US2930055A - Floor wax dispensing and spreading unit - Google Patents

Description

March 29, 1960 B. R. FALLEN EIAL FLOOR WAX DISPENSING AND SPREADINGUNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 16, 1957 INVENTORS.

KM /KW B. R. FALLEN ETAL FLOOR WAX DISPENSING AND SPREADING UNI March 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 16, 1957 y mum /m M M & A 5 M Unite FLOOR WAX DISPENSING AND SPREADING UNIT Burke R. Fallen, Daly City, and James S. Fallen,

, San Francisco, Calif.

Application December 16, 1957, Serial No. 703,186

8 Claims. (Cl. 15-4 The present invention relates generally to the art of dispensing and uniformly spreading liquid wax over a floor surface.

Heretofore, various ways have been proposed and employed to apply a coating of wax to a floor surface as, for example by wax saturated rags, mops, cloth applicators, rotating brushes, and many other types of devices. Generally speaking all of the prior art methods of which we have knowledge are subject to practical criticism in that they involve undue waste of wax, labor or time, in non-uniformity of wax coating applied to the fioor surface, or uneconomic use of the wax applicating means involved.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a wax spreader comprising, essentially, a wick covered resilient squeegee mounted on a mobile frame or carriage for movement over and in floor engaging contact with a floor surface. In the particular embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings the wick covered squeegee is shown as being carried or supported behind the chassis of a conventional industrial fioor scrubber of the general type used by many professional janitorial or building maintenance organizations. In the particular application illustrated, the entire mobile unit can be made to operate in such a manner'that in making a single pass over the floor surface with the carriage the said floor will be wet, scrubbed, dried, and simultaneously coated with a uniform coating of wax. It is pointed out that in most conventional commercial or industrial floor maintenance operations mobile scrub units are used to scrub and wipe the floor dry, while wax is thereafter applied by any one of the above suggested'prior art methods as a separate and distinct operation'from the scrubbing procedure.

It is readily appreciated that in utilizing the present invention in the particular manner above briefly explained substantial savings in labor time can be effected in performing in a single operation that which is performed by successive independent operations in the prior art.

' A further object of this invention is to provide a wax applicator employing a squeegee having a blade urged against the floor surface with an absorbent wick disposed between the edge of the squeegee blade and the floor.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wax applicator for liquid wax employing a resilient squeegee blade and an absorbent wick sandwiched between the blade and the fioor with a pocket of wax adjacent the mined by the amount of .pressure exerted against the floor by the blade the absorbence of the wick sothat the quantity of wax within the pocket may be varied throughout substantially wide ranges withoutsubstaritially affecting the quantity of wax deposited on the Other objects of the present invention will become ape parent upon reading the following specification and referring tothe accompanying drawings in which similar" characters of reference represent corresponding parts in prises a vacuumized water storage tank 15 mounted on wheels 17 and carrying a rotating scrubbing brush 19 and a water squeegee 21. Y Scrubbing machine A is provided with an engine eithe gasoline or electric 23 which provides power to rotatebrush 19 and also to provide forward drive of wheels 11 and actuation of pump 28 arranged to vacuumize water tank 15. 1

In the conventional type of machine A water is sprayed through scrub brush 19 while the machine is arranged to travel across a floor. The motion of the brush together with the water cleans the floor whereafter the water is collected by squeegee 21. Squeegee 21, it will 7 be observed, has a concaveleading edge 30so that the water is collected at the center portion of the squeegee whereafter water is collected through'a vacuum manifold or pipe 32 and drawn into water chamber 15. Thus in operation of the device the floor is cleaned and water squeegeed from the floor and collected and thence re moved and drawn into the water reserve tank so that the floor is substantially dry on the trailing side of the squeegee. f

Squeegee 21 is mounted by two cranks 35 on an axle 36 which in turn is actuated by a linkage 38 and actuating handle member 39. Upon actuation of handle 39 squeegee 21 may be raised or lowered into the operative and inoperative position respectively.

pends downwardly from frame-member 40 in much the same manner as squeegee 21. J

A wick 46 is formed as a glove which completely en-' closes frame 40 and rubber squeegee member 45 and thus forms a wax pocket area generally indicated'at 43 into which wax is appliedand stored. Wick 46 is formed of a relatively porous material so that'the wax within pocket area 48 by capillary action saturates wick '46 whereupon when assembly B is arranged to pass over the floor the wax is spread evenly and uniformly in a thin film or coating over the floor surface.

In greater detail frame member 40 is generally L-sh'apejd in cross-section having a relatively horizontal leg 50and a relatively vertical legf51. A rubber squeege 56 depends from vertical leg 51. Horizontal leg 50 provides. a front projection to hold 'the'forward end of the wic l i'. in spaced relation to the depending vertical member 51.

" and squeegee '56 thus forming pocket '48. In top plan Patented Mar. 29 taco vertical member 51 comprises two substantially straight leg portion 55- and 55 disposed at approximately angles to one another with the apex being at the middle portion of frame 40. Arms and 55 are thence bent forwardly as at 57 and 57 to form more forwardly projecting tips 58 and 58 Wax is applied to assembly B from a wax storage tank 60 mounted on the rear end of machine A. The wax is gravity fed from tank 60 through tubes 61 and 61 in communication with assembly B. Tubes 61 and 61 are arranged to deposit wax via substantially horizontal tubes 65 and 65 mounted on the undersurface of leg 50 interiorly of pocket 48 so that the wax is deposited adjacent the tip or forward bent sections 58 and 58 It can thus be seen that with the wax deposit toward the end portions of the pocket 48 that with the forward motion of the machine the Wax will be drawn inwardly towards apex section 56 of frame 40.

Vacuum means are provided to continuously withdraw surface wax from pocket 48. The means employed comprises a tube having a rubber nozzle 73 disposed adjacent the front or leading edge of apex 56. Tube 70 is in communication with a vacuumized wax storage chamber 71 mounted adjacent storage tank 60 on the rear of machine A.

Chamber 71 is vacuumized by establishing communi cation between tank 71 and tank 15 through a conduit 74. Rubber nozzle 73 is positioned a predetermined distance above the floor so that should the wax level within pocket 48 reach the level of the bottom of nozzle 73 the excess wick is sucked into chamber 71 by the vacuum pressure derived from tank 15. By this means the level of wax within pocket 48 is controlled.

Wick 46 is preformed to form a glove complementary in shape to frame 40 and open at the top whereat tie strings 80 are arranged to attach the glove to the frame so that wick may be removably fitted on frame 40 and there tied by tying the tie strings 80. It is therefore apparent that the wicks are readily changeable so that should a wick become dirty it may be discarded or cleaned. It is also to be observed that the more absorbent the material forming the wick the greater the amount of wax applied to the floor and conversely a less absorbent material will generally result in thinner application of wax.

It is thus seen that the combination of assembly A and B provides a mechanism which is arranged to first apply water through brush 19, clean the floor by the use of the brush and thence remove the water from the floor by squeegee 21. Assembly B immediately following the squeegee is thereafter arranged to apply wax with buffing action so that the entire floor maintenance operation is accomplished by a single pass of the floor area. Handle 39 is arranged to move both assembly B and squeegee 21 to either an operative or inoperative position. It is further appreciated that a wick covered resilient squeegee blade of the character herein disclosed may be used independently and apart from an attachment to a mechanical .floor scrubber to deposit and uniformly and evenly spread a coating of liquid wax on the floor, and that the scope of the invention is not limited to use of the invention in conjunction with a floor scrubber or other mechanism.

In this device ,the quantity of wax deposited on the floor is determined primarily by the amount of pressure that squeegee 45 exerts against wick 46 together with the absorption characteristic of the wick and thus the amount of liquid wax carried by pocket 48 may be varied within a said range without substantially effecting the .amount of wax applied to the floor.

Althoughthe foregoing invention has been described in ,some' detail by way of illustration andexample for purposes of clarity of understanding, it is understood thatcertain changes and modificatiqns may be practiced 4 within the spirit of the invention as limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for uniformly spreading wax and the like on a floor surface comprising a supporting frame means, a squeegee having a relatively thin resilient squeegee blade supported by said frame means, a layer of Wick material of uniform thickness covering the floor engaging edge of the blade throughout its length, a liquid wax reservoir carried by said frame means above the floor engaging edge of said blade, conduit means connecting said reservoir with said wick operable to continuously gravity feed liquid wax to said wick, said wick covered blade defining a substantially V-shaped leading edge to cause excessive wax to be wiped and flooded toward the center of said blade during travel of the device over a floor surface.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a vacuum source carried by and movable with said frame and support means is provided, and wherein there is further provided a vacuum intake nozzle communicating with said source supported centrally of said V-shaped blade adjacent and forwardly of the center portion of the leading edge side of said V-shaped blade operable to suck up excess wax flooded toward the center of said blade during travel of the device over a fioor surface.

3. A device or uniformly spreading liquid wax and the like on a floor surface omprising; a frame, means for moving said frame across the floor surface while maintaining said frame a fixed predetermined distance above the floor surface, a resilient squeegee depending downwardly from said frame to engage said floor surface, and a glove formed of porous material, said glove covering said frame and sandwiched between said resilient squeegee and the fioor surface to form a liquid wax reservoir adjacent said squeegee.

4. A dwevice for uniformly spreading liquid wax and the like on a floor surface omprising; a frame, means for moving said frame across the floor surface while maintaining said frame a fixed predetermined distance above the fioor surface, a resilient squeegee depending downwardly from said frame to engage said floor surface, a glove formed of porous material, said glove covering said frame and sandwiched between said resilient squeegee and the floor surface to form a liquid wax reservoir adjacent said squeegee, said resilient squeegee formed to provide a substantially concave leading edge, and means for depositing liquid wax adjacent the opposite ends of the leading edge of said squeegee.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein means are provided to withdraw wax adjacent the leading edge of said squeegee from a point midway between the ends of said resilient squeegee.

6. In a device for use in combination with a conventional industrial floor scrubber of the general type having a mobile frame carrying a rotating brush, means to deposit water in combination with the brush and a squeegee for removing water from the floor, the combination of; a frame disposed adjacent the trailing side of the means for Squeegeeing water frcm the floor, said frame having a depending thin resilient blade having a leading edge disposed substantially parallel with the water squeegee, a porous glove enveloping said frame with a portion of the glove sandwiched between the floor and said resilient blade to provide a liquid wzx carrying reservoir adjacent the leading edge of said resilient blade; and means for depositing liquid wax in said reservoir.

7. A claim according to claim G and wherein said thin resilient blade is formed with a substantially concave leading edge and wherein said liquid wax depositioning means are disposed adjacent the end portions of said blade.

8. A combination of claim 7 and wherein means are 5 provided in communication with the wax reservoir pocket 1,910,325 7 midway between the two ends of said blade to withdraw 2,187,671 wax from said pocket.

References Cited in the file of this patent I 5 9 077 UNITED STATES PATENTS 10O0437 1,897,726 Hillyard Feb. 14, 1933 V 6 Finnell May 23, 1933 Suddarth Jan. 16, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 Great Britain May 27, 1953 France Oct. 10, 1951

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