Patent ID: 7732040

Claim:
A cleaning card for use in cleaning internal surfaces of a machine-actuating mechanism of the type intended to receive an operating card or other machine-operating substrate for actuating the operation of a machine, said cleaning card including a substrate having a central plane between opposed surfaces thereof and having sufficient rigidity for use in the cleaning card, a machine direction dimension defined between opposed end edges and a transverse direction dimension defined between opposed side edges, said opposed surfaces each having a plurality of discrete raised areas providing a plurality of transversely extending rows of discrete raised areas for engaging and cleaning internal surfaces of the machine-actuating mechanism, adjacent, transversely extending rows of discrete raised areas being spaced apart from each other in the machine direction by substantially planar segments free of discrete raised areas, at least some discrete raised areas in at least some of the transversely extending rows extending outwardly on each side of said central plane, said discrete raised areas each including a peak and a sloping peripheral wall, said sloping peripheral wall having sloping sections sloping in opposite directions from opposed sides of said peak to substantially planar segments of said substrate that are spaced apart from the peak in the machine direction, adjacent sloping sections in adjacent transversely extending rows that are spaced apart in the machine direction by substantially planar segments are joined to said substantially planar segments, said peak of each raised area being intermediate said sloping sections of said raised area in the machine direction and being further from the central plane than the edge of each of said sloping sections joined to substantially planar segments, said cleaning card substrate having an effective thickness between the opposed surfaces that is greater than the nominal thickness between those surfaces.