Patent ID: 6954960

Claim:
A self-propelled running apparatus for cleaning a surface submerged in a liquid, comprising: at least one transverse running member, having two axial ends by which it is mounted rotatably on a frame around a transverse axis of rotation, and means for rotationally guiding the running member, comprising means for driving said member in rotation via at least one of its axial ends, and of which a part at least, called the frame-mounted guide means, is carried by the frame, wherein the guide means are adapted to allow, without any demounting with respect to the frame of the frame-mounted guide means and without any demounting of the frame itself, at least the displacement of the running member between a position, called the working position, in which the running member cooperates with the guide means so as to be driven in rotation around the transverse axis, and a position, called the maintenance position, adapted to enable at least one component forming a running surface of the running member to be replaced, wherein the running member comprises two sections as an axial extension of each other when the said member is in the working position, each section having an axial end, calling the coupling end, by which, in the working position, it is connected to the other section, and an opposite axial end, called the guiding end, corresponding to an axial end of the running member, wherein the guide means comprise means, called the intermediate removable holding means, adapted to hold each section in the working position at its coupling end and to release said coupling end, in the maintenance position, in order to allow the displacement of the section, and wherein the sections are coaxial and telescopic, the intermediate removable holding means being adapted to maintain, in an anchoring position, a given spacing between the two sections corresponding to their working position, and enable, in a release position, the sections to slide in each other between their working position and their maintenance position, in which the guiding ends of the two sections are separated from the frame and from the frame-mounted guide means.