Patent GB-491254-A (GB)
Title: Appliances for suction cleaning and floor polishing
IPC: A47L11/204
Filed: 1937-03-08
Abstract: 491,254. Floor waxing and polishing machines. SIMPSON, J. R. March 8, 1937, Nos. 6748/37 and 1377 /38. [Class 138 (i)] A machine for suction-cleaning, waxing, and polishing floors of the kind comprising a suction fan and a rotary brush both of which are driven bv an electric motor, is provided with a wax container and means for ejecting the wax driven by a screw rotated by the power unit or by wheel or handle movements of the machine. As shown, the fan 1 applies suction at the nozzle 4, in which is mounted a beater driven by a belt 41. The nozzle may be removable, and the axle 48 of the front wheels is adjustable to vary the position of the nozzle. The rear wheels 45 are enclosed within a ring-shaped brush 23, which is resiliently mounted and is fast with a gear wheel 17 which meshes with a pinion 25 rotatable on the motor shaft 30. The hub of the fan also is rotatable on the motor shaft. A clutch unit 32 for clutching the pinion 25 and the fan hub to the shaft 30 is so arranged that both the fan and brush may be driven simultaneously, or either of them independently. A wax container 7 mounted in front of the brush has an outlet 6 close to the floor level and includes an ejecting piston 8 operated by a rotating screw 9. The screw is rotated intermittently by a ratchet wheel 10 and a pawl 11 operated by a rod 13, a crank on a shaft 14, a worm wheel 15, and a worm 16 fast with the gear wheel 17. To discontinue the ejection of wax, a member 19 is moved to unclutch the ratchet wheel from the screw 9. Blades or bristles about the outlet 6 may assist in spreading the wax. Two annular brushes 23 may be driven by a central pinion, in which case the container 7 may have an outlet at each end and two pistons operated by a right- and left-handed screw. The nozzle 4 may be removed and replaced by a plate, which confines the suction to the area adjacent the brush 23. The motor shaft is protected by packing 40 where it passes through the suction duct 3. In a modification, Fig. 11 (not shown), the brush 23 is cylindrical and is driven by a belt, and wax is extruded directly upon it from a container having an elongated outlet. The pawl 11 is driven from the motor shaft through gear wheels, a rock-shaft, bevel gearing, and a linkage which is adjustable to vary the throw of the pawl and hence the amount of wax extruded. In another modification, Fig. 3 (not shown), the pawl is driven from the wheels of the machine through an eccentric and an adjustable linkage. In another modification, Fig. 4, the pawl 83 is connected, by links 82, 81 and an adjustable link 80, to the handle 85 of the machine, so that oscillation of the handle, during the backward and forward movements, of the machine over the surface being polished, drives the wax-ejecting screw. In modifications of this arrangement, the pawl is not only operable by oscillation of the handle, but also by rotary or sliding movements of a member which is associated with the handle and connected to the pawl through links, bevel gearing, or otherwise, or is operable by sliding movements of the handle. Such member also may be operated by a flexible cable. In another arrangement, Fig. 9, the wax is contained in a collapsable tube 104 which is collapsed by the pressure of plates 105 engaged by travelling nuts 107, 108 on a right- and left-handed screw 111. In another modification, the wax container is carried bv the handle of the machine and the pawl is oscillated by linkage pivoted to the body of the machine. The brush 23 may be driven by a friction drive from the shaft 30. The wax container may have a screw-threaded inner wall engaged by a threaded piston slidable on a plain spindle. Specification 464,350 is referred to.