deform to allow the spine to be press fit into the upper channel  46 . 
     For the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7 , a lower channel  51  receives the upright flange  28  or angled flange  34  to mount the brush clip to the bracket  20 . Flexible protrusions  50  extend from the front wall  40  and rear wall  42  into the lower channel to engage and secure the selected flange. The protrusions  50  are sufficiently resilient to allow the clip to be mounted to the upright or angled flange and then removed and remounted to the other flange to change the angle of the brush for more effective cleaning under objects of various heights. 
     For the embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , the spine  22  of the brush element  16  is substantially rigid to form curved side portions  52  in the brush element  16  to allow engagement of side boards or other similar surfaces with the brush element  16 . Brush clip  18  as shown in  FIG. 8  employs relieved portions  54  at each end of the brush clip in which the web  44 , lips  48  and protrusions  50  are deleted from the front and rear walls to provide clearance for the curved portions of the spine  22 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, the brush element  16  may employ a flexible spine. As shown in  FIG. 9 , an alternative brush clip  18 ′ may be employed in which the web  44  and lips  48  are curved at the lateral extents of the front wall  40  and rear wall  42  to curve the ends of channel  46  to urge the flexible spine into the desired curve to create the fan shape of the brush ends. Insertion of the brush element  16  into the alternative brush clip  18 ′ is accomplished with a central gap  56  provided in the lips  48  allowing the brush spine  22  to be inserted into the upper channel  46  by arching the spine and inserting both ends into the channel at the central gap and sliding them along the channel in both directions as represented by arrows  58  in  FIG. 10  to assume the channel shape (only the brush spine is shown without the bristles for clarity). 
     Having now described various embodiments of the invention in detail as required by the patent statutes, those skilled in the art will recognize modifications and substitutions to the specific embodiments disclosed herein. Such modifications are within the scope and intent of the present invention as defined in the following claims.