Abstract:
A portable machine uses two pairs of rollers to squeeze water from a carpet piece, such as a wet floor mat from a car. A motor provides a driving force to the lower rollers and the upper rollers are driven by frictional engagement with the lower rollers. After passing through the two sets of rollers, the mat exits the back of the machine and falls into a basket. After processing by the machine, the car mat is substantially dry and able to be placed into a car interior without fear of mold formation. The machine may use

Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 11/404,926, filed Apr. 17, 2006, which is a continuation is part of Ser. No. 10/155,006, filed on May 28, 2002. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The instant application is based upon provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/330,640, filed Oct. 26, 2001. 
         [0003]    Floor mats in a vehicle are used to protect the interior of the automobile. They often match the color of the interior and are subjected to the most wear and tear from the occupants of the vehicle. When completely worn out, they can be easily replaced, unlike the interior carpet. 
         [0004]    Occupants of the vehicle often cause the car mats to become dirty, stained and in need of cleaning. When the exterior of the car is washed, the vehicle owner may want to have the car floor mats cleaned. This is especially true when a car is “detailed”, and both the interior and exterior of a car are thoroughly cleaned. 
         [0005]    Floor mats are essentially pieces of carpeting and are cleaned similar to carpeting. After cleaning, the floor mat is wet and needs to be dried before being placed back in the vehicle because, once in the vehicle, the enclosed environment of the vehicle interior will cause the mat to dry slowly. In this time, the floor mat can cause a musty, moldy odor in the vehicle. 
         [0006]    Often, floor mats have in-grained dirt needing more agitation and cleaning action. In this instance, it is advantageous to use a brush, allowing the bristles to agitate the pile of the floor mat to loosen dirt to result in a more thorough cleaning. 
         [0007]    It is therefore necessary to have an apparatus for drying a floor mat after a cleaning process. 
         [0008]    It is an object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats after they have been cleaned. 
         [0009]    It is another object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats that is mobile. 
         [0010]    It is still another object of the invention to provide a machine having bristles for removing dirt from car mats. 
         [0011]    It is yet another object of the invention to provide a machine for quickly and easily cleaning floor mats with roller type bristles. 
         [0012]    It is another object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats that can be coin operated. 
         [0013]    It is yet another object of the invention to provide a machine for drying car mats that is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use. 
         [0014]    These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading the disclosure of the invention. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0015]    The invention is a portable machine using two pairs of rollers to squeeze water from a wet floor mat. A motor provides a driving force to the lower rollers and the upper rollers are driven by frictional engagement with the lower rollers. After passing through the two sets of rollers, the mat exits the back of the machine and falls into a basket. After processing by the machine, the car mat is substantially dry and able to be placed into a car interior without fear of mold formation. 
         [0016]    The motor may be used to drive a roller having bristles. A roller in front of the roller having bristles receives the floor mat and pulls the mat through the machine. The roller having bristles moves faster than the front rollers, allowing the bristles to agitate the pile of the car mat. A pressure plate disposed above the rollers having bristles insures contact between the mat and bristles. A second roller having bristles may also be used to further enhance the cleaning effect. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a exploded view of the housing of the dryer for floor mats; 
           [0018]      FIG. 2   a  is a left side view of the dryer with the left panel removed; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2   b  is a front view of the dryer; 
           [0020]      FIG. 2   c  is a right side view of the dryer with the right panel removed; 
           [0021]      FIG. 3   a  is an exploded view of the bottom roller assembly; 
           [0022]      FIG. 3   b  is a view of the sprocket and spring slack adjuster; 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the top roller assembly; 
           [0024]      FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the bottom roller assembly of the embodiment having brushes; 
           [0025]      FIG. 6  is an exploded view of the top roller assembly of the embodiment having rollers; and 
           [0026]      FIG. 7  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of a machine having bristles. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0027]    The housing of the mat dryer for car floor mats is seen in the exploded view of  FIG. 1 . A frame  20  is supported by legs  28 . A left panel  21  is attached to the left side of the frame  20  and a right panel  23  is attached to the right side of the frame  20 . A cover  24  is attached to the front of the frame  20  to form an enclosure. The left panel is equipped with an On/Off switch  22  and an Emergency On/Off switch  26 . The On/Off switch  22  can be connected to a coin slot to make the machine coin operated. 
         [0028]    A view of the left side of the dryer for car floor mats is seen in  FIG. 2   a . A motor  30  is attached to the left side of the frame  20  and drives a pulley  32 . A V-belt  35  connects the driven pulley  32  to an eight-inch pulley  41 . 
         [0029]    The front of the dryer for car floor mats is shown in  FIG. 2   b . The legs  28  can be supported upon leg levelers. A basket  29  receives the mats after passing through the device. The eight-inch pulley  41  driven by the motor  30  is attached to a drive shaft  43  extending across the length of the dryer to the right side, as will be described later. An on/off switch  37  operates the motor  30  and the front cover  24  of the enclosure has a feeder slot  25  for receiving wet car floor mats. 
         [0030]    The right side of the device can be seen in  FIG. 2   c . A 12-tooth sprocket  45  is connected to the right end of drive shaft  43  driven by motor  30 . A chain  47  connects the sprocket  45  to a gear reducer  49 . The gear reducer  49  is connected to sprockets  77 , one connected to each of the bottom rollers by way of drive chain  50 . A slack adjuster  63 , tensioned by a spring  65 , insures the sprockets  77  are efficiently driven by the drive chain  50 . 
         [0031]    The bottom roller assembly is clearly seen in  FIG. 3 . A front roller  71  and rear roller  72  are identical 2½ inch outer diameter rollers and held to the sides of the frame  20  by ¾ inch flange bearing  75 . Attached to the right side of both the front roller  71  and rear roller  72  are 28-tooth sprocket  77 . Between the rollers is the drive shaft  43  driven by the eight-inch pulley  41 . On the right side of the drive shaft  43  is the 12-tooth sprocket  45 , as was described in reference to  FIG. 2 . Between the front and rear rollers  71 ,  72  is a steel plate  80  supporting the car floor mat as it travels between the rollers. The slack adjuster and tensioning spring  65  are best seen in  FIG. 3   b.    
         [0032]    The top rollers are seen in reference to  FIG. 4 . A front top roller  81  and a rear top roller  82  are spaced from each other the same distance as the front and rear bottom rollers  71 ,  72 . The top rollers  81 ,  82 , like the bottom rollers  71 ,  72 , are attached to the sides of the frame  20  by a ¾ inch flange bearing  75 . The top rollers  81 ,  82  are driven by frictional contact with the bottom rollers  71 ,  72 . All of the rollers are formed by a steel shaft with a rubber body. The rubber body has enough resilience to allow the passage of a floor mat between the upper and lower roller of each pair but apply enough pressure to remove water from the mats. 
         [0033]    A water assembly  90  is positioned within the machine between the front cover  25  and the front top and bottom rollers  71 ,  81 . The water assembly has a pipe  91  provided with a valve  92  for controlling the flow of water. The base of the pipe  91  is provided with a swivel joint  93  allowing the assembly to be pivoted out of the machine when the front guide panel  24  and top panel  25  are opened. The pipe  91  leads to a top sprayer  96  and bottom sprayer  98 . A mat passes between the top sprayer  96  and bottom sprayer  98  and jets in the top and bottom sprayers are directed toward the mat. If the mat is already cleaned and wet before entering the machine, the spray assembly can be turned off. 
         [0034]    Bristles may be provided on the rollers to clean the floor mats. The bottom roller assembly for the device having the bristles is shown in  FIG. 5 . In this embodiment, the same mechanism is used to transfer power from the motor to the rollers. The pulley  41  is connected to the driven roller  143 . This roller is provided with bristles and has a 14 tooth sprocket  145  attached to the opposite end. Chain  50  connects the 14 tooth sprocket to gear reducer  49 . The gear reducer is form by a 54 inch sprocket concentric with a 11 tooth sprocket. The gear reducer  49  in turn drives a 54 inch sprocket  149  attached to the front roller  71  and an 18 tooth sprocket attached to a rear roller  172  by a chain  47 . The rear roller  172  is also provided with bristles. The large gear  149  attached to the front roller  71  and the smaller gears attached to the driven roller  143  and rear roller  172  cause the bristle rollers to move at a greater rotational speed than the front roller  71 . The differential in speed allows the bristles to moves faster than the floor mat passing through the machine. The relative speeds of the rollers may easily be changed by changing the size of the sprockets on each roller. 
         [0035]      FIG. 6  shows the top roller assembly used in conjunction with the bristle rollers of  FIG. 4 . The assembly includes a top roller  171  supported on bearing  75 . The top roller is normally in frictional engagement with the bottom roller and is turned thereby. A floor mat placed between the upper and lower rollers moves backwards towards the bristle rollers. A pressure plate  182  is positioned above the bristle rollers and insures that the floor mat is pushed against the bristle rollers allowing for efficient agitation. 
         [0036]    Similar to the first embodiment, after processing, the floor mat drops into a receiving basket. Also similar to the first embodiment, the driven roller  143  may be substituted with a simple shaft. 
         [0037]    The second embodiment of a machine using bristles is seen in  FIG. 7 . The mat is placed on plate  202 . Once placed on the plate, it is grabbed and moved forward by conveyor belt  204 . The mat is held tightly between the conveyor belt and plate and advanced through the machine. The mat first encounters two spray nozzles  206 ,  208 . The first spray nozzle provides water under high pressure. The second spray nozzle provides chemicals, such as a cleaner, from the holding tank  210 . In addition to automobile car mats, the device can be used for carpet runners, such as those used in office building lobbies and elsewhere. 
         [0038]    After passing the spray nozzles, the mat passes over brushing rollers  212 . The rollers may be driven in any suitable manner. Although two rollers are shown, any number may be used. The brushing rollers agitate the mat in order to remove debris, especially that which may be embedded in the fibers of the mat. After cleaning by the rollers, the mats pass over a final spray nozzle  214  to rinse the mat of any loose debris and residual chemicals. 
         [0039]    After the last spray nozzle, the mat passes over a vacuum port  216 . The vacuum port leads to a vacuum tank  218  serving as not only the vacuum source but also as a holding tank for liquid removed by the vacuum. An overflow tank  222  receives excess liquid from the vacuum tank. Lastly, before exiting the machine, the mat passes over an exhaust port  220 . The exhaust port is for the vacuum tank so that the air passing through the vacuum tank is exhausted at the mat to further the drying process. 
         [0040]    While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, variations and modifications would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. The invention encompasses such variations and modifications.