Water-operated wash brush

• US 6,915,541 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2003
• Issued: 07/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: FNA IP Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: FAIP North America Incorporated (Faip)
• Inventors: Alexander, Gus
• Primary Examiner(s): Spisich, Mark
• Application Number:
  US10/391,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20040181886A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 15/24, 15/29
• US Class Current: 15/29
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 13/06 with brush driven by the supplied medium

Abstract

A water-operated wash brush which includes a casing that supports a rotary brush and an impellor which drives the rotary brush through a gear train as an incident to direction of wash liquid into the casing from a tangential nozzle. The casing has a clear plastic cover for observing rotary operation of the impellor with the gear train being ascetically disposed on an underside of the impellor. A circular splash plate is interposed between the gear train and the rotary brush for preventing the splash back of wash liquid that might impede operation of the gear train.

Claims

1. A wash liquid-operated wash brush comprising:

a casing having a downwardly opening top cover, said casing having a liquid inlet for coupling to a wash liquid supply with a nozzle for tangentially directing wash liquid into said casing, a rotary wash brush supported by said casing for relative rotation, an impellor supported by said casing for rotation relative to said rotary brush as an incident to direction of wash liquid into said casing from said nozzle, a gear train coupled between said impellor and rotary brush for rotating said rotary brush as an incident to rotation of said impellor, said cover, being made of a transparent material for enabling a user of said wash brush to observe rotation of said impellor through said cover, said impellor having a downwardly opening cup shape overlying said gear train such that the gear train is located underneath and within the perimeter of the impellor, said casing includes a frame plate on an underside of said cover, a central shaft rotatably supported between said frame plate and cover, said rotary brush being fixed to said central shaft, and said impellor being mounted about said central shaft for relative rotation with respect thereto, a splash plate mounted on said frame plate, said splash plate comprising a generally circular solid and uninterrupted plate disposed between the gear train and the brush for blocking the splash back of liquid from said rotary brush to said gear train during operation thereof, said splash plate having a diameter of at least one-half the diameter of said impellor and further being substantially centered with respect to the axis of rotation of said brush.

2. The wash brush of claim 1 in which said cover is made of a clear plastic material.

3. The wash brush of claim 1 including a non-rotatable annular brush disposed about said rotary brush in fixed depending relation to said casing.

4. The wash brush of claim 1 in which said gear train includes a first gear supported for rotation by a pin mounted in upstanding fixed relation to said frame plate, and a second gear fixed to said central shaft.

5. The wash brush of claim 1 in which said splash plate has a diameter of at least three-quarters the diameter of said impellor.

6. The wash brush of claim 1 in which said splash plate is an integral part of said frame plate.