Cylindrical brush idler-side taper adjustment assembly
First Claim
1. An adjustable assembly for a powered rotating brush member operating in a surface maintenance vehicle comprising:
- a brush assembly housing member having a first aperture and a second aperture spaced from the first aperture;
a substantially cylindrical brush member having a rotary bearing assembly connected at a first end; and
a coupling mechanism comprising a first cam member having an adjustment head protruding from a first side and a bore spaced from the adjustment head, the head and the bore positioned to correspond to the first and second aperture, respectively, a second cam member having a first side with a third aperture aligned with the bore and a second side of the second cam member adapted to engage the rotary bearing assembly, and a connecting member extending through the second aperture and the bore and engaging the third aperture.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides an adjustment mechanism and methods for adjusting the alignment of a powered cylindrical brush mounted to a surface maintenance vehicle relative to a surface to be maintained or cleaned by the vehicle. The device is preferably disposed upon the idler-side of a powered rotating cylindrical brush assembly and the adjustment preferably occurs via use of an eccentric cam member providing a range or motion, or pivot location, through or about which the idler-side mounting location of the cylindrical brush may be adjusted to improve contact with the surface. The present invention enables such adjustment without decoupling the rotating brush from its couplings (both supportive and rotational coupling), and any coupling to a drive mechanism for driving the rotating brush into rotation. The rotating brush so adjusted will benefit from improved mechanical cooperation between the bristles of the brush and the surface to be cleaned. If at least two counter-rotating cylindrical brush assemblies are disposed on a single surface maintenance vehicle each may be adjusted with respect to the surface and to the other brush disposed therein. Another aspect of the present invention is to allow a single operator to perform brush taper adjustments without disassembly of any connecting components for operating the rotating cylindrical brush assembly during cleaning operations, including even the side covers or other brush mounting components and any drive gear associated thereto. The apparatus and methods of the present invention are intended to readily accommodate rapid adjustment in the course of surface cleaning operations by a single manual operator or technician preferably either by hand or via use of a single rudimentary adjustment instrument operating upon a single adjustable mounting location to change the state of the single adjustable mounting location from a partially-released state to a fully-coupled state.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An adjustable assembly for a powered rotating brush member operating in a surface maintenance vehicle comprising:
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a brush assembly housing member having a first aperture and a second aperture spaced from the first aperture;
a substantially cylindrical brush member having a rotary bearing assembly connected at a first end; and
a coupling mechanism comprising a first cam member having an adjustment head protruding from a first side and a bore spaced from the adjustment head, the head and the bore positioned to correspond to the first and second aperture, respectively, a second cam member having a first side with a third aperture aligned with the bore and a second side of the second cam member adapted to engage the rotary bearing assembly, and a connecting member extending through the second aperture and the bore and engaging the third aperture. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An adjustable assembly for one of a pair of counter-rotating brush members operating in a surface maintenance vehicle, comprising:
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a housing member having a first aperture and a second aperture, spaced from the first aperture, wherein said second aperture has an elongate shape;
a substantially cylindrical first brush member having a first attachment location disposed at a first end; and
a first cam member pivotably coupled to the housing member, wherein the first cam member has an adjustment head protruding from a first side, a bore spaced from the adjustment head and a ridge-receiving elongate recess formed on a second side; and
a second cam member mechanically coupled to the second side of the first cam member on a first side of the second cam member and wherein the first side of the second cam member has a threaded blind hole formed therein aligned with the second aperture of the housing member and a ridge feature formed thereon corresponding to said ridge-receiving elongate recess and a second side of said second cam member adapted to engage the first attachment location. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
wherein ridge feature of the second cam member is formed as a pin corresponding to said pin-receiving recess of the first cam member.
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18. An adjustable assembly, comprising:
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an elongate rotary brush member having a longitudinal axis of rotation;
a first rotational mounting structure coupled to the elongate rotary brush member at the longitudinal axis at a first end of the elongate rotary brush member and a second rotational mounting structure coupled to the elongate rotary brush member at the longitudinal axis at a second end of the elongate rotary brush member so that said elongate rotary brush member freely rotates about said longitudinal axis;
a pair of coupling mechanisms coupling the elongate rotary brush to the respective first and second rotational mounting structures, each coupling mechanism comprising a cam member having a first side with an adjustment head protruding therefrom, the adjustment heads rotatively coupled to a respective one of the first and second rotational mounting structures and a second side of each cam member adapted to eccentrically and rotatably engage respective ends of the rotary brush member; and
,a source of rotational motion coupled to the second end of the elongate rotary brush.
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19. An adjustable brush assembly comprising:
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a housing member having a first aperture and a second aperture spaced from the first aperture;
a cylindrical brush member; and
a cam member having an adjustment head protruding from a first side, a bore spaced from the adjustment head, and a second side adapted to engage the cylindrical brush member, the adjustment head rotatively engages the first aperture; and
a connecting member extending through the second aperture and engaging the bore. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification