Abstract:
A broom and detachable whisk broom are disclosed where a broom head with bristles has a discontinuous perimeter with an opening to receive a detachable whisk broom. The detachable whisk broom has bristles that create a continuous multiplicity of bristles when inserted in the broom head. The opening in the broom head has a linear guide that aligns with a linear guide of the whisk broom. A tab receiver on the broom head receives and positively engages a tab and spring hinge arrangement on the whisk broom to create the appearance and utility of a one piece broom head with the advantages of a quickly detachable whisk broom.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates generally to cleaning devices, and more specifically to a broom and detachable whisk broom. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Brooms are common cleaning devices that have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years. Bundles of natural material such as twigs, grass, and corn husks were used in ancient times to clean floors and hearth areas. A popular material was branches of broom, a yellow flowering shrub. As civilization advanced, broom making became a skilled trade with artisans known as “besom squires” in Anglo-Saxon England. Besom being the name for a cleaning tool consisting of a bundle of sticks or twigs used to whisk dirt away. 
         [0005]    In the United States, a species of Sorghum known as broomcorn became the standard material for brooms in the northeastern United States, and an industry was born. The Shakers, a Christian religious sect that excelled at handicrafts, perfected various broom styles including the flat broom and the whisk broom. 
         [0006]    With modern day materials such as plastics, many brooms are now made entirely from plastic, although there still remains a thriving demand for natural fiber brooms. Whether natural fibers or plastic, brooms typically are made with a handle to allow the user to operate the broom without bending over. There are also, however, specialized brooms known as whisk brooms or dusters that do not have handles, and are used to remove dirt and other unwanted materials from small areas or objects such as tables, clothing, a small area of a floor, and the like. There are also times when a broom with a handle is needed for a particular cleaning job as well as a whisk broom. On these occasions, both style brooms are maintained and used. When a whisk broom is needed while a handled broom is being used, the user usually stops work with the handled broom, locates the whisk broom, brings the whisk broom to the area of use, and once finished using the whisk broom, returns it to where it came from. Such an approach can waste time, especially if the whisk broom is not readily at hand or cannot be easily located. 
         [0007]    What is needed is a handled broom that can also be used as a whisk broom. 
         [0008]    It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a broom with a detachable whisk broom. It is another object of the present invention to provide a broom with a whisk broom that forms a detachable part of the broom where the whisk broom bristles become part of the broom bristles when attached to one another. 
         [0009]    These and other objects of the present invention are not to be considered comprehensive or exhaustive, but rather, exemplary of objects that may be ascertained after reading this specification and claims with the accompanying drawings. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a broom and detachable whisk broom comprising a broom head comprising a top side having a pole receiver for attachment to a pole and a bottom side with bristles attached; the broom head having a discontinuous perimeter partially encompassing the bottom side with an opening to receive a detachable whisk broom; the opening in the broom head having a linear guide; a tab receiver located proximate the opening in the broom head for receiving and positively engaging a tab on the detachable whisk broom; and a detachable whisk broom comprising a whisk broom head having atop side for insertion into the opening of the broom head and a bottom side with bristles attached; the whisk broom head comprising a tab for retention in the tab receiver of the broom head wherein the tab is operatively connected to a spring hinge such that the tab is located within an aperture in the whisk broom head and moves in an axis perpendicular to the surface of the whisk broom head; the whisk broom head having a linear guide for engagement with the linear guide of the broom head. 
         [0011]    The foregoing paragraph has been provided by way of introduction, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention as described in this specification, claims and the attached drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    The invention will be described by reference to the following drawings, in which like numerals refer to like elements, and in which: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a left side view of the broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a right side view of the broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a top plan view of the broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a bottom plan view of the broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of the broom and detachable whisk broom; 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  is a bottom plan view of the broom with the whisk broom detached; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 9  is a plan view of the whisk broom detached from the broom. 
       
    
    
       [0022]    The attached figures depict various views of the broom and detachable whisk broom in sufficient detail to allow one skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. These figures are exemplary, and depict a preferred embodiment; however, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention to the embodiment depicted herein. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by this specification, claims and drawings. 
       DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0023]    A Broom and Detachable Whisk Broom are described and depicted by way of this specification and the attached drawings. 
         [0024]    For a general understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals have been used throughout to designate identical elements. 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a perspective view of the broom and detachable whisk broom  100  is shown. The broom and detachable whisk broom may be made from any suitable rigid or semi-rigid material, for example, a plastic. Examples of suitable plastics include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polytetrafluoroethylene, and the like. Bioplastics may also be used in some embodiments of the present invention. In addition, reinforced plastics, metals, wood, or other materials that may be suitably formed may also be used. The various components of the broom and detachable whisk broom may be made by injection molding, blow molding, machining, extruding, or the like. The broom head  101  can be seen in  FIG. 1  as having a top side having a pole receiver  115  for attachment to a pole  111 . The pole  111  may be made from a metal, plastic, or the like, and may be attached to the pole receiver  115  with threads, rivets, friction fittings, screws, indentations, or the like. The broom head, in some embodiments of the present invention, has a curved top side. The bottom side of the broom head  101  has bristles  121  attached thereto. The bristles may be made from a synthetic material such as nylon or other plastic, or may, in some embodiments of the present invention, be made from a natural fiber. The broom head  101  has a discontinuous perimeter that partially encompasses the bottom side and has an opening to receive a detachable whisk broom  103 . The broom head  101  also has a tab receiver  105  located proximate the opening in the broom head for receiving and positively engaging a tab  107  on the detachable whisk broom. The tab receiver  105  may, in some embodiments of the present invention, have an oval or rounded shape, or may appear as an elliptical or other geometric shape, and is an opening in the broom head  101 . The tab  107  is complimentary in shape to the tab receiver  105  and positively engages the tab  107  on the detachable whisk broom once the tab  107  is received in the tab receiver  105 . In some embodiments of the present invention, the broom head  101  further comprises a perimeter lip  117 . The perimeter lip  117  may be rounded or oval and may appear as a beading around the perimeter of the broom head  101 . The detachable whisk broom  103  also may have a perimeter lip  119  that is similar in shape and orientation to the broom head perimeter lip  117 , and creates a continuous perimeter lip with the broom head when the detachable whisk broom  103  is inserted in the broom head  101 . When the detachable whisk broom  103  is inserted in the broom head  101 , the bristles of the broom head and the bristles of the detachable whisk broom form a continuous multiplicity of bristles. The bristles may be arranged in a pattern or other geometry, and may, in some embodiments of the present invention, be angled or otherwise oriented. 
         [0026]    The detachable whisk broom  103  has a top side for insertion into the opening of the broom head and a bottom side with bristles attached. The whisk broom head (see  FIG. 7  for an unobstructed view of the whisk broom head  711 ) has a tab  107  for retention in the tab receiver  105  of the broom head  101  wherein the tab  107  is operatively connected to a spring hinge (see  FIG. 7 ) such that the tab is located within an aperture in the whisk broom head and moves in an axis perpendicular to the surface of the whisk broom head. An extractor lip  109  can also be seen in  FIG. 1  generally perpendicular to the perimeter of the detachable whisk broom. The extractor lip  109  may also be located close to, or generally above, the whisk broom the perimeter lip  119 . The whisk broom extractor lip  109  may also, in some embodiments of the present invention, have a curved horizontal perimeter. 
         [0027]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the broom and detachable whisk broom that clearly shows the detachable whisk broom  103  inserted in the broom head  101  and positively retained through the interaction of the tab  107  and the tab receiver  105 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 3  is a left side view of the broom and detachable whisk broom and  FIG. 4  is a right side view of the broom and detachable whisk broom. The whisk broom extractor lip  109  can be clearly seen in both views, and facilitates ease of removal and installation of the detachable whisk broom  103  in the broom head  101 . 
         [0029]      FIG. 5  is a top plan view of the broom and detachable whisk broom and  FIG. 6  is a bottom plan view of the broom and detachable whisk broom. The bristles  121  can be clearly seen in one exemplary configuration. Other configurations, orientations, arrangements, as well as various bristle thicknesses are considered to be within the scope and content of the present invention. 
         [0030]    To use the broom and detachable whisk broom, with the detachable whisk broom  103  coupled to the broom head  101 , the broom and detachable whisk broom are used like a traditional broom to sweep floors or other surface areas free of dirt and debris. Sweeping simply involves moving the handle or pole of the broom such that the broom head moves across the surface to be cleaned and in doing so moves the dirt and debris in a desired direction so that the dirt and debris can be removed with a dustpan or the like. To use the detachable whisk broom  103  independent of the broom head  101 , the tab  107  is depressed and the whisk broom  103  is pulled downward by securely gripping a portion of the whisk broom  103  such as the whisk broom extractor lip  109 . The detachable whisk broom  103  may, in some embodiments of the present invention, have a curved top side. To use the detachable whisk broom of the present invention, the detachable whisk broom  103  is grasped and moved in a desired direction across the surface to be cleaned, thus moving dirt and debris to a location where the dirt and debris can then be removed by a dustpan for example. 
         [0031]      FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of the broom and detachable whisk broom. The arrow above the detachable whisk broom indicates the direction that the detachable whisk broom  103  must move in order to be secured by the broom head  101 . The whisk broom head  711  can be seen with bristles  121  attached. When the detachable whisk broom  103  is inserted in the broom head  101 , the tab  107  is retained by the tab receiver  105 . The tab  107  protrudes outward from the surface of the whisk broom to allow for positive engagement with the tab receiver  105  of the broom head  101 . The tab  107  is attached to, or integrally molded with, a spring hinge  707 . The spring hinge  707  is a generally planar structure that is attached at one side to the whisk broom at a side of a tab aperture  705 . The tab aperture  705  is an opening in the detachable whisk broom  103  that may, in some embodiments of the present invention, be rectangular. The spring hinge  707  restricts the movement of the tab  107  to an axis that is perpendicular to the surface of the whisk broom  103  and also provides force that keeps the tab  107  in the tab receiver  105 . To facilitate proper insertion and alignment of the detachable whisk broom  103  into the opening in the broom head  101 , the opening in the broom head  101  has a linear guide and the detachable whisk broom  103  also has a complimentary linear guide for engagement with the linear guide of the broom head  101 . In some embodiments of the present invention, the linear guide of the detachable whisk broom  103  comprises a first guide slot  701  and a second guide slot  703 . These guide slots may be located at either end of the detachable whisk broom along a vertical periphery of the detachable whisk broom. These guide slots may be rectangular, and engage with the first guide  801  and the second guide  803  of the broom head as depicted in  FIG. 8 . In some embodiments of the present invention, a third guide slot  709  is located in the opening of the broom head  101  with a generally linear shape and vertical orientation. The third guide slot  709  engages with a third guide  901  of the detachable whisk broom  103  as seen in  FIG. 9 . In some embodiments of the present invention, the linear guides of the broom head  101  and the detachable whisk broom  103  are generally rectangular in shape. 
         [0032]      FIG. 8  is a bottom plan view of the broom with the whisk broom detached showing clearly the first guide  801 , the second guide  803 , and the third guide slot  709 . These linear guides may be modified in quantity, shape, length, and structure. For example, guides and guide slots may be interchanged between the broom head  101  and the detachable whisk broom  103 . 
         [0033]    Lastly,  FIG. 9  is a plan view of the whisk broom detached from the broom. The third guide  901  can be clearly seen. Modifications, additions, or deletions to the linear guides may be made, and are considered to be within the spirit and broad scope of the present invention and the various embodiments described and envisioned herein. 
         [0034]    It is, therefore, apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the various objects of the present invention, a broom and detachable whisk broom. While the various objects of this invention have been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of this specification, claims and the attached drawings.