Patent Publication Number: US-4929345-A

Title: Carpet sweeper

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Considerable difficulty has been experienced in the removal of staples, paper clips and the like from carpets, particularly from carpets in offices where these metallic fastening devices fall in the normal course of the activities in the office. These metallic fasteners, particularly staples, tend to become embedded or caught in the pile of the carpeting to such an extent that even a strong, commercial vacuum cleaner cannot dislodge them. 
     In order to facilitate the removal of staples, paper clips and other similar metallic fasteners embedded or caught in carpeting, the carpet sweeper of the present invention has been devised which comprises, essentially, a housing or base member having a semi-cylindrical wire mesh fabric on the forward end of the housing and a wheel on the rear end thereof. A magnet is mounted on the base member between the mesh fabric and the wheel and a handle is connected to the base member for manually pushing the sweeper over the carpet. By this construction and arrangement, the wire mesh fabric first pulls or dislodges the metallic fasteners from the carpet to thereby facilitate the attraction of the fasteners against the surface of the magnet. 
     While magnetic floor sweepers have been proposed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,426,795, wherein a magnet is mounted on a wheeled frame for picking up metallic debris from a floor, these types of sweepers are not satisfactory for removing metallic articles embedded or entangled in carpet piling since the magnetic force is not sufficient to dislodge the debris from the carpet. 
     The carpet sweeper of the present invention combines the mechanical action of the wire mesh fabric to first pull or dislodge the metallic fastener from the carpet, and the magnetic force of the magnet to attract the fastener away from the carpet. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the carpet sweeper of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the carpet sweeper shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 1 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the bottom of the sweeper illustrating the manner in which the accumulated metallic fasteners are removed from the magnet: 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of an accessory provided with the sweeper to facilitate the removal of fasteners deeply embedded in the carpet: 
     FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the sweeper shown in FIG. 4: and 
     FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of another embodiment of the sweeper. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 3, the carpet sweeper of the present invention comprises, a base member or housing 1 having a fixed, rigid, semi-circular wire mesh fabric 2 secured to the front of the housing 1 and a roller type wheel 3 mounted on the rear of the housing. A permanent magnet 4, extending the width of the base member, is mounted within a recess 5 provided in the bottom of the housing 1 between the wire mesh fabric 2 and the roller 3. 
     The sweeper is provided with a handle 6 having a hub member 7 at its lower end. Each end of the hub member 7 has a pin portion 8 journaled in a respective bracket member 9 secured to the top of the housing 1, whereby the handle is pivotally connected to the housing. Detent members 10 are provided between one of the bracket members 9 and the hub member 7 so that the handle can be maintained in a desired inclined position relative to the housing 1. 
     To facilitate the removal of metallic fasteners which might be deeply embedded into the carpet, a rod 11 is provided having a magnetic member 12 on one end thereof. The magnetic member 12 is provided with a plurality of slots 13 for receiving a fastener 14, as shown in FIG. 5, whereby the fastener can be manually lifted from the carpet. When not in use, the rod 11 is inserted into a bore provided in the hub member 7, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. 
     To remove accumulated fasteners from the magnet 4, to be described more fully hereinafter, a scraper 15, FIG. 1, is removably mounted in a recess 16 provided on the side of the housing 1, and a baffle 17 is provided between the trailing edge of the wire mesh fabric 2 and the leading edge of the magnet 4, to thereby prevent the accumulated fasteners from becoming entangled with the fabric 2 while being scraped from the magnet 4, as shown in FIG. 4. 
     In use, the carpet sweeper is pushed on the carpet in a direction so that the wire mesh fabric 2 engages the carpet in a tangential manner, as shown in FIG. 2, to thereby engage the metallic fasteners or staples 14 in the carpet. The mechanical action between the wire mesh fabric 2 and the staples 14 loosens the hold of the staples from the carpet so that continued movement of the sweeper will result in the loose staples being attracted to and accumulating on the magnet 4. After the sweeping action has been completed, the scraper 15 is employed for removing the accumulated staples from the magnet, as shown in FIG. 4. 
     To remove deeply embedded metallic fasteners for subsequent pick-up by the magnet 4, the rod 11 is employed as described hereinabove. 
     While the carpet sweeper of the present invention has been described as having a roller 3 on the trailing end of the housing 1 to facilitate the travel of the sweeper over the carpet, a caster-type wheel 18, as shown in FIG. 7, might be employed in lieu of the roller 3. Furthermore, if ease of travel of the sweeper over the carpet is not deemed important, it is contemplated that in lieu of the wheels, a second semicircular wire mesh fabric can be mounted on the trailing end of the housing. 
     It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.