Patent ID: 6866570

Claim:
A non-rotary, linear reciprocating floor sander comprising: a housing having a bottom opening; a rotary electric motor supported by said housing and having a vertical output shaft; a pair of flat platens enclosed above and on sides by said housing, said platens having lower surfaces with bonded sand paper pads adapted to be in contact with a floor to be sanded; means connected to said vertical output shaft for reciprocating said platens linearly in a plane in opposite directions so that said platens move toward and away from each other thereby producing little induced force or vibration transmitted to said housing; wherein said reciprocating means comprises a center gear driven by said output shaft engaged with and driving a pair of driven gears in opposite directions, each of said driven gears driving a platen through a reciprocating mechanism; in which each driven gear has a drive peg mounted adjacent a periphery of said driven gear, each of said platens having on an upper side thereof a slotted member for engaging a drive peg so that as said driven gears rotate each slotted member causes its platen to reciprocate.