Patent Publication Number: US-2002006306-A1

Title: Pump water soap dispensing mechanism

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention is broadly concerned with cleaning mop or brush assembly, which is designed to be self-contained with a supply of soap and water held internally. The user can rapidly fill the handle reservoir from the home sink water tap, or remove and fill the soap dispensing valve capsule. The user can selectively deliver a mixture of liquid soap and water, rinse water only, or can mop without dispensing soap or water. More particularly, the invention pertains to a removable soap dispensing valve capsule assembly. A selectively shiftable ball check assembly can be relatively positioned at discrete locations for the respective user-selected delivery options. A pump handle reservoir delivers pressurized water.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art  
       [0004] Traditional home mopping, particularly with sponge mops, involved filling a bucket with water and mixing with soap, then mopping with soap. When rinsing is started, there is usually a number of trips to the sink spicket to dump and fill the rinse bucket with clean water. At times, it can be messy and time-consuming. Broadly speaking, mops and mopping have changed little over time.  
       [0005] I feel that my self-contained soap and water dispensing mop invention with its facility to move around to deliver soapy wash or rinse directly to area to be mopped is a real improvement. Also, the ability to rapidly fill the reservoir handle from sink taps and the long-lasting (between fill-ups) on board soap dispensing capsule make it a complete solution and always ready to use at a moment&#39;s notice.  
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0006] Turning now to the drawings and, particularly, FIG. 1, a soap and water dispensing mop unit  14  is illustrated. The mop unit  14  includes a tubular pump piston reservoir handle assembly  21  adapted to be operatively is coupled with a forwardly extending tubular cylinder valve assembly  16 . The lowermost end of  16  is operatively coupled with an obliquely oriented mop  18 . In broad terms, the mop unit  14  is designed to hold a supply of water and liquid soap, and to be selectively shiftable between two positions, namely a soap dispensing position where a mixture of water and soap is pump-delivered to the mop  18 , and a rinse wherein only water is pump-delivered to mop  18 . The mop  18  itself is entirely conventional.  
     [0007] The tubular pump piston handle assembly  21  includes substantially right angle fill port  17  on tubular body  141 , FIGS.  1 - 1 . Attached adjacent to fill port  17  is a fill cap closure formed out of elasitor material  26 , FIGS.  2 - 3 , that presents an outwardly projecting sealing lip  29 . Affixed internally is reed valve  41  that is adapted to communicate with vent hole  26  in cap  26 . Attached to the lower smallest diameter end of tubular body  33  is piston head  30 , including valve seat bore  31 , check ball  40 , spring  37 , and retainer  46 . Located in an external groove  149  is an O-ring  22 , positioned upstream from piston head  30  and affixed to tubular body  141 , is an outwardly projecting lobe  15 .  
     [0008] Cylinder valve assembly  16  includes a larger tubular end formed into a collet  138 , further including a locking ring  45  located in exterior groove  61 , FIG. 5. The collet end of  138  also includes at least two axial extending slots  39 , one being wide enough to receive lobe  15  of pump handle assembly  16 . At the lower end of the tubular assembly  16 , there is a small diameter tube section with external groove and axial aligned slot  108  through one wall. Internally located at the start of the small diameter is a valve seat  70 , FIGS.  1 - 2 . Held internally abutting valve seat  70  is a soap valve capsule  20  that is shiftable and removable. The soap valve capsule  20  includes a resilient cap closure  49 , a tubular body  66 , and in the lowermost end, there is a groove  55 . Running laterally from groove  55  is a small port  77  that terminates in radial groove  56 . The outwardly extending shoulder  93  and radial groove  71  both serve to hold in place cap  74  that has a ball end  88 , and an exit port  91 , FIGS.  1 - 2 , also including a concentric bore  140  that serves to hold spring  46 , and to guide valve follower  83 , and flat rubber valve  87 . Valve  87  has a small concentric hole  97  that receives a small protruding end of valve follower  89  located in the confines of port  35 .  
     [0009] Located internally adjacent down stream is a shiftable check valve assembly  12 , FIGS.  1 - 2 , which includes a valve body  98 , having two internal ports,  107  and  119 , and valve seat  124 , further including an O-ring  116  located in an external groove  125 . Internal bore  119  holds in place a check ball  101  and a spring  103 . Affixed to body  98  and protruding outwardly is a dispensing tube  113  that has two internal ports,  96  and  120 . Dispensing tube  113  is positioned to extend through slot  108 , and to further protrude out of obliquely oriented slot  49  where it serves as a cam lobe against the walls of the oblique slot  49  of the mop assembly  18 . Assembly  16  is attached to mop  18  with a set screw  131 .  
     [0010] The use of mop unit  16  with dispensing valve assembly will now be described with reference to FIGS.  1 - 2 . In this discussion, it will be assumed that soap valve capsule  20  is filled with soap and that pump handle  21  is filled with tap water. If the user decides to dispense a soap and water mixture, while grasping with both hands, one hand around the pump assembly  21  and the other around the lower valve dispensing assembly  16 , he or she will rotate clockwise the whole unit  14 , causing dispensing lobe  113  to move down to lower end of oblique slot  49  as shown in FIGS.  1 - 2 . It will be observed that the ball end  88  of valve  20  is against shoulder  70  when a user pulls back pump handle assembly  21 , and a charge of water is pulled down from water reservoir area  77  of pump handle assembly  21  past ball check assembly  30  into cylinder area  136 .  
     [0011] When pump handle assembly  21  pushes forward, it forces water in the cylinder area  136  down annular passageway  19  through port  77  and groove  56 , forcing flat valve  87  to open. This causes soap from port  35  to mix with water. The soapy water continues past ball check  101  and out through dispensing tube  113 , delivering soapy water.  
     [0012] When the user decides to dispense rinse water, the mop unit  14  is rotated counterclockwise. It will be observed, FIGS.  3 - 6 , that dispensing tube  113  has moved all the way up the oblique slot  49 . It causes valve assembly  12  and soap valve capsule assembly  20  to shift up stream, moving the ball end  88  away from shoulder  70 , thus opening a complete annular passageway around soap valve capsule  20 , also causing the end  139  of valve assembly  12  to push against follower  83  holding the valve  87  closed. Now every time the pump handle is pumped, it forces water down annularly around soap valve capsule  20 , past ball check  101 , and out dispensing tube  113  to deliver rinse water.  
     [0013] To remove and refill soap capsule as needed, the user rotates locking ring  45  until relief  27  is aligned with slot  39  of valve dispensing assembly  16 . The pump handle assembly  21  is further pulled and removed. The cylinder valve assembly  16  is then tilted downward to drop out soap valve capsule  20  into the user&#39;s hand. The user further removes cap  49 , FIGS.  4 - 1 , fills as needed, replaces cap  49 , and drops it back into valve assembly  16 .  
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
     [0014]FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of a preferred soap and rinse dispensing mop;  
     [0015]FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of FIG. 1 with the uppermost end, broken away above pump piston head and soap capsule, abutting cylinder seat;  
     [0016]FIG. 3 is a side view of pump body and cap, both ends being fragmentary sections;  
     [0017]FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of soap vale capsule with fill cap, displaced above;  
     [0018]FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top view of cylinder body and mop head including fragmentary, sectional locking ring and cam dispensing tube;  
     [0019]FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, sectional view, broken away at the middle of soap valve capsule, showing capsule, spaced away from cylinder seat.