INDUSTRIAL CARPET AND FLOOR CONDITIONER

• US 3,803,666 A
• Filed: 01/08/1973
• Issued: 04/16/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Harold T. Sawyer
• Original Assignee: Harold T. Sawyer
• Inventors: Sawyer, Harold T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hornsby, Harvey C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Moore, C. K.
• Application Number:
  US05/321,761
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 15/89,91,92,320,321,340,354 94/48
• US Class Current: 15/320
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/125 with supply of cleaning agents
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/34 Machines for treating carpets in position by liquid, foam, or vapour, e.g. by steam
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/405 Machines using UV-lamps, IR-lamps, ultrasound or plasma cleaning

Abstract

A single transversely aligned floor conditioning plate or a group of transversely aligned floor conditioning plates are mounted on a tubular support which in turn is carried by an appropriate vehicle. For vibrating the plates at or near one of their modes of natural frequency, a single source of sinusoidal energy vibrating in the low sonic range is mounted midway between opposite ends of a resonant tubular support, at an antinodal point. When more than one resonant plate is employed, the other plates are also mounted at antinodal points by means of pedestal supports. A work shoe below each plate has an accumulator chamber for reception of cleaning liquid located above the work shoe and separated from the work shoe by a series of resilient spring mounts located at antinodal points which alone and/or in combination with the liquid transfer the sinusoidal acoustic resonant energy from the source through the tubular support and plate thereon into the conditioning fluid. The fluid medium is transformed into a state of cavitation and continues after it leaves the chamber. Subsequently a suction apparatus draws the spent and soiled conditioning fluid away from the conditioning operation.

Claims

1. A condItioner for surfaces adapted to be mounted on and carried by a vehicle, said conditioner comprising a resonant plate beam, a source of sinusoidal vibrating energy carried by the vehicle and having a location of application to said plate beam intermediate sides and ends thereof, the application of said energy being in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the plate beam, a work shoe comparable in length and breadth to said plate beam, means forming a relatively closed shallow accumulator chamber therebetween, a multiplicity of passages through said work shoe comprising outlets from said accumulator chamber, a plurality of resilient mounts spaced throughout the area respectively of said plate beam and said work shoe, said mounts being relatively flexible in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the plate beam and relatively stiff in a direction parallel to the surface of said plate beam, and means for supplying conditioning fluid to said work shoe.

2. A conditioner as in claim 1 wherein said plate beam and said shoe and all portions of the device associated therewith at the locations of application of sinusoidal energy have masses and shapes selected to vibrate at or near their resonant frequency.

3. A conditioner as in claim 2 wherein the point of application of sinusoidal energy to the plate beam is located substantially centrally with respect to sides and ends of said plate beam.

4. A conditioner as in claim 2 wherein the plate beam and the work shoe form opposite sides of said accumulator chamber and the mounts are located in the accumulator chamber in engagement respectively with said plate beam and said work shoe.

5. A conditioner as in claim 4 wherein the work shoe has a conditioning face of flexible rubber-like material with a tread of alternately located high and low spots, said passages being in communication with said low spots.

6. A conditioner as in claim 2 wherein a portion of said accumulator chamber is isolated from the rest of the the accumulator chamber and the supply line thereto, there being a suction line in communication with said portion of the accumulator chamber.

7. A conditioner as in claim 2 wherein there is a back plate intermediate the plate beam and the work shoe, said back plate and said work plate forming opposite sides of said accumulator chamber, said mounts being located between and in engagement with the plate beam and the back plate, there being additional mounting means of corresponding character between the back plate and the work shoe.

8. A conditioner as in claim 7 wherein said additional mounting means form a lateral closure for said accumulator chamber.

9. A conditioner as in claim 2 wherein said source of sinusoidal energy comprises a base carried by the vehicle, a bracket on the plate beam, an eccentrically loaded mass rotatably mounted respectively on said base and said bracket, the mounting between the mass and the base being a resilient isolation mount and the mounting between the mass and the bracket being an eccentric bearing.

10. A conditioner as in claim 9 wherein the mass is an electric motor.

11. A conditioner as in claim 9 wherein the mass is an eccentrically mounted weight having a pulley on an axis of rotation thereof, a motor carried by said vehicle, a pulley in rotated engagement with said motor and a belt drive between said pulleys.

12. A conditioner as in claim 9 wherein there is a tubular longitudinal beam, and a plurality of plate beams connected at substantially central locations thereof to said longitudinal beam at antinodal points, said source of sinusoidal vibrating energy being located at one of said antinodal points.