Patent Publication Number: US-2007101529-A1

Title: Adjustable bristle broom

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      Not Applicable  
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH  
      Not Applicable  
     SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM  
      Not Applicable  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION—FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This device relates to sweep brooms, those of which are commonly used in households.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Brooms have been in use for thousands of years. In todays modern society the most common broom is the sweep broom used in a majority of households through out the modern world. In certain factory settings the most common broom in use is the push broom made in various sizes with varying bristle tensile strengths as well as varying bristle lengths. The push brooms are used to push debris rather than sweep debris as is the function of the sweep broom commonly used in households  
      In certain office complex settings a certain type of broom that is often in use is the dust broom, whose primary function is to keep dust and other debris off of the none carpeted areas of the office complex floors. Another type of broom in use is named the hand held broom, which is used to facilitate the placement of debris into a dust pan. This type of broom is often found in the industrial or office building settings.  
      All of the brooms mentioned are made from a variety of materials such as from plastic, plastic type material such as teflon, wood, light weight metals and perhaps in the future as technology advances, materials yet to be formulated or discovered.  
     1. Discussion of Prior Art  
      Of the several types of brooms mentioned one thing is common that is that the tensile strengths are different in all of the brooms mentioned. Besides the tensile strength of brooms, in some brooms or devices having bristles; varying tensile strengths are reached through an adjustment of the device its self; such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,293 Raaf et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,726 Mann., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,248 B1 Faires. These patents show tooth brushes that obtain varying tensile strengths through or by adjustment of the tooth brush its self. U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,221 Bradshaw and patent application No. US 2003/0031510 A1 Suriano show brooms with adjustable bristles although, these brooms are not trying to achieve a different tensile strength. U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,838 Iaia et al shows a cosmetic applicator with varying bristle lengths, achieved through the adjustment of the device its self.  
     OBJECT AND ADVANTAGES  
      It is the object of the device referred to as the adjustable bristle broom to provide one single broom that has varying bristle tensile strengths; so that more than one sweeping task can be accomplished. With the adjustable broom in one setting the sweeping of a varnished hard wood floor can be accomplished. With the adjustable broom in a different setting the clean up of a less than smooth surface, such as a patio walk way is possible. Of the brooms mentioned earlier the clean up of different surfaces can be accomplished, but not with out using more than one broom. The advantage is that clean up of a vast area can be accomplished in less time using the adjustable bristle broom, another advantage is that a person can go from an indoor to outdoor sweeping task using only one broom. One more advantage of the adjustable bristle broom is that the perfect setting can be made concerning the task at hand; such as finding the perfect setting for sweeping a pound of sugar off the floor, or finding the perfect setting for sweeping moist sand off of a stone driveway.  
      Further objects and advantages of the device referred to as the adjustable bristle broom will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.  
     SUMMARY  
      The adjustable bristle broom is a broom that has vertically adjustable, up or down, bristles. Allowing for different tensile strengths of the bristles. When the bristles of the adjustable bristle broom, located with in the bristle housing are adjusted vertically upward, there is a minimal amount of bristles protruding from the bristle housing, allowing for the broom to have a stronger bristle tensile strength. When the bristles of the broom are adjusted downward or outward there is a longer length of bristles coming from the bristle housing allowing for a broom with a softer bristle tensile strength. 
    
    
     DRAWING—FIGURES  
       FIG. 1A -Front view of adjustable bristle broom handle.  
       FIG. 1B  Partial sideview of adjustable bristle broom handle  
       FIG. 1C  Enlarged partial view of adjustable bristle broom handle including spring loaded push button, the adjustment means working in accordance with broom handle and bristle rod.  
       FIG. 2A  Frontview of bristle and bristle rod.  
       FIG. 2B  enlarged view of bristle rod  
       FIG. 3A  Front view of bristle housing  
       FIG. 3B  Cutaway view of broom handle insert  
       FIG. 3   c  Top view of bristle housing.  
       FIG. 4A  Side view of U shaped broom handle teeth.  
       FIG. 4B  Bottom view of U shaped broom handle teeth.  
       FIG. 4C  Top view of U shaped broom handle teeth which connects with the inner wall of broom handle.  
       FIG. 5  Side view of spring loaded push button.  
       FIG. 6  Front view of broom having adjustable bristle housing.  
       FIG. 7  Front view of bristle housing.  
       FIG. 8  Front view of bristle rod.  
       FIG. 9A  Front view of bristle housing adjustment component.  
       FIG. 9   b  Cut away view of bristle housing adjustment component  
       FIG. 10  Front view of broom having adjustable bristles.  
    
    
     REFERENCE NUMERALS  
     
         
           12 . Broom handle  
           13 . Broom handle insert opening  
           14 . Bristle housing  
           16 . Bristle housing push button insert opening  
           18 . Bristle housing push button insert opening  
           20 . Spring loaded push button  
           22 . Spring  
           24 . Broom handle push button insert opening  
           26 . Broom handle upper lip  
           28 . Broom handle lower lip  
           30 . Bristle housing lip-inner  
           32 . Broom bristles  
           34 . Push button teeth  
           36 . Bristle housing lip-outer-top  
           38 . Bristle housing lip-outer-bottom  
           40 . Bristle housing adjustment component  
           42 . Bristle housing adjustment component lip  
           44 . Bristle housing adjustment component threads  
           46 . Broom handle threads  
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIG.  1 A THRU FIG.  10 —PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      A preferred embodiment of the adjustable bristle broom, is shown in  FIG. 1A  thru  FIG. 10 . The adjustable bristle broom has an elongated handle  FIG. 1A  which snap fits into broom handle insert opening  13  through the use of broom handle upper lip  26 , broom handle lower lip  28  and bristle housing inner lip  30 . A side view of the adjustable bristle broom handle is shown in  FIG. 1B . An enlarged cut away view of the adjustable bristle broom handle is shown in  FIG. 1C . An adjustment means, working in accordance with broom handle  12  and bristle rod  14  is shown in  FIGS. 1B, 1C  and  FIG. 5 ; the adjustment means is a spring loaded push button  20  with teeth  34  which connect with the teeth of U shaped broom handle teeth  FIGS. 4A, 4B  and  4 C. The U shaped broom handle teeth are located with in the broom handle shown in  FIG. 1E  and partially surround the broom handle push button insert opening  24 . A front view of the adjustable bristle broom is shown in  FIG. 10   
     Operation—FIGS.  1 A thru FIG.  10   
      The handle  12  of the adjustable bristle broom can be composed of a moldable material such as plastic or composed of sheet metal; which is rolled or drawn through a die. The bristles  32  can be natural such as corn fibers or made from a synthetic material such as plastic. The bristle rod  14  and the bristle housing  16  are preferably formed of a synthetic moldable material such as plastic. The spring loaded push button  FIG. 5  can be made of molded and machined plastic or can be made of forged and machined metal or can be composed of a variety of other materials not mentioned or shown in this specification. The broom handle push button insert opening  24  can be obtained through a machine punch process.  
      The adjustable bristle broom  FIG. 10 , is operated by pushing the spring loaded push button  20  down; whereby releasing the teeth of the push button  20  from the teeth of the U shaped broom handle teeth  FIGS. 4A, 4B  &amp;  4 C. Allowing for vertical up or down movement of bristle rod  14  and bristles  32  which are connected to bristle rod  14 .  
      When a desired position is found for the bristle rod  14 . The push button  20  is released whereby bringing into contact the teeth of the push button  34  and the teeth of the U shaped broom handle teeth shown in  FIG. 4A . When the length of the bristles  34  extending from the bristle housing  16  is decreased the bristle tensile strength increases. When the length of the bristles  32  extending from the bristle housing  16  is increased the bristle tensile strength becomes less. Whereby allowing for a broom that can be used indoors or outdoors and is capable of sweeping a variety of different materials.  
     Additional Embodiments—FIG.  6  thru FIG.  9   
      An additional embodiment is shown in  FIGS. 6, 7 ,  8 ,  9 A and  9 B. In this embodiment of the adjustable bristle broom  FIG. 6 ; instead of the bristles  32  adjusting; the bristle housing  16  is adjustable. Achieving the same effect, that effect being a broom with different tensile lengths and strengths. Allowing for one broom that can be used on several different surfaces. The adjustment of the bristle housing  16  is achieved by snap fitting of the bristle housing adjustment component  FIGS. 9A and 9B  to the bristle housing  FIG. 7 .  
      The lip  42  located inside of the bristle housing adjustment component  40  snap fits between the upper lip  36  and the lower lip  38  of the bristle housing  FIG. 7  the broom handle  12  is then inserted through the broom handle insert opening  13  until the threads of the broom handle  46  come into contact with the threads of the bristle housing adjustment component  44 . Once this is achieved the bristle housing adjustment component  40  is rotated until a desired bristle length is found.  
     Advantages  
      Some advantages of the adjustable bristle broom  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 10  are that a person using this device can go from indoors to outdoors. The user of this device can sweep a flat smooth floor and the next moment clean a floor having grooves and uneven surfaces. This device can be used to sweep light weight materials such as bread crumbs or heavy weight material such as 5 pounds of sugar. In other words from feathers to steel balls.  
     CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS AND SCOPE  
      The adjustment means of the preferred embodiment of the adjustable bristle broom is a spring loaded push button working in accordance with the broom handle and the bristle rod. The adjustment means of the additional embodiment of the adjustable bristle broom is the threaded hollow rod of 2″ to 5″ or of any sufficient length capable of completing the task of adjusting the bristle housing. The threaded hollow rod works in accordance with the threads of the broom handle  
      In the specification is referred to as the bristle housing adjustment component. Instead of an adjustment means of a spring loaded push button which works in accordance with the broom handle and the bristle rod, other adjustment means can be used which are not shown in the drawings provided, such as a securement screw and screw hole to secure and adjust the bristle rod; or an adjustment means of a push button comprising a spring and steel ball (button) device; a movable friction button similar to that found on some tape measures; or a flexible tension device having a notch and groove There can be many variations of the adjustment means instead of those mentioned above.  
      The adjustable bristle broom allows for a broom that is capable of adjustable bristle tensile strengths, allowing for an ultra adaptable cleaning device. As stated in the Disclosure Document filed in November of 2003.