Patent ID: 7967914

Claim:
A method of removing soil from a surface intended to be cleaned using a movable machine, said method comprising: moving the movable machine across the surface while repeatedly: spraying a wetted portion of a revolving cylindrical cleaning medium with a cleaning liquid, said cleaning liquid carried in cleaning solution tank on said movable machine; after said spraying, rotating said wetted portion of the cleaning medium into contact with a vacuum extractor, said vacuum extractor defining an elongated slot opening which extends from one end of the cleaning medium to an opposite end, with said vacuum extractor being coupled to a vacuum conduit, and said slot opening having a substantially narrower diameter than said cleaning medium and said vacuum conduit, with ends of said vacuum extractor engaging fibers of said wetted portion of said cylindrical cleaning medium during said contact; with said vacuum extractor, extracting soil and cleaning liquid from said wetted portion of the revolving cleaning medium through said slot opening prior to said wetted portion revolving into contact with the surface to be cleaned; after said extracting, rotating said wetted portion of the cleaning medium out of contact with said vacuum extractor and toward contact with said surface to be cleaned, with said rotating causing the wetted portion of the cylindrical cleaning medium to rotate away from contact with said ends of said vacuum extractor; during said rotating, wiping the surface with said wetted portion of the revolving cleaning medium so as to transfer soil from the surface to the cleaning medium; and after said wiping, sequentially repeating said steps of spraying, rotating, extracting, rotating, and wiping as said movable machine is moved across the surface.