Abstract:
The invention is an apparatus suitable for cleaning pots comprising a drive, a shaft assembly, and at least one (1) pad attached to the shaft assembly. The drive rotates the shaft assembly which rotates the at least one (1) pad which is capable of scouring a pot surface held against the rotating pad.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Provisional Application for Patent, application No. 60/181,343, filed Feb. 9, 2000, with the same title, “Pot Scrubber” which is hereby incorporated by reference. Applicant claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(e)(i). 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Statement as to rights to inventions made under federally sponsored research and development: 
     Not Applicable. 
     1. Field of Invention. 
     This invention relates to an apparatus useful for, but not restricted to, the scrubbing of pots such as would be used by cooks in preparing meals. 
     2. Background Information. 
     Cleaning pots and pans is a low technology manual operation, little changed over the years, normally done by unskilled labor or perhaps apprentice chefs. Such labor can be unreliable at times, especially in prosperous times so skilled chefs find themselves, by default, scouring pots and pans. In the interest of kitchen efficiency, a better way is required. 
     As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome shortcomings of existing prior art pot cleaning technology. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is an apparatus useful for, but not restricted to, cleaning kitchen items such as pots, and pans, comprising a drive means driving a shaft assembly rotating at least one (1) pad, said at least one (1) pad cleaning a pot surface when said pot is held against the pad. The drive means comprising an electric motor and a right angle gear box, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The electrical controls include a normally open spring return switch that an operator can lean against, or otherwise actuate, to activate the electric motor to rotate the at least one (1) pad as required. Backing away from said switch results in cessation of pad rotation. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pot scrubber. 
     FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate an installation of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates details of the installation of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5, illustrates the shaft assembly, seal housing assembly, and at least one (1) cleaning pad of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 6,  7 , and  8 , illustrate installation of the at least one (1) cleaning pad on the shaft assembly. 
     FIG. 9, illustrates installation of the seal housing assembly on the shaft of the shaft assembly. 
     FIG. 10 illustrates a means of height adjustment of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Shown in FIG. 1 is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pot scrubber  1  comprising a drive means comprising a motor  10  in conjunction with a gearbox  20 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the motor  10  is a 220 volt 3 phase electric motor, although, as obvious to anyone skilled in the art, other types of motors could be used including electric motors of different voltage or even hydraulic driven motors. The gearbox  20 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention is a right angle worm gearbox, although, as obvious to anyone skilled in the art, other types of gearboxes would serve the same purpose. The pot scrubber  1  further comprises a shaft assembly  60  which is driven by the above said drive means comprising the motor  10  in conjunction with the gearbox  20 . The shaft assembly  60  drives the at least one (1) cleaning pad  62  in a rotating motion (Ref. FIG.  10 ). A pot surface can be cleaned by holding said pot surface against the at least one (1) cleaning pad  62  while the cleaning pad  62  is rotated. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8  and  9 , the shaft assembly  60  comprises a shaft  61 , a seal housing assembly  40 , and a coupling assembly  30 , a top washer  64 , nut  68 , a spring detent pin  65 , a key  34 , a snap ring  66 , and a bottom washer  67 . The shaft  61  comprises threads  61 A, a pin clearance  61 B, a keyway  61 C, and a snap ring groove  61 D. The seal housing assembly  40  comprises quarter turn fasteners  42 , a seal  41 , and a gasket  43 . The seal  41  in the preferred embodiment of the present invention is a spring loaded lip seal in a metal case that can be press fitted into the seal housing assembly  40 . FIG. 2 shows the shaft assembly  60  mounted and extending upwardly through a prior art mounting surface  200  by means of the seal housing assembly  40 . The quarter turn fasteners  42  serve to fasten the seal housing assembly  40  to the prior art mounting surface  200  which in turn positions the shaft assembly  60  in place. The bottom washer  67  which is held in position with respect to the shaft  61  by means of the snap ring  66  engaged into the snap ring groove  61 D will be underneath the prior art mounting surface  200 . The seal housing assembly  40  mounts on top of the prior art mounting surface  200 . The coupling assembly  30  comprises a top half  32  and bottom half  31  and inserts  33 . The top half  32  comprises a shaft clearance  33 A and a coupler keyway  33 B (shown in FIG.  5 ). The key  34  secures the top half  32  to the shaft  61 . Coupling assemblies such as the coupling assembly  30  are common to the trade and supplied by a number of firms, under a variety of tradenames, including LOVEJOY couplings. The at least one (1) pad  62  include, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a clearance  62 A. The nuts  68 , when installed on the shaft  61 , support the pads  62 . The pad  62  is retained on the shaft  61 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, by the top washer  64  which is secured in position by the spring detent pin  65 . The spring detent pin  65  facilitates replacement of the pad  62  as required. The nuts  68  are tightened sufficiently against the pad  62  held in position by the top washer  64  secured in position by said pin  65  so that the pad  62  is sufficiently fluffed so that a pot surface against the top of the pad  62  does not come in contact with the shaft  61 , which would tend to scar said pot surface. The at least one (1) pad  62  is known in the trade and supplied by a number of firms. 
     FIGS. 2,  3 , and  4  illustrate the pot scrubber  1  in a typical installation with an electrical enclosure  73  with a master power switch  74 , an electrical conduit  75 , a switch enclosure  72 , and a normally open spring return pushbutton switch  71 . In operation, a person using the pot scrubber  1  can lean against said switch  71  to activate the pot scrubber  1  as required, causing the shaft  61  and therefor the at least one (1) pad  62  to rotate. Backing away from said switch  71  would result in the shaft  61  and the pad  62  ceasing to rotate. Also shown is a mounting frame assembly  100  comprising main struts  101 , motor mount struts  102 , bolts  103 , U-bolts  110 , and U-bolt nuts  111 . The main struts  101  include U-bolt clearances  112 . The motor mount struts  102  comprises mount bolt clearances  106  for motor mounting bolts  105  through motor mount bolt clearances  104 . 
     FIG. 10 illustrates an alternate mounting installation for the pot scrubber  1 . In FIG. 10, the pot scrubber  1  is mounted to an adjustable height mount assembly  300  comprising an alternate mounting plate  301  with mount bolt apertures  302 , a gearbox support  303 , a threaded shaft  304 , an adjusting collar  305 , and a base  306 . Said plate  301  is affixed to said shaft  304  which sits in said base  306 , said shaft  304  being supported in base  306  by said collar  305 . Said collar  305  mates with said shaft  304  so the height of said assembly  300  can be adjusted by rotating said collar  305  with respect to said shaft  304 . The center of gravity of the motor  10  and the gearbox  20 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, sufficiently coincides with said shaft  304  so that, in conjunction with the seal housing assembly  40  attaching to the prior art mounting surface  200  (Ref. FIG. 3) by means of the quarter turn fasteners  42 , as previously discussed, the installation of the pot scrubber  1  with said mount assembly  300  is sufficiently stable to serve the intended purpose of scrubbing pots. 
     The materials of construction of the present invention are metal except for the at least one (1) pad  62 , inserts  33 , the gasket  43 , and said seal  41 . The preferred metal is stainless steel, although, as obvious to anyone skilled in the art, other metals would serve, albeit perhaps not as well. As water and soap will be used in conjunction with this invention as required, corrosion is a design consideration in the selection of materials. 
     Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. 
     For example, the quarter turn fasteners  42  are given as the preferred embodiment of the present invention for attachment of the seal housing assembly  40  to the prior art mounting surface  200 , primarily for case of seal  41  replacement. As obvious to anyone skilled in the art of mechanical installations, there are a number of ways to accomplish the attachment of a seal housing assembly  40  to a mounting surface  200 . Beyond that, one could accomplish the location of the shaft assembly  60  by other means to the seal housing assembly  40 , such means could be a collar with no seal and perhaps a busing. Or a seal could be used that is not a spring loaded lip seal. These alternatives might work, albeit not as well as the preferred embodiments discussed. 
     Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims in the formal application and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.