Cleaning apparatus for bowling lanes
First Claim
1. Apparatus for use in cleaning bowling lanes and the like comprising:
- a rockable frame;
a pair of transversely extending rollers carried by said frame in laterally spaced apart relationship;
a web of absorbent material stretched between said rollers and coiled around the same in such a manner that as one of the rollers is rotated to coil up the web, the other roller pays out the web to the one roller;
means for releasably retaining the rollers in selected rotative positions;
a web-engaging fulcrum carried by said frame between said rollers in offset relationship with an imaginary line intersecting the peripheries of the web coils around said rollers whereby the frame may be rocked fore-and-aft about said fulcrum to selectively bring either of said web coils and the fulcrum-engaged portion of the web to bear against the lane surface; and
means for rocking the frame about said fulcrum in one direction when the frame is moved forwardly along the lane surface and for rocking the frame in the opposite direction about the fulcrum when the frame is moved reversely along the lane surface,at least one fore-and-aft extremity of said frame being provided with a pair of laterally spaced apart, freely rotatable wheels positioned outboard of opposite lateral extremities of the frame and projecting forwardly therefrom above lowermost extremities of said rollers for facilitating the clearance of obstacles by the frame in alignment with said wheels.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The frame of the apparatus carries a pair of front and rear rollers extending across the normal path of travel of the frame during use, and a soft web of absorbent material such as terry cloth has its opposite ends coiled around the two rollers and a mid-portion thereof looped beneath a transverse fulcrum roller on the frame which is located between the two coil rollers. Inasmuch as the fulcrum roller is disposed with its lower lane-engaging periphery out of alignment with the peripheries of the other two rollers, the terry cloth web bears against the surface only at two spaced locations, i.e., either the fulcrum and the forward roller or the fulcrum and the rear roller. When the frame is advanced forwardly down the lane, the frame is rocked forwardly about the fulcrum roller such that the forward coil roller swings down into engagement with the lane surface to serve as a means for scrubbing and lifting deleterious materials from the lane surface after a cleaning liquid, such as warm water, has been distributed across the front of the frame. When the frame is then moved in the opposite direction along the lane in a return stroke, the frame rocks rearwardly about the fulcrum roller to engage the rear coil roller with the lane surface so as to absorb and break into fine droplets any accumulations of cleaning liquid which may have been left on the lane surface during the first pass.
45 Citations
6 Claims
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1. Apparatus for use in cleaning bowling lanes and the like comprising:
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a rockable frame; a pair of transversely extending rollers carried by said frame in laterally spaced apart relationship; a web of absorbent material stretched between said rollers and coiled around the same in such a manner that as one of the rollers is rotated to coil up the web, the other roller pays out the web to the one roller; means for releasably retaining the rollers in selected rotative positions; a web-engaging fulcrum carried by said frame between said rollers in offset relationship with an imaginary line intersecting the peripheries of the web coils around said rollers whereby the frame may be rocked fore-and-aft about said fulcrum to selectively bring either of said web coils and the fulcrum-engaged portion of the web to bear against the lane surface; and means for rocking the frame about said fulcrum in one direction when the frame is moved forwardly along the lane surface and for rocking the frame in the opposite direction about the fulcrum when the frame is moved reversely along the lane surface, at least one fore-and-aft extremity of said frame being provided with a pair of laterally spaced apart, freely rotatable wheels positioned outboard of opposite lateral extremities of the frame and projecting forwardly therefrom above lowermost extremities of said rollers for facilitating the clearance of obstacles by the frame in alignment with said wheels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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Specification