Patent ID: 8621704

Claim:
A cleaning element, comprising: a fiber assembly comprising a plurality of fibers extending in a predetermined direction, a nonwoven fabric disposed on the fiber assembly, a first fusion bonded part extending in a cross direction crossing said predetermined direction to fusion bond the fiber assembly and the nonwoven fabric, a plurality of second fusion bonded parts formed discontinuously in the cross direction at a lateral side of the first fusion bonded part to fusion bond the fiber assembly and the nonwoven fabric, and a cleaning side sheet joined with the fiber assembly and the nonwoven fabric by the first fusion bonded part which extends all the way through the cleaning side sheet, the fiber assembly and the nonwoven fabric in a thickness direction of the cleaning element, wherein said first fusion bonded part extends all the way through the fiber assembly in the thickness direction of the cleaning element, said plurality of second fusion bonded parts extend through only a part of said fiber assembly in the thickness direction, the fiber assembly includes a first fiber extending part and a second fiber extending part, the first fiber extending part having fibers each of which extends in said predetermined direction from one, fixed end at the first fusion bonded part to the other, free end on an end of the cleaning element, and the second fiber extending part having fibers each of which extends in said predetermined direction from one, fixed end at the second fusion bonded parts to the other, free end on the end of the cleaning element, and a fiber length of the second fiber extending part is shorter than a fiber length of the first fiber extending part, said fiber assembly is divided into an upper portion and a lower portion in the thickness direction by a dividing line, said upper portion includes said first fiber extending part and said second fiber extending part, and said lower portion includes said first fiber extending part without including said second fiber extending part, the second fusion bonded parts extend in the thickness direction through the upper portion but not the lower portion, and a lowermost portion of the lower portion of the fiber assembly and the cleaning side sheet are free of bonding from the first fusion bonded part to the end of the cleaning element.