Abstract:
A tool for scraping and cleaning articles having varied surface characteristics wherein the tool includes a cleaning head defined by upper and lower oppositely oriented concavely arcuate edges which intersect at opposite sides of the tool head in converging pointed tips. Notches of different sizes are provided centrally of the upper and lower edges and the head is reinforced by a rearwardly extending neck which, in a preferred embodiment, includes a pair of spaced notches oriented rearwardly of a rear face of the head and toward a handle of the tool.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention is generally directed to scraping and cleaning tools or implements and more particularly to such a tool that can be utilized to clean a variety of surfaces regardless of configuration including flat surfaces, rounded edges such as encountered with rods, wires or pipes, inside and outside corners and the like. 
     2. Brief Discussion of the Related Art 
     There have been many tools developed over the years for cleaning surfaces soiled by foreign materials which are used in everyday home environments such as surfaces of cages, barbecue grills, pipes, tubes, corners and edges of pots and pans, and other articles having hard to reach surfaces. Picnic, camping and backyard barbecue grills are favorites for gathering of friends and relatives for special occasions. Various scrapers and brushes have been designed to facilitate cleaning of the wire racks associated with grills of all types, unfortunately, it often requires a number of different tools to adequately clean the wire framework associated with outdoor cooking grills. 
     Other household items which frequently require cleaning are wire elements and intricate corners of cages which are utilized to house dogs, cats and other family pets. Cleaning of the bars when closely spaced is very difficult and tight corner areas associated with cages frequently require the use of make-shift tools for scraping purposes and which are not totally effective for removing material from very hard to reach areas. 
     Numerous scraping and cleaning implements have also been specifically structured to facilitate cleaning of pots and pans used in kitchens. Unfortunately, many such implements have limited use and are not effective in removing burnt on or hard to remove materials found in the corners or edges or groves in bakeware, pots and pans and other cookware. 
     Other areas frequently requiring the use of scraping and cleaning tools are molding, window trim, and other surfaces of interior and exterior walls and building structures which frequently need to be repainted or resurfaced. Although numerous types of scraping and cleaning implements have been specifically designed for sanding and removal of old paint and other materials from wall surfaces, many such conventional implements are not satisfactory for use in scraping and cleaning decorative trim and uniquely configured surface areas. 
     In view of the foregoing, there remains a need to provide a cleaning tool which has universal application for cleaning all types of surfaces including flat surfaces, curved surfaces, inside and outside edges or corners, bars, rods and other surface configurations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a tool for scraping and cleaning a variety of surfaces which includes a scraping head having upper and lower generally convex arcuate scraping edges which communicate at opposite sides of the tool head in the form of pointed tips. The scraping head is mounted transversely with respect to an axis of an elongated handle, the length of which may be varied depending upon the design and use. In a preferred embodiment, the cleaning head is mounted generally perpendicularly with respect to the elongated axis of the tool handle. 
     The tool head also includes a notch formed preferably generally centrally of each of the upper and lower scraping edges. In a preferred embodiment the notch in the upper edge is of a different dimension than the notch formed in the lower edge such that different types of surfaces can be cleaned utilizing each of the notches. The notches may be formed in a “V” or “U” shaped or other similar configuration such that the notches may be used to clean various types of outside corners or round surfaces such as found on wires, rods, bars and pipes. 
     In one embodiment of the invention, a reinforcing neck is mounted along the rear face of the scraping head and extends toward the handle. In some embodiments the neck may be integrally formed with the handle. The neck may, in some embodiments, include outwardly extending flanges in which notches may be provided for purposes of cleaning generally circular surfaces such as wires, rods and the like. The notches formed in the flanges associated with the reinforcing neck of the tool are oriented generally rearwardly of the scraping head and are thus defined in a plane which is transverse to the plane of the notches associated with the scraping head. 
     In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the upper and lower convex scraping edges of the head of the tool are defined by segments of arcs of circles which overlap one another and which have different diameters such that the curvature of the upper edge of the scraping head differs from that of the lower edge. 
     A primary object of the present invention to provide a scraping and cleaning implement which is designed for hand use which can be utilized to scrape not only flat surfaces, but inside and outside corners, surfaces of bars, rods, wire and the like utilized in grills and cages, corners of pots and pans and the like and other surfaces which are unique in configuration. 
     It is the further object of the present invention to provide a scraping and cleaning tool or implement wherein different surface configurations can be cleaned by manipulation of the cleaning head of the tool such that different edges of the tool are oriented for different surfaces. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A better understanding of the invention will be had with respect to the following description and the attached drawings wherein; 
     FIG. 1 is an assembly view of one embodiment of scraping tool in accordance with the teachings of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a front illustrational view of the scraping instrument disclosed in FIG. 1 showing the use of the instrument in scraping a bar; 
     FIG. 3 is a front perspective illustrational view showing the use of the tool shown in FIG. 1 for cleaning space bars such as found in a cage or grill; 
     FIG. 4 is a front perspective illustrational view showing the tool of the present invention utilized to clean adjacent vertical bars associated with a cage or the like; 
     FIG. 5 is a front illustrational view showing the tool utilized for tool cleaning spaced rods; 
     FIG. 6 is a view of the tool oriented to clean between spaced wires or rods; 
     FIG. 7 is an illustrational view of the tool used to clean inside and outside corners of a container; 
     FIG. 8 is a view showing a preferred manner of generating the shape of the scraping head of the tool, and; 
     FIG. 9 is a view showing the tool being used to scrape a generally flat surface. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With continued reference to the drawing figures, the scraping and cleaning implement  10  of the present invention is shown in a preferred embodiment as including a scraping head  12  having a upper scraping surface or edge  13  which is shown as being generally arcuate and convex in configuration and a lower scraping surface or edge  14  which is also generally arcuate and convex and which upper and lower scraping edges converge at the sides of the head  12  to define scraping points  15  and  16 . In the preferred embodiments shown, the scraping head includes generally planer front and rear surfaces. In some embodiments the surface configurations may vary. 
     To provide increased utility, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the scraping head  12  further includes a first notch  20  formed generally centrally along the upper edge  13  thereof. In the drawing figures, the notch is shown as being generally “V”-shaped in configuration. In some embodiments, the configuration may also be somewhat “U”-shaped in configuration. The lower scraping edge  14  is also provided with a second notch  22  along the central portion thereof which, as shown in the drawing figures, may be also “V”-shaped in configuration. Other configurations such as “U”-shaped may also be used. 
     In the preferred embodiment of the invention the notch  20  is shown as being somewhat smaller in dimension than notch  22 . It is desired to provide notches of different sizes so that the utility of the scraping tool may be increased so that different sizes of articles and surfaces can be scraped utilizing a single tool. 
     With specific reference to FIG. 2, an enlarged view is shown. In the embodiment, it is noted that the upper and lower edges are somewhat squared to provide a greater area of contact between the scraping edges and an article being cleaned. However, the edges may be beveled to more of a cutting edge. The exact configuration of the scraping edge may thus be varied and yet remain within the teachings of the present invention. 
     It should be noted that the arcuate segment defined by the upper edge  13  is different than the arcuate segment defined by the lower scraping edge  14 . Again, it is desired to provide different surface configurations between the upper and lower scraping edges to increase the utility of the tool. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the upper and lower edges are defined by different arc segments. With respect to FIG. 8, the preferred shape of the upper and lower edges are defined by overlapping imaginary circles C 1  and C 2  having a different radius such that the portions that overlap at C 3  define a configuration for the shape of the head of the implement. 
     The head of the scraping tool is designed to be mounted to an elongated handle  30  such that a plane of the head extends transverse to an elongated axis A—A of the handle. Preferably, the angle should be approximately 90°. The scraping head  12  is connected to the handle by way of a neck member  32  which extends therebetween. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the neck has an extension portion  34  which enters a slot  35  provided in the handle. The handle may be formed of a different material from the head and the connecting neck to facilitate ease of handling and comfort. Therefore, the handle may be formed of a plastic or rubber type material while the scraping head and the connecting neck are preferably formed of metal. 
     The neck in a preferred embodiment may include an “L” shaped member having a first portion  36  which is permanently secured to the rear face of the scraping head. An extension portion  34  extends therefrom to the handle  30 . A pair of outwardly extended flanges  39  and  40  are integrally formed with the extension portion and a pair of spaced notches  41  and  42  are formed in the flanges oriented toward the handle  30  of the tool. These notches may be utilized for cleaning of vertical bars and wires as is shown in FIG. 4, of the drawings. It should be noted that the notches  41  and  42  are oriented generally perpendicularly with respect to the notches  20  and  22  formed in the scraping head  12  of the tool. The notches  41  and  42  are also preferably of different sizes. 
     With particular reference to FIG. 2, an illustration is shown wherein the notch  22  is being utilized to clean or scrape the surface of a rod. By rotating the tool 180°, the notch  20  may be utilized to scrape a smaller wire. With respect to FIG. 3, the tool has been retained in a position shown in FIG. 2, but is utilized for scraping the surfaces of adjacent rods. By inverting the tool to place notch  22  at the top of the scraping head, the different arcuate surface of the upper edge  13  of the tool may be utilized to clean adjacent wires as shown in FIG.  5 . By rotating the tool 90° from the position shown in FIG. 3, both the upper and lower scraping edges may be utilized to clean between wires and rods. 
     With reference to FIG. 7, the implement is shown for cleaning inside and outside corners of sinks, pots and pans, and other types of containers. With respect to FIG. 9, the tool is shown as being used to clean generally flat surfaces. 
     Again, in the preferred embodiment, the upper and lower scraping edges of the scraping head are defined by different arcuate segments thereby increasing utility by allowing one or the other edge to be utilized to engage a particular surface to be treated. Further, the notches associated in the upper and lower edges are preferably of different sizes to again add utility to the scraping implement. 
     The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented to illustrate the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by all of the embodiments encompassed within the following claims and their equivalents.