Abstract:
A Vehicle Waxing/Buffing Appliance capable of having a removable/repositionable secondary handle comprises a vehicle buffing/waxing appliance and a handle. At least one adaptor to receive and hold the handle is installed in the outer plastic molded housing. Therefore the user may install or reposition the handle as desired to help in both the efficiency of the operation and the comfort of the user.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a vehicle Waxing/Buffing appliance with a removeable, repositioning handle, which consists of a waxing/buffing appliance (hereon referred to as “appliance”) and a handle. At least one attaching handle adaptor is built into the Outer Housing of the appliance to allow the independent handle to be attached to same. Therefore the user of the appliance may install the handle as needed to help in holding the appliance more easily and with better control during the waxing/buffing operation.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the prior art appliance is shown to be easily held. The upper portion thereof is formed with an outer housing  10 . The Interior of this housing contains the electric motor. At the bottom of the outer housing is the circular sponge waxing disk  20 . In operation of the appliance, the motor drives the Disk in a rotary (or orbital) fashion. In general the waxing/buffing appliances in prior art have a peripheral handle  101  (refer to FIG. 1) that goes all the way around the housing, or two seperate handles  102  that protrude from each side and are built into the housing (refer to FIG. 2). Thereby the user may hold the appliance anywhere on its periphery (FIG. 1) or at each end of the separate handles (FIG. 2). With either handle being attached to the main housing the user may apply a force downwards during the operation of the appliance.  
           [0003]    This prior art has a fixed structure of the handle (s) being an integral part of the housing therefore the orientation of the appliance or the holding position cannot be changed as desired, i.e. the waxing/buffing cannot be positioned according to the habit or comfort of the user, especially as when the appliance pad is rotating the housing will try to rotate at same time. The peripheral handle has no mechanism for preventing the rotating of the housing. That is the holding force to prevent the housing from rotating is not provided so the hand will tend to slide around the housing. Furthermore the handles of the prior art are an integral part of the housing in a fixed position so they cannot be moved, or detached. This also means the handle can create the inconvenient and costly need for a larger packing box for transportaion and storage due to its protruding design.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    Accordingly, the prime object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle waxing/buffing appliance which is capable of having a removable/repositionable handle and comprises the said appliance and the handle. The housing of the appliance has at least one built in adaptor to allow the said handle to be attached as desired to allow the user to hold the appliance more easily. As a result the operation of the appliance is more convenient. The handle can easily be detached for transportation or storage thus the volume occupied and the packaging material is reduced. The user is able to hold the fixed handle and the detachable handle to apply a downward force during the operation thus the housing is easily prevented from its trying to rotate due to the reaction force and the whole waxing/buffing operation is more efficiently accomplished.  
           [0005]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle waxing/buffing appliance being able to have a removeable/repositionable handle positioned into a nut which is molded or inserted into the outer housing, and the handle is thus screwed into this nut. One end of the handle is formed with a male thread. The handle is thus installed into the housing as desired so as to allow more comfort and efficiency in the operation.  
           [0006]    Another object of the present invention is to provide the appliance capable of having the handle installed wherein the has male threads at each end. One thread end has a right angle thread and the other end has a left hand thread. The handle also has a cylindrical push on cover which covers the thread not in use. This left and right hand thread allows the handle to be inserted into adaptors bult into each side of the housing and with the forces of the roating appliance the thread will tend to self tighten in the adaptor and not vibrate out.  
           [0007]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a waxing/buffing appliance capable of having a removeable/repositionable handle, wherein the receiving adaptors in the housing have a rectangular shape outer construction with an inner rectangular hole. Two of the opposite walls of the inner rectangular hole have built in concave holes. The front end of the handle also has a matching rectangular shape with a cross sectional hole, the axis of which matches the axis of the holes in the housing adaptor. In this handle hole are two steel ball bearings sitting on a compression spring. As a result the balls are under an outward pressure and slightly exposed, and when pressure is applied to the balls they retract slightly into the handle hole. So the user is able to quickly attach/detach the handle to the housing by pushing/pulling the handle to allow the balls to pressure/depressure themselves into/out of the concave holes of the housing.  
           [0008]    The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more easily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior waxing/buffing appliance.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is another schematic view of a prior waxing/buffing appliance.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the waxing/buffing appliance and removeable and replaceable handle.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the waxing/buffing appliance, Housing Adaptor and handle of the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the adaptors at various positions around the housing according to the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the waxing/buffing appliance capable of having a removable/repositionable handle as per the scope of the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the appliance with the handle installed as per the scope of the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 8 is a partial schematic view of another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 10 is a schematic view of another embodiment of the housing adaptor and the handle of the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of a further embodiment of the handle of the present invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the washer of the present invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment utilising a snap in cover on a non used insertion adaptor of the present invention.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 14 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the appliance of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0023]    Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 the appliance, capable of having a removeable repositionable Handle installed, is illustrated. The present invention includes a wavxing/buffing appliance  1  and a handle  2 .  
         [0024]    The appliance  1  is a portable appliance for waxing/buffing the surface of a vehicle. The appliance has an outer molded plastic housing  11 . The housing has an prior art internal electrical motor, an outer power switch etc. A rotateable sponge waxing disk is installed on the extended spindle of the motor protruding from base of housing  11 . The rear side of the housing has a built in vertical holding handle. Around the periphery of the housing at the left side, right side and other radial positions are adaptors (at least one) molded in (see FIG. 5). These adaptors can consist of a nutl 4  with an outer contour which by being molded in prevent the nut from rotating. The inner thread of this nut is used to locate and hold the handle in required position.  
         [0025]    The handle  2  is a diametrical shape and the front end has a concentric male thread  21  attached. The body of the handle can be installed with a sponge cover  23  for more comfort.  
         [0026]    By the combination of the rear vertical handle  13  and the inserted adaptors at the left side of and integral with the housing  11  and the handle screwed into the aforesaid adaptor, a suitable setup for the user to apply force is accomplished. Therefore the left side of the appliance has a built in horizontal side handle. In waxing/buffing the user may hold the side handle  2  and the vertical rear handle  13  and apply a downward pressure so as to facilitate the waxing and buffing of the vehicle. Therefore by the resisting force of the horizontal handle  2  and the rear vertical handle  13  the housing is held positively to stop the reactionary tendency to rotate. This prevents the hand from sliding around the peripheral handle of the prior art. The handle  2  of this present invention can be installed in the adaptor  14  at the right side of the appliance so that a horizontal handle is formed at the right side of the appliance  1  (FIGS. 6 and 7) so as to better suit the comfort and dexterity of the user. So again by the combination of the right hand horizontal handle and the rear vertical handle, the best user comfort and efficiency is attained.  
         [0027]    Moreover by the adaptors  14  being positioned at various selected positions around the periphery of the housing  11  the handle can easily be attached at various positions depending on the users own need and comfort. Again by utilizing this handle  11  in required position, in conjunction with rear vertical handle an efficient use of the applaince is obtained. Furthermore each of the right hand and left hand adaptors can be utilised with a handle inserted at both positions simultaneously to allow another possible comfortable setup for the user by using both horizontal handles at same time. Both horizontal handles can be detached for transportation or storage of the appliance, thus saving the volume of space and the packaging materials needed.  
         [0028]    Furthermore with the adaptors built into both sides of the housing, the handle  2  can be replaced with a handle  2 ′ which has male threads at both ends  21 ′ and  22 ′ (FIGS. 9 and 10). The adaptors on the housing can have a left hand thread at the left side and a right hand thread at the right side. The handle has a right hand thread at one extreme and a left hand thread at the other.  
         [0029]    The handle also comes with a push on cover  24 ′ over either thread. Therefore depending on the dexterity and comfort of the user, the handle can be installed at either the left or right side of the housing and the exposed thread that is left after installation is covered by the cover  24 ′. This left or right installation is improved by the left or right hand threads on the handle being in a continuous tightening mode during the operation of the appliance. As a result of this, a more comfortable and efficient operation is attained whether user is naturally right handed or left handed.  
         [0030]    Morover, in the present invention the adaptors that are embedded in the outer housing, (see FIGS. 10 and 11) at each side may consist of a rectangular shaped construction  15  with an inner rectangular hole  151  on the centreline. Two of the opposite walls of the inner rectangular Hole, each have a built in concave hole  152 . The front end of the handle  2 A has a matching rectangular protrusion shape  21 A with a cross sectional hole  211 A. Then two steel balls  212 A are fitted within this hole sitting on a compression spring  213 A. The outer edges of the hole  211 A are staked so that the balls  212 A are retained in the hole  211 A under outward pressure from the compression spring  213 A, and yet the steel balls protrude slightly from handle  2 A. As the front handle section  21 A is inserted into the rectangular hole  151  of the adaptor  15  then the two balls ride back into the hole compressing the spring. Upon the balls reaching the concave holes  152  the compression spring forces the ball into the same concave hole thus locking it in position, and yet with an outer pull on the handle the balls again retreat allowing the handle to be disconnected easily and quickly.  
         [0031]    Moreover, in the present invention, the horizontal removeable and repositioning handle  2  is screwed into the housing  1  of the appliance, on the left or right side. However a spring washer  3  and a plastic washer  4  can be installed on the threaded rod to help lock the handle in place so it doesn&#39;t start to come loose during operation. Referring to Figl 3 , in the housing of the present invention a recess  16  can be formed at the outer periphery of the section where the adaptor is located to allow the use of a sealing piece  5  to be installed in the recess on the side of the housing where the handle is not being installed. This not only protects the threads not being used but give a more pleasing appearance to the product.  
         [0032]    It should be understood that in the present invention, a vertical rear handle  13  is combined with one or more side horizontal handles and, the outer look of the housing can vary from the shape shown. For example a different shape housing  11  is shown in FIG. 14 while still using the vertical handle at the back and the one or more horizontal handles mounted on the outer sides.  
         [0033]    The present invention is thus described and it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many other ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of this present invention claimed and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.