[0001] The invention concerns a floor-cleaning machine, and in particular, a professional-type
floor-cleaning machine which is mainly designed for cleaning relatively extensive
floors, for example inside commercial and/or small industrial premises.
[0002] Professional floor-cleaning machines are usually divided into two different categories.
Machines mounted on self-propelled vehicles, which are designed to be driven by an
operative, are usually called "man on board" machines, while machines mounted on trolleys
which are manually propelled by an operator walking behind the machine are referred
to as "walk-behind" machines.
[0003] This invention concerns in particular "walk-behind" machines.
[0004] As is known, floor-cleaning machines of the walk-behind type comprise operating groups
which perform specific floor-cleaning operations, among which, one or more motorised
rotating brushes which scrub the surfaces, a dispenser group which dispenses a detergent
liquid, and a suction group to which a floor-wiping group is associated. The floor-cleaning
group normally comprises one or more flexible rubber blades, which drag on the floor
to collect the detergent liquid and the dislodged dirt.
[0005] The operating groups are usually covered by suitable plastic or sheet-metal covers,
and are mounted on board a sturdy, solid support trolley, usually of large dimensions,
which is provided with handles or grips to be grasped by the operative in order to
guide it in movement over the floor to be washed.
[0006] A common requirement in all profession floor-cleaning machines is to enable the floor-cleaning
group to move vertically between a lowered work position, in which the blades are
in contact with the floor, and a raised rest position, in which the blades are distanced
from the floor such as not to scrape on it.
[0007] This movement is usually obtained by means of complicated kinematic activating systems,
typically hinged systems having one or more jointed arms, which are mounted on the
support trolley and to which the floor-cleaning group is coupled.
[0008] A drawback of professional floor-cleaning machines is therefore that they are rather
expensive, not only because of the presence of the above-mentioned kinematic activating
systems, but also because of the presence of all the motorisation organs and control
organs which the kinematic systems require in order to function.
[0009] The aim of the present invention is to at least partly obviate the mentioned drawback,
by providing a floor-cleaning machine which is so simple and rational as to enable
a significant reduction in construction costs with respect to the floor-cleaning machines
presently available.
[0010] The aim is attained by the characteristics of the invention included in the independent
claim. The dependent claims delineate preferred and/or particularly advantageous aspects
of the invention.
[0011] In particular, the invention provides a floor-cleaning machine which comprises a
support trolley on which at least a floor-cleaning group is installed, which group
is provided with at least a rotating flexible blade and a motor for activating the
blade, and gripping means which are destined to be held by a user in order to guide
the trolley on the floor.
[0012] The gripping means are made available by a rigid frame, which is hinged to the support
carriage and on which the operating group is directly fixed.
[0013] Thanks to this solution, by manually rotating the rigid frame about the hinge axis
with the support trolley, the user is effectively able to raise the operating group
with respect to the floor, displacing it from the lowered work position into a raised
rest position, without any need for complicated kinematic activating systems or motors
or command organs therefor, making the constructional solution provided very simple
and consequently very economical.
[0014] Further, owing to the absence of the above-mentioned activating systems, the support
trolley can advantageously be made smaller and less sturdy than the trolleys usually
used for professional floor-cleaners, thus further contributing to the constructional
simplicity and therefore to the relative inexpensiveness of the machine.
[0015] In a preferred aspect of the invention, the floor-cleaning machine comprises means
for blocking the rigid frame in the configuration in which the operating group is
in the raised rest position. The means for blocking preferably comprise at least a
telescopic arm, which is hinged to the trolley and the tilting frame, and to which
disengageable stop means are associated, which stop means are destined to block the
arm in a predetermined extended position.
[0016] In a further preferred aspect of the invention, the floor-cleaning machine further
comprises a floor-cleaning group, which is provided with at least a flexible blade
and which is mobile on the support trolley between a work position, in which the flexible
blade is in contact with the floor, and a rest position, in which the flexible blade
is distanced from the floor.
[0017] Magnetic means are preferably associated to the floor-cleaning group which block
the group in the rest position.
[0018] In this way, production costs of the floor-cleaning machine are further reduced with
respect to those presently available, in which the floor-cleaning group is generally
associated to complicated automatic raising and blocking systems.
[0019] Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following
detailed description provided by way of a non-limiting example, with the aid of the
appended figures of the drawings.
[0020] Figure 1 is a side view of a floor-cleaning machine of the invention, with some components
removed in order better to illustrated the aspects of the invention, and shown with
the operating group 5 and the floor-cleaning group 7 both in the work position.
[0021] Figure 2 is a plan view of the floor-cleaning machine of figure 1.
[0022] Figure 3 is a side view of the floor-cleaning machine of figure 1, shown with the
operating group 5 and the floor-cleaning group 7 both in the rest position.
[0023] Figure 4 is a side view of the machine of figure 1 complete with all components,
and shown with the operating group 5 in the work position and the floor-cleaning group
7 in the rest position.
[0024] Figure 5 is larger-scale detail of figure 1.
[0025] Figure 6 is a schematic view of the section of the floor-cleaning group 7 made according
to line VI-VI denoted in figure 2, in which a broken line shows the flexion of the
blades 70 during the dragging thereof on the floor.
[0026] The floor-cleaning machine 1 comprises a rather compact, lightweight support trolley
2 which exhibits a horizontal base 20 and is provided with three support wheels, two
of which are coaxial, fixed-axle, forward wheels 21, and one of which is a pivoting
rear wheel 22.
[0027] Two oppositely-positioned salient side elements 23, which are identical in shape
and preferably made of plastic, are fixed to the mobile support trolley 2 and laterally
delimit the loading space of the mobile support trolley 2.
[0028] A rigid frame 3, which is preferably made from sheet steel, is hinged to the side
elements 23.
[0029] As shown in figure 2, the frame 3 has rounded corners and exhibits two transverse
bars, a forward transverse bar 30 and a rear transverse bar 31, which are connected
by two oppositely-positioned, identical, shaped longitudinal bars 32.
[0030] The rigid frame 3 is inserted externally on the side elements 23 of the mobile support
trolley 2, to which mobile support trolley 2 it is hinged by means of two hinge joints
24 which singularly join a respective side element 23 to the adjacent longitudinal
bar 32.
[0031] The hinge joints 24 are perfectly coaxial, such as to define a single axis of rotation
A of the rigid frame 3 with respect to the mobile support trolley 2.
[0032] As shown in figure 1, the axis of rotation A is oriented such as to be horizontal
when the mobile support trolley 2 is resting on the floor, and is arranged in an intermediate
position along the longitudinal bars 32, such that the rigid frame 3 is hinged to
the mobile support trolley 2 like a reciprocating lever.
[0033] In this way, when the rear transverse bar 31 is lowered, the forward transverse bar
30 is raised, and vice versa.
[0034] In more detail, the longitudinal bars 32 of the frame 3 develop in a downwards direction,
such that the forward transverse bar 30 is before the base 20 and is located substantially
at a same height as the base 20, while the rear transverse bar 31 is at a higher level.
[0035] The rear transverse bar 31 functions as a grip for the user pushing the floor-cleaning
machine 1, and is therefore positioned at a height at which it can be comfortably
gripped. The longitudinal bars 32 are extensible in the tract comprised between the
axis of rotation A and the rear transverse bar 31, such as to enable height-regulation
of the rear transverse bar 31 according to the user's needs.
[0036] A support plate 33 is further attached to the rigid frame 3 (see figure 2) at the
forward transverse bar 30 position, on which support plate 33 a vertical bar 34 is
welded.
[0037] A first end of a telescopic arm 4 (see figure 1) is hinged to the vertical bar 34,
while a second end thereof is hinged to a fork 25 fixed below the base 20 of the trolley
2.
[0038] The hinge axes of the telescopic arm 4 with the vertical bar 34 and the fork 25 are
both parallel to the axis of rotation A of the frame 3, and are positioned such that
the telescopic arm 4 extends following a rotation of the frame 3 in an anticlockwise
direction B which corresponds to the raising of the forward transverse bar 30.
[0039] The telescopic arm 4 is provided with stop means (not visible in the figures and
of known type) which block the telescopic arm 4 in a predetermined extended position,
and which can be commanded such as to free the block in order to enable a successive
shortening of the telescopic arm 4.
[0040] In more detail, the stop means act during an extension of the telescopic arm 4, blocking
it when it reaches a predetermined length. With the block inserted the telescopic
arm 4 cannot shorten and remains in the position reached.
[0041] In order to free the block, it is generally necessary to cause a further short extension
of the telescopic arm 4, following which the stop means disengage, enabling the telescopic
arm 4 to freely shorten.
[0042] Telescopic arms provided with such stop means are commercially available and are
widely used for example in the furniture industry to keep the swinging doors of cupboards
open.
[0043] An operating group denoted in its entirety by reference numeral 5 is installed upon
the support plate 33, which operating group comprises a rotating brush with frontal
bristles 50 to which a gear reducer 51 is associated.
[0044] In particular, the brush 50 is positioned below the support plate 33, with the rotation
axis substantially vertical, such as to be able to rest the bristles frontally on
the floor, while the gear reducer 51 is located above the support plate 33, at a hole
(not visible) which enables mechanical connection with the brush 50.
[0045] The gear reducer 51 is controlled by a command lever 52 which is mounted on the rear
transverse bar 31 of the frame 3 and which is connected to the gear reducer 51 via
flexible cables (not illustrated).
[0046] A suction group, denoted in its entirety by 6, is also mounted on the support plate
33, which suction group 6 schematically comprises a pump with the relative activating
motor.
[0047] The suction group 6 is also controlled by manual organs (not illustrated) which are
preferably mounted on the rear transverse bar 31 of the frame 3, such as to be easily
operated by the user.
[0048] As illustrated in figure 4, the suction group 6 is connected via a first flexible
pipe 60 to a closed collecting reservoir 61, preferably made of plastic, which is
arranged on board the mobile support trolley 2, and is in turn connected, via a second
flexible pipe 62, to a floor-cleaning group 7.
[0049] The collecting reservoir 61 rests upon a lower reservoir 63, which is mounted on
the base 20 of the mobile support trolley 2, which reservoir 63 contains a washing
liquid, typically water or possibly water mixed with a detergent substance.
[0050] The lower reservoir 63 is connected via a flexible tube 64 to one or more dispensing
nozzles of the cleaning liquid (not shown), which are attached to the rigid frame
3 at the cleaning organ 50. The dispensing nozzles are connected to the lower reservoir
63 by at least a flexible conduit, denoted by 64 in figure 4, along which a manual
check valve (not visible) is generally located for regulating the flow of cleaning
liquid which normally flows from the lower reservoir 63 towards the dispensing nozzles,
simply by force of gravity.
[0051] As illustrated in figure 5, the floor-cleaning group 7 comprises two thin flexible
blades 70, made of a coherent material, preferably rubber, which are oriented vertically
so as to be arranged with edges thereof against the floor.
[0052] The flexible blades 70 are perfectly facing one another and have horizontal lower
edges located substantially at a same height, such as to be contemporaneously in contact
with the floor along the whole longitudinal development thereof.
[0053] As illustrated in figure 2, the flexible blades 70 develop transversally with respect
to the trolley 2, from which they project on both lateral flanks, and exhibit a plan
profile which is substantially crossbow-shaped, with the concavity thereof facing
in the forwards direction.
[0054] The flexible blades 70 are joined together at the ends and are kept separate by a
rigid framework 71, which defines a space that is open at a bottom thereof and closed
at the top thereof (see figure 6).
[0055] A connector 73 is associated to the rigid framework, which connector 73 terminates
within the space 72 and is connected to the second flexible pipe 62 coming from the
collecting reservoir 61.
[0056] As shown in figure 2, the rigid framework 71 is borne on a central plate 74, to which
it is removably joined in order to enable replacement of the floor-cleaning group
7 when the flexible blades 70 are worn.
[0057] A raised block 75 is welded to the central plate 74, to which the ends of two superposed
con rods 76 are hinged, the con rods 76 being of equal length and parallel to one
another, opposite ends of which are hinged to a support 77 fixed below the base 20
in the rear part of the trolley 2 (see figure 5).
[0058] The hinge axes of the con rods 76 with the block 75 and the support 77 are horizontal,
such that the con rods 76 define a four-bar hinge enabling the floor-wiping group
7 to perform vertical movements of the floor-cleaning group 7, keeping the flexible
blades 70 parallel to themselves.
[0059] In detail, the four-bar hinge enables the floor-wiping group 7 to be moved between
a work position, in which the flexible blades 70 are in contact with the floor, and
a rest position, in which the flexible blades 70 are raised and are not in contact
with the floor.
[0060] As illustrated in figure 5, a permanent magnet 26 is fixed on the trolley 2, which
can be substituted by an electromagnet or like magnetic means, which magnet 26 is
positioned such as to contactingly receive the upper con rod 76 of the four-bar hinge
when the floor-cleaning group 7 is in the raised rest position.
[0061] In this way, the magnetic attraction exerted by the magnet 26 on the ferro-magnetic
material of the con rod 76 enables the floor-cleaning group 7 to be effectively blocked
in the rest position, for example when the floor-cleaning machine 1 is not being used.
[0062] Naturally the same result could be reached by mounting the magnet 26 on the con rod
76 and predisposing a ferro-magnetic stop on the trolley 2; or by mounting two magnets
having opposite polarity respectively on the con rod 76 and the trolley 2, such that
the magnets come into contact when the floor-cleaning group 7 is in the rest position.
[0063] Finally, the floor-cleaning group 7 comprises a shaped lever 78, which is fixed on
the rigid frame 71 and develops in an upwards direction, such as to make available
a comfortable grip for a user who, by acting on the shaped lever 78, can overcome
the magnetic force exerted by the magnet 26 and unblock the floor-cleaning group 7
from the rest position, leaving it to rest by force of gravity on the floor, thus
moving into the work position.
[0064] In use, the floor-cleaning group is guided on the floor by the user who walks behind
it, gripping the rear transverse bar 31 of the tilting frame 3.
[0065] The tilting frame 3 is in the configuration illustrated in figure 1, where the operating
group 5 is in a lowered work position in which the bristles of the rotating brush
are frontally in contact with the floor.
[0066] This work position is maintained thanks to the weight of the operating group 5 and
the suction group 6, which tend to cause the tilting frame 3 to rotate in a clockwise
direction C, i.e. in the direction corresponding to a lowering of the forward transverse
bar, pressing the rotating brush 50 down onto the floor.
[0067] The floor-cleaning group 7 is also in a lowered work position, with the flexible
blades 70 both in contact with the floor.
[0068] The work position of the floor-cleaning group 7 is maintained thanks to the weight
of the group itself, which acts in the direction of pressing the flexible blades 70
onto the floor.
[0069] During the cleaning operations, the rotating brush 50 is rotated by the gear reducers
51, and at the same time the suction group 6 is activated, which places the collecting
reservoir 61 in depression and, via the flexible conduit 62, also the space 71 defined
between the flexible blades 70 of the floor-cleaning group 7.
[0070] At the same time the command is given for the cleaning liquid to be dispensed from
the lower reservoir 63.
[0071] The liquid is dispensed directly onto to bristles of the rotating brush 50 such that
the scrubbing action of the brush 50 and the detergent action of the liquid enable
the dirt to be removed from the floor.
[0072] The liquid mixed with dirt is then swept and collected by the flexible blades 70
which drag on the floor, and filters into the space 72, from where it is aspirated
internally of the collecting reservoir 61.
[0073] When washing operations are terminated, the user pushes the rear transverse bar 31
of the tilting frame 3 downwards, raising the forward transverse bar 30 and causing
a progressive extension of the telescopic arm 4.
[0074] In this way, the operating group 5 and the suction group 6, which are solidly constrained
to the forward transverse bar 30, are raised from the floor up to reaching the rest
position illustrated in figure 3, in which the rotating brush 50 is not touching the
floor.
[0075] On reaching this rest position, the telescopic arm 4 blocks by effect of the stop
means thereof, such that the position is maintained even if the user lets go of the
grip.
[0076] At this point, the user grips the lever 78 and raises the floor-cleaning group 7,
returning it into the rest position in which it is blocked by the magnet 26.
[0077] To perform a new cleaning operation, it will be sufficient to unblock the telescopic
arm 4 such that by force of gravity the operating group 5 returns into the work position,
and to free the floor-cleaning group 7 from the magnet 26.
[0078] Obviously, a person skilled in the art might bring numerous technical and applicational
modifications to the invention without forsaking the ambit of the invention as claimed
herein below.
1. A floor-cleaning machine comprising a support trolley (2), on which support trolley
(2) at least an operating group (5) is installed, which operating group (5) comprises
at least a rotating brush (50) destined to go into contact with a floor and a motor
(51) for activating the rotating brush (50), and gripping means (31) destined to be
held by a user to guide the trolley (2) on the floor, characterised in that the gripping means (31) are provided by a rigid frame (3), which rigid frame (3)
is hinged to the support trolley (2) and on which the operating group (5) is directly
fixed.
2. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 1, characterised in that the rigid frame (3) is hinged to the support trolley (2) as a reciprocating lever.
3. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 2, characterised in that the operating group (5) and the gripping means (31) are on opposite sides of the
rigid frame (3) with respect to the axis of rotation (A) thereof with respect to the
trolley (2).
4. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 1, characterised in that it comprises blocking means for blocking the rigid frame (3) in a rest configuration,
in which the brush (50) of the operating group (5) is distanced from the floor.
5. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 4, characterised in that the blocking means comprise a telescopic arm (4) hinged to the rigid frame (3) and
to the trolley (2), which telescopic arm (4) is provided with disengageable stop means.
6. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 1, characterised in that a suction group (6) is further fixed on the rigid frame (3).
7. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 6, characterised in that the suction group (6) is connected to a collecting reservoir (61) located on a base
(20) of the trolley (2).
8. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 1, characterised in that it comprises means (63, 64) for dispensing a cleaning liquid onto the floor.
9. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 8, characterised in that the means for dispensing the cleaning liquid comprise a reservoir (63) for containing
the liquid, which reservoir (63) is located on the base (20) of the trolley (2).
10. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 1, characterised in that it comprises a floor-cleaning group (7), which is provided with at least a flexible
blade (70) and which is mobile on board the support trolley (2) between a work position,
in which the flexible blade (70) is in contact with the floor, and a rest position,
in which the flexible blade (70) is distanced from the floor.
11. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 10, characterised in that it comprises magnetic means (26) which block the floor-cleaning group (7) in the
rest position.
12. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 11, characterised in that the magnetic means comprise at least a magnet (26) fixed on the trolley (2).
13. The floor-cleaning machine of claim 10, characterised in that the floor-cleaning group (7) comprises a pair of flexible blades (70) separated by
a space (72).
14. The floor-cleaning machine of claims 13 and 7, characterised in that the space (72) is in communication with the suction group (6) via the collecting
reservoir (61).