Patent ID: 8789233

Claim:
A cleaning element, comprising: a fiber bundle comprising a plurality of fibers and extending in a predetermined longitudinal direction, an upper face side sheet overlaid on an upper face of the fiber bundle, and a cleaning side sheet overlaid on a lower face of the fiber bundle which cleaning side sheet comprises an uppermost sheet that faces an object to be cleaned, wherein: the upper face sheet and the cleaning side sheet are formed of sheet-like nonwoven fabric and joined together in a laminated state on the fiber bundle at a joining portion that extends in said longitudinal direction, both of the upper face side sheet and the cleaning side sheet are formed with a plurality of strips extending parallel in a direction crossing said longitudinal direction, the strips of the cleaning side sheet and the fibers of the fiber bundle extend elongate in the direction crossing said longitudinal direction, having fixed ends only at said joining portion and free ends on sides opposite to the joining portion, the strips of the cleaning side sheet have a smaller width in said longitudinal direction that the strips of the upper face side sheet, the strips of the cleaning side sheet have a bending resistance of 68-72 mm as measured by a 45° cantilever method, and wherein the fiber bindle is attached to the cleaning side sheet exclusively along a line that extends along the centers of the fiber bundle and the cleaning side sheet in the longitudinal direction and the fiber bundle is provided with crimped fibers so that free ends of the crimped fibers can be readily entangled with the strips of the cleaning side sheet and cause the fiber bundle to increase in bulk and cause swing together with the strips around the joining portion toward the object to be cleaned.