Lint removal apparatus with edge orientation

• US 7,395,574 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Issued: 07/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hartz Mountain Corporation (Unicharm Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hartz Mountain Corporation (Unicharm Corporation)
• Inventors: McKay, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHIN, RANDALL E
• Application Number:
  US11/805,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20070220691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• Field of Search: 151/040.02
• US Class Current: 15/104.002
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 25/005 using adhesive or tacky surfaces to remove dirt, e.g. lint removers

Abstract

A lint roll apparatus includes an orienting mechanism for orienting the free edge of the outermost sheet of a adhesive roll with a predetermined point on a roll support. Orientation is implemented by cooperating stop members on the roll and the roll support, by a slidable member on the roll support moveable into and out of engagement with a notch in the roll or a roll core, or a trigger activated moveable pin which is engagable with a stop member carried on the roll or roll support. A motor driven spindle rotates a cylinder on which the roll is mounted.

Claims

1. A cleaning apparatus comprising:

a rotatable roll assembly including

a wound roll with outwardly facing adhesive surfaces, the roll formed of a plurality of separable sheets, each defined by an edge separable from an adjacent sheet;

a support element rotatably supporting the roll assembly and including a handle and a support extending from the handle with the roll assembly mounted on the support; and

first means including a projection on the handle, the first means being carried on the roll assembly, and second means including a recess carried on the roll assembly for selectively receiving the projection of the handle, the second means being carried on the support element, said first and second releasably engageable with one another only when said roll assembly is at a specific rotatable position relative to said support element during rotation of said roll assembly about said support element for rotatably orienting the edge of each sheet, as the edge of each sheet becomes the outermost edge of the roll, at a predetermined angular location relative to the support;

wherein said recess is formed in each of said separable sheets of said wound roll.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said roll assembly includes a core.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the support element comprises a one-piece body defined by the handle and the roll support.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the separable edge of each of the plurality sheets in the roll is radially aligned.