Patent GB-661906-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to sweeping machines
IPC: A47L11/33
Filed: 1949-02-28
Abstract: 661,906. Floor-sweeping machines. AYLIFFE, H. Dec. 31, 1949 [Feb. 28, 1949], No. 5403/49. Addition to 642,543. Class 138 (i). [Also in Group X] Relates to an improvement in or modification of the sweeping machine according to the parent Specification in which a driving gear for the segmental rotary brush has an element connected to the ramp operating means such that the ramp is depressed and raised at predetermined times in the working cycle. The machine comprises main side walls 1, 2, Fig. 2, of sheet metal, a horizontal base plate 3 of wood, a sheet metal cowling 4, a removable dust receptacle 14, a rotary segmental brush 18, a pivoted ramp 19, front wheels 6, rear castor wheels 8 and rear manoeuvring wheels 10. The wheels 6, 10, are housed within compartments 5 formed between the side walls 1, 2, and the sides of the cowling 4. The brush driving gear is housed in one compartment 5, while the brush locking gear is housed in the other. The brush which is drivable by a shaft 21 comprises segments 24, 25 of bristles and a segment 26 of sheet rubber corrugated on the working face. In the operative position for sweeping shown in Fig. 1, the brush is locked so that the segment 24 which is stiffened by a plate 30 constitutes the rear wall of a dust receiving compartment comprising side walls formed by the walls 1, 2, and a roof formed by the segment 26t The dust receiving compartment opening is flanked on each side by rubber guide wings 11. When sufficient refuse has been collected it is transferred to the bin 14 by rotating the brush 18 to convey the refuse up the ramp 19 which is automatically depressed. The ramp is not depressed until the brush has moved a small distance up the ramp so that the catching of brush bristles under the ramp is avoided. The brush is automatically relocked after rotating one complete revolution when the ramp is also raised again. The driving gear, Fig. 3, for the brush comprises a gear segment 33 journalled at 34 to the wall 1, which segment engages a pinion 31 connected to the brush shaft 21 through a free wheel device 32 which permits the brush to be driven in a clockwise direction only. The segment 33 is oscillated through one direction to drive the pinion 31 by a control rod 36 having forks pivotally connected to the segment at 35. The rod is operable by a hand lever 37 movable over a gate segment 41 fitted to the machine handle 15. The brush locking gear, Fig. 7, comprises a cam plate 43 fixed to the shaft 21 which plate has a notch 44 engageable with a detent 47 of a spring controlled pivoted lever 45. The lever 45 can be lifted by a spring controlled pivoted pawl lever 52 operable by a Bowden cable 56 controlled from a lever 57 pivoted to the hand lever 37. When the lever 45 is lifted a projection 51 thereon is supported by one arm of a two armed spring controlled pivoted trip lever 49. When the detent has been removed from the notch 44 and the brush has been rotated a small amount a stop pin 62 on the cam plate controls the other arm of the trip lever 49 which allows the lever 45 to fall so that its detent 47 engages on to the cam track edge of the plate The brush is thus driven through one revolution when the detent again contacts the stop 44. When the lever 57, is released, the lever 52 can return to its normal position through the agency of a snap action pawl 58 pivoted to the lever 52 under the control of a spring 59. The ramp depressing mechanism comprises a link 66 rigidly connected to the ramp shaft 64, which link has a pin 67 engageable in a slot 70 formed in a lever 68 pivoted at 69 to the wall 1. The lever 68 has a pin 71 engageable in a cam groove 72 formed in the inner face of the gear segment 33. The cam groove 72 has two portions concentric with the journal 34 and arranged at different radii therefrom, the portions lying on either side of an eccentric portion 73 near the beginning of the groove. When the brush is unlocked by the operating lever 57 and then rotated by operating the lever 37, the ramp remains stationary until the brush has moved a short distance thereover, when the pin 71 is deflected by the portion 73 so as to depress the ramp through the medium of the links 66, 68. The pin 71 then rides in the remaining concentric portion of the groove 72. When the gear 33 is rotated in the opposite direction by the lever 37 the shaft 21 is not driven owing to the free wheel device 32 and the ramp is raised when the pin 71 re-engages in the:other concentric portion of the cam groove due to the deflection again caused by the eccentric portion 73. In the case of a large machine a power unit may be fixed to the machine frame as an alternative or addition to the manual operating means. The brush may be arranged to be rotated through a number of complete revolutions before locking.