Improvements in Carpet Sweepers.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application. 12th Junc. 1889-Accepted, 13th July, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Carpet Sweepers.
I REGINALD HADDAN of the firm of Herbert & Co., Patent Agents of
18 Buckingham Street, Strand W.C. London in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention, a communication to me
from abroad by The Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
United States of America and in what manner the same is to be performed to bo
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object to provide a carpet sweeper with a brush carrying
shaft that can freely rise and fall independently of its driving mechanism, whereby
the brush will uniformly bear upon the carpet or other surface traversed.
The object of the invention I accomplish in the manner and by the means herein-
after described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in
which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section of a carpet sweeper embodying this
invention, and
Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional view of the brush carrying shaft showing one means
of loosely or flexibly attaching the driving wheel or pulley thereto.
In order to allow those skilled in the art to make and use the invention, I will now
describe the same in detail, referring to the drawing where the numeral 1 indicatos
a carpet sweeper casing 2 the dust pans, 3 the propelling handle and 4 the supporting
drive wheels all of which may be of any construction suitable for the conditions
required. The cylindrical brush 5 of any desired material is carried by a shaft 6
having at one or both ends a driving wheel or pulley 8 which is loosely or flexibly
connected with the shaft by means that will permit the shaft to freely rise and fall
independently of the corresponding rising and falling movement of the wheel or
pulley. 1 show a driving wheel or pulley at each end of the brush shaft driven by
frictional contact with the supporting drive wheels 4 but I do not confine myself to
friction driving mechanism nor to a driving wheel at each end of the brush carrying
shaft. I prefer however a driving pulley 8 at each end and as one means of con-
nection I provide each pulley with a bar or rod 7 having its inner ends pivoted in a
recess in the end of the shaft, which recess is of such size that the shaft can freely
rise and fall at one or both ends without imparting corresponding rising and falling
movements to the shaft driving pulley 8. In certain carpet sweepers the pulleys 8
may be supported by pivots 9 entering orifices in the pulleys but this constitutes no
part of the present invention.
The pulleys 8 may be permanently or detachably secured to the bars or rods
but whatever connection is employed it is requisite that the brush shaft is loosely or
flexibly connected with its driving wheel or pulley so that the brush shaft gravitates to
the floor and is capable of freely rising and falling independently of the entire driving
mechanism. By this invention the brush accomodates itself to the surface traversed
and bears uniformly thereon and when the sweeper rests upon the floor, the brush is
raised, and thereby places the loose or flexible connections 7 in a position such as
shown in Fig. 1 so that the tendency of the brush shaft to centre the said flexible
connections by centrifugal action, tends to throw the brush down against the floor
thus producing a contact which is close in proportion to the speed of revolution of the
brush carrying shaft.
Carpet sweepers have heretofore been provided with brush carrying shafts journalled
in vertical slots for the purpose of utilizing the weight of the shaft to press the brush
on the carpet but in all such sweepers prior to my invention the brush driving whool
is rigidly attached to the brush shaft, while in this invention the brush shaft is so
connected with its driving wheel that the brush shaft can rise and fall independently
of the said driving wheel.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A brush carrying shaft for a carpet sweeper having its driving wheel or pulley
loosely or flexibly connected therewith to permit the shaft to rise and fall independently
of the said driving wheel or pulley substantially as described.
2. The combination with a carpet sweeper casing having driving mechanism, of a
brush carrying shaft having a loosely or flexibly attached driving wheel or pulley
capable of rising and falling independently of said driving wheel or pulley substantially
as described.
3. The combination with a sweeper casing and driving mechanism, of a brush
driving wheel having a bar or rod, and a brush carrying shaft loosely or flexibly
connected with the bar or rod and capable of rising and falling independently of the
said driving wheel or pulley substantially as described.
Dated this 12th day of June 1889
HERBERT & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents to Applicant.