Patent Publication Number: US-2013227807-A1

Title: Hand-held cleaning apparatus

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of Italian Patent Application PD2012A000060, filed on Mar. 2, 2012, and incorporated herein by reference. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention concerns hand held-held cleaning equipment for smooth and unbroken surfaces, such as tables, and the like. 
     DISCUSSION OF RELATED ART 
     There are numerous types of manual cleaning devices. These devices, in fact, become quite specific because of the particular function they carry out and the support on which cleaning floors in general, a sector which has reached a considerable degree of sophistication, but these devices require a handle so that the operator can clean with an erect posture and they usually have features that make them easy to operate with the feet; therefore the description will explicitly exclude such devices in that field of application. Not equally specific and sophisticated was the sector that explicitly includes cleaning directly by hand, namely without the use of a handle between the equipment and the operator&#39;s hand. 
     From the above-mentioned cleaning tools we should exclude equipment for cleaning windows, which requires special equipment because the requirements are very varied and particular, like for example the absence of halo effect, compared to other surfaces that can be, for all intents and purposes, continuous and smooth, such as tables. 
     Now there are many types of smooth and continuous surfaces, like that of a table, that have to be cleaned by hand; so any kind of improvement that could help the numerous operators entrusted with this task would without doubt be warmly welcomed by the market. What is still widely used, because it can be carried out quickly and without the need for any level of performance to be attained, is cleaning that involves just a piece of cloth held in the hand, without any support, where the operator just with the palm of the hand can exercise the necessary pressure against the surface to be cleaned. 
     It is clear that the cleaning method described above is quite basic and inexpensive, but it does not allow you to get very satisfactory results in terms of productivity, and above there is not the least guarantee of quality. Therefore there is increasing use of a small support with a grip, which when held by the operator allows him to join a cloth fitted with Velcro® to the free surface, which joins to said free surface of the small support. With this piece of equipment productivity has undoubtedly improved, but at the same time other negative drawbacks have arisen. 
     Indeed, the use of Velcro® requires that the cloth be washed gently so as not to diminish the effectiveness of its grip to the relative support; moreover the removal of the cloth from the support to which it is joined needs to be carried out manually, thereby interrupting the cleaning operations, and requires the use of both hands, one for holding the support firmly and the other for removing the cloth; also the use of a new cloth generally requires the use of both hands to ensure precise coupling. Lastly, said hooks that join to the Velcro® create a discontinuity on the surface of the small support that makes it difficult to clean, and therefore likely not to be tolerated in delicate environments requiring some disinfection. 
     Moreover, very often said small support has to be made with the filler of a pair of inserts along the longer edges of the active surface fitted with small hooks for grasping the Velcro®; and these inserts in addition to being expensive and of doubtful durability, since very often they come off because of the continual stress, make precisely that discontinuity that fills up with dirt and is difficult to clean. Very often in these manual cleaning operations, the operator with one hand grips the small support or directly the Therefore the drawback introduced by the small support continually forces the operator to have both hands free in order to carry out all those operations for maintaining the support and is a source of irritation for the operator. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To resolve one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks, we present a manual cleaning apparatus dedicated to treating surfaces that for all practical purposes are flat and continuous. The object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus that allows you to use cloth without Velcro®. Another object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus that can be used with just one hand. A still further object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus that can be uncoupled from the bond with the respective cloth with just one hand. An even further object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus that can be coupled to a new cloth with just one hand. 
     A still further object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus where the above-mentioned operations can be carried out while keeping the hand on the grip. An even further object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus where the working surface is a continuous and active surface. A still further object of the invention is to make available a hand-held cleaning apparatus where both the separation from a cloth as well as the joining with a single cloth takes place without the hand ever touching cloth itself An even further object of the invention is that any manoeuver accidentally releasing the cloth is prevented. These and other aims are all embodied in the hand-held cleaning apparatus as set out in the attached claims. 
     All the above-mentioned characteristics are attained by a hand-held cleaning apparatus, which has a base formed of two half-frames hinged together, and on one of which there is a handle for manual gripping and kept flat by a retention device capable of taking on an angled configuration suitable for insertion inside the pockets of a specific cleaning cloth. 
     Conveniently the distance between the entry of the pockets of the cleaning cloth is smaller than the overall dimension, in an extended and flat configuration of the base. Advantageously, said half-frames during use are kept in a solidly connected configuration conferring the base a flat appearance. Advantageously, for keeping the configuration solid there is a retention device that prevents the reciprocal release and keeps the structure of the cleaning apparatus stable, and is arranged against the grip. Advantageously, said retention device can be used directly by the hand that holds the grip, without having to release it. Advantageously, said retention device is bonded to a first half plane being supported and joined in a partly revolving manner to a second half plane. 
     Very conveniently the pressure exercised on the active surface by these half planes cannot cause them to be released from one another. For the release to take place it is necessary that the operator uses the lever of this retention device in the opposite direction to the constraint. The fact that this action by the operator is worthy of appreciation is because it is carried out while gripping the handle, and using just the thumb of the hand to work the lever in a natural manner, but contrary to that of gripping and holding the grip carried out during the cleaning operations. This above-mentioned action on the lever of this retaining device causes a partial rotation of the device itself with respect to the second half plane on which it is hinged, freeing the restraint between the device and the first half plane. 
     Beneficially, said retaining device has a flexible wing attached underneath the first half plane. During the partial rotation of the retaining device to free itself from the reciprocal bond with the first half plane, this wing is preloaded beneath the first half plane, and carrying out its elastic return as soon as the constraint between the device and the plane is no longer there, it pushes the second half plane far away from the planarity with the first half plane. This flexible wing, joined solidly to the retention device, during the phase when it returns to the condition of use with the two aligned half planes is also the element that, preloaded by the first half plane, keeps the restraint of the retention device rotated in a preloaded manner, remaining stably joined with the first half plane. 
     Beneficially, during the restoration of the flat configuration of the base, from its angled configuration, there is an initial overcoming of an interference, during which the small flexible wing is preloaded, and a partial action of this preload occurs as soon as the coupling becomes possible with the first half plane by means of a rotation of said retention device and maintaining, with the residual preload, the coupling in tension. A further benefit consists of the fact that in order to prevent an overcoming of the planarity in the reciprocal rotation, the two half planes are partially overlapping. With this overlapping, rotation beyond the planarity is impeded, and above all it allows you to obtain a structurally stable and robust frame when closed, with said overlapping parts continuous and against each other. 
     Beneficially the opening of the base is sufficiently open in an angled manner that the end of each half-frame comes near to the entrance of the pockets of the cloth and inside which they are ready to enter, continuing inside the pockets until the base is flat. The entry into these pockets by the ends of each half-frame is brought about by a maneuver carried out by the operator on the handle, aimed at reaching coplanarity, and therefore diverting the angled situation to a flat configuration, where said ends near the entrance of the pockets engage them taking them inside until a flat condition is attained, and carrying out the joint between the base and the cloth. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The technical characteristics of the invention, according to the above-mentioned purposes, can be clearly seen in the claims below and the benefits will be more clearly evident in the detailed description that follows, made with reference to the attached diagrams, which represent a form that is purely by way of example only and in no way restrictive, where: 
         FIG. 1  shows the hand-held cleaning equipment of the invention in a perspective view; 
         FIG. 2  shows the hand-held cleaning equipment of  FIG. 1  from a different perspective; 
         FIG. 3  shows the hand-held cleaning equipment of the invention in a longitudinal sectional view; 
         FIG. 4  shows the hand-held cleaning equipment of  FIG. 3  with the half-frames partially angled to one another; 
         FIG. 5  shows the hand-held cleaning equipment of  FIG. 3  with the half-frames at a wide angle, in an arrangement suited to connecting to the cleaning cloth; 
         FIG. 6  shows the hand-held cleaning equipment of the invention with the half-frames partially inside the pockets of the cloth. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The  FIGS. 1-6  show a realization of the hand-held cleaning device invention that is by way of example only and in no way restrictive. The base comprises two half-frames  1 ,  2  hinged together, on at least one of these there is a handle for gripping  4 . The hinging  6  between the two half-frames  1 ,  2  is preferably situated in the central zone of the base. 
     The base has a lower flat and continuous active surface when the two half-frames are kept in a planar arrangement by a retaining device  3 . This base can take on an angled configuration of the two half-frames  1 ,  2  suitable for releasing from and engaging with a specific cloth  5  that has pockets  11 . The pockets  11  of the cloth, which are suitable for being used with this base, are at the ends of the cloth itself with the opening directed towards the central part of the cloth itself. 
     To pass from a flat configuration to an angled configuration, you have to free the half- frames from the stable aligned state by using the lever  10  of the retaining device  3 . By shifting the lever  10  with the thumb of the hand that holds the grip  4  joined to the first half-frame  1 , the restraint between the retention device  3  and the second half-frame  2  releases, allowing a partial rotation of the second half-frame  2  to which the retention device  3  is fixed, preferably using hinging. 
     Said retention device, in fact, has a reducing element  8  in the form of a groove inside which a protruding part  7  in the form of a notch is held, preferably at the end of the first half-frame  1 . Said retention element  3  also has a flexible wing  9  located below the first half-frame  1 , which can, when there is no retention constraint between the groove  8  and the protrusion  7 , create the initial reciprocal rotation between the two half-frames  1 ,  2  that are hinged together. 
     Said flexible wing  9 , moreover, is preloaded during the operations for creating the to the retention device  3  is overcome, ensures the coupling between the groove  8  and the protrusion  7  with a residual preload, keeping the coupling taut. Precisely by overcoming this residual preload, using the lever  10  of the retention device  3 , is the decoupling possible between the groove  8  and the protrusion  7 . 
     To prevent a surpassing of the alignment in the recovery of the coplanarity of the two half-frames  1 ,  2 , these are partially overlapping with respect to the hinging point  6 , also providing, when the base is flat, greater structural solidity because the two half-frames have an overlapped part. The opening of the base from a flat configuration is such that the angled position of the two half-frames  1 , 2  arrives at an arrangement of the two ends of the respective half-frames near the entrance of the pockets  11  of the cloth  5 , and therefore with an action carried out by the operator on the handle  4 , in the sense of conferring the planar arrangement to the base, the two ends of the half-frames  1 ,  2  can easily enter said pockets  11  of the cloth  5 . 
     In the flat configuration of the base, with the two half-frames  1 ,  2  in alignment, the pockets are completely, or for the most part, engaged, creating that stable connection between the base and the cloth  5  needed for efficient cleaning 
     The invention designed and configured in this way therefore attains all the objectives. Obviously, it will assume, in its practical realization, also forms and configurations different to the one illustrated above without, for this reason, going outside the present equivalent elements and the dimensions, forms and materials used will have to be fit the requirements.