Broom suitable for mounting to a sweeping machine

Abstract

 Broom (1,19) provided with means for mounting it to a power-driven shaft (7) of a sweeping machine, said broom comprising bundles (12) of bristles (13), each of said bundles (12), at the end opposite to the free active ends of said bristles (13), being provided with a connecting element (15) to connect the bundle (12) to a holding member (2,20). Said holding member can be in the shape of a truncated cone (3) or a helically shaped plate (22) mounted to a shaft (21). Said holding member (2,20) at the position of a bundle running substantially rectilinear and being provided with a number of distanced holes (10) for receiving a bolt (11) by which a bundle (12) is connected to said holding member (2,20).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a broom provided with means for mounting it to a power-driven shaft of a sweeping machine, said broom comprising a holding member to connect bundles of bristles with this member in such a way that said bundels can be moved in respect of said member for bringing the active ends of said bristles at the desired distance from the outer edge of said holding member.

[0002] Such a broom is known from US-A-3,029,456. In case of this known broom each bundle of bristles is received in a sleeve being mounted in a flat plate. The plate is running perpendicular to the center line of the rotatable shaft of the sweeping machine and the middle portion of said plate is connected to this shaft. To prevent that that end of the bundle opposite to the active ends of the bristles, is swept outwardly, the sleeve is provided with an upper curved section directed towards the rotating shaft, a protecting cover being provided across said plate. The bundle is fixed by means of a hose clamp consisting of a bent wire extending around the bundle and being received in a groove provided in the outer wall of the sleeve and extending in a groove in the inner wall of the sleeve. The mounting and replacing of the clamping wire will be cumbersome and also the movement of the bundle through the curved section of the sleeve will present difficulties. To prevent that the protecting cover has to be removed when moving a bundle outwardly, said protecting cover is provided with openings at the position of a clamp, so that through such an opening said clamp has to be disengaged from the bundle. So on the one hand one has to press inwardly the clamp with a piece of tool so that then the bundle can be moved in the sleeve after which the clamp can be released again. This also will not contribute to an easy movement of the bundle in the sleeve.

[0003] The object of the invention now is to remove said disadvantages and to that end it is provided that each bundle of bristles, at the end opposite to the free active ends of said bristles, is provided with a connecting element to connect the bundle to the holding member, said holding member, at the position of each bundle of bristles, running substantially rectilinear and being provided with either a number of bores being distanced from each other in the direction of the bundle, or with a slotted hole running in the direction of the bundle for receiving in it connecting means by which said connecting element can be fixed to the holding member, said holding member, near its outer edge directed towards the active end of the bristles, being provided with support elements to support the bristles when the broom is in use.

[0004] By providing the bundle, at the end opposite to the active end of the strips, with a connecting element, said end can directly be connected to the holding member such as e.g. by means of bolt. Then one only needs to loosen said bolt to bring this in an adjacent bore of the holding member after having moved the bundle. When using one or more slotted holes in certain cases, the bolt need not be loosened totally. Because the bundle may extend itself along a substantially rectilinear portion of the holding member, undesired tensions in the bristles are avoided.

[0005] According to a possible embodiment it can be provided that the holding member is in the shape of a truncated cone, the bundles of bristles extending according to generating lines along the inner side of the conical skirt, such that the active ends of the bristles extend outside the end of said cone with the largest diameter.

[0006] The apex angle of the truncated cone can be chosen at wish, dependent on the field of application and of the construction of the sweeping machine on which the broom has to be mounted. In this case the apex angle might obtain such a value that the holding member will have the shape of a portion of a cylindrical shell.

[0007] According to a further embodiment of the invention the support elements can be formed by a disc or ring in which slotted holes are provided through which the bristles extend. In particular a ring will be used such that the inner side of the truncated cone is easily excessible to loosen the bundles of bristles and either to fix these at another position or to replace them when they are completely worn.

[0008] According to another embodiment of the invention it can be provided, that the holding member is formed by at least one helically shaped plate being mounted on a shaft.

[0009] In this case the shaft to which the helically shaped plate is mounted, will run in horizontal direction and the bristles will be moved in vertical planes running perpendicular to the shaft.

[0010] In view of this it can be pointed to US-A-3,010,132 from which it is known to provide a broom with a horizontally running shaft with a plate at each end of said shaft and running perpendicular to this, between which plates bundles of bristles are provided with a length corresponding with the distance between both plates. In said plates bores are provided which are distanced from each other such that an elongated holding member, in which a basic element of the bundle is received, can be moved outwardly in respect of the center line of the driven shaft.

[0011] In this case the bristles are supported near the edge of the plates by tubes extending between both plates and positioned between the elongated bundles.

[0012] The large length of the bundles of bristles causes a complicated manufacturing and mounting in respect of the plates and also the movement of the bundles will not be simple.

[0013] A further disadvantage is, that the active ends of the bristles of a bundle are running parallel to the center line of the shaft and so all will engage and leave the surface to be cleaned simultaneously. This will not give a smoothly progress of the working.

[0014] According to the invention it further can be provided that the bundles of bristles are obtained by sliding a number of bristles into a short tube with a substantially rectangular cross-section such that half of the length of the bristles corresponds with half the length of the tube, after which said tube together with the bristles is bent into the shape of a U, the web of the U-shaped tube being provided with a lug extending from the bristles to receive a connecting bolt being provided in the bores either in a slotted hole in the holding member.

[0015] The invention also concerns a bundle of bristles, characterized by a number of bristles being received in a U-shaped bent tube, the web of the U-shaped tube being provided with a lug extending from the bristles for receiving a connecting bolt.

[0016] Finally the invention also relates to a method for the manufacturing of a bundle of bristles, said method being characterized in that a number of bristles is slid into a short tube with a substantially rectangular cross-section, such that half the length of the bristles corresponds with half the length of the tube, after which said tube together with the bristles is bent into the shape of a U, said tube either before or after being bent, being provided with a lug extending from the bristles after bending of these.

[0017] Now the invention is described by means of embodiments, shown in the drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 is partly a front view and partly a cross-section of a first embodiment of a broom according to the invention, certain portions being omitted;
Fig. 2 is a view from below from the broom according to Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section across a bundle of bristles;
Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the bundle of bristles according to the line IV-IV of Fig. 3; and
Fig. 5 is a view and partly cross-section over another embodiment of a broom according to the prevent invention.

[0018] The broom 1, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, consists of the holding member 2, comprising the conical skirt 3 which at its smallest end is closed by means of a disc 4 and at its largest end is provided with a ring 5.

[0019] The disc 4 is provided with a bore and with a ring 6 for receiving a reduced portion of the shaft 7, which in a not further indicated way is supported by a sweeping machine and which can be power-driven.

[0020] The end of the shaft 7 is provided with screwthread for receiving a nut 8 by which the broom 1 can be fixed to the shaft 7. Obviously other means can be used for fixing the broom 1 to the shaft 7.

[0021] As in particular appears from Fig. 2 the ring 4 is provided with slots 9 being divided over its circumference. In the drawing eight of such slots are indicated, but obviously also more or less slots might be present.

[0022] For each slot 9 a number of bores 10 is provided in the skirt 2 to receive a bolt 11 serving for fixing a bundle 12 of bristles 13. One or more bores 10 for a same bundle 12 can be united to a slotted hole which is not further indicated.

[0023] In Figs. 1 and 2 only one single bundle 12 is indicated and also not all openings 10 are shown.

[0024] The Figs. 3 and 4 show the construction of a bundle 12 of bristles 13.

[0025] The bristles 13 are slid into an initially straight tube 14 with a substantially rectangular cross-section, such that the bristles 13 extend from both sides of the tube 14 over the same distance. Then the tube 14 is bent in the shape of a U, to obtain the shape as indicated in Fig. 3. The tube can be connected to a lug 15 in which the opening 16 is provided in which the bolt 11 can be received. Obviously the lug 15 also can be welded to the tube 14 previously.

[0026] It will be obvious that for clearness sake in the Figs. 3 and 4 the bristles are shown at some distance from each other and from the tube 14, but that in praxis they will firmly engage each other and the tube 14. The number of bristles 13 per bundle 12 can be varied at will.

[0027] In Fig. 1 it is shown that the bristles 13 will extend a given distance below the edge 17 of the skirt 2 so that they can do their work. When the bristles are worn off over a given distance the bolt 11 can be loosened and the bundle 12 can be slid outwardly from the conical skirt 3 so that the bolt 11 can be mounted in a next hole 10 and the bundle 12 can be fixed again.

[0028] The dimensions of the slots 9 in the circumferential direction of the conical skirt 3 will be such that the sides 18 of the slot 9 may serve to support the bristles 13, in particular those bristles which are positioned directly beside the sides 18 and which in their turn will support the other bristles. The dimensions of the slots 9 in radial direction are less important.

[0029] Fig. 5 shows a second embodiment of a broom 19 according to the invention. The left portion of Fig. 5 shows a cross section and the right portion shows a view of the broom 19, only one bundle 12 of bristles, however, being shown.

[0030] The bristle 19 comprises a holding member 20, which is formed by a shaft 21 and by two helically running plates 22 mounted on this shaft.

[0031] The shaft 21 is connected to the driven shaft 6 of the sweeping machine in a not further indicated way, the other end being supported by the machine in an also not further indicated way.

[0032] In the plates 22 holes 10 are provided to receive bolts 11 in them by which bundles 12 of bristles 13 can be fixed, such that the distance between the active end of the bristles 13 till the outer edge 23 of the plates 22 can be adjusted.

[0033] To support the bundles 12 bows 24 are provided near the edge 23.

[0034] It will be obvious that only some possible embodiments of the broom according to the invention are shown in the drawing and are described above and that many modifications can be provided without leaving the inventive concept.

Claims

1. Broom, provided with means for mounting it to a power-driven shaft (7) of a sweeping machine, said broom comprising a holding member (2,20) to connect bundles (12) of bristles (13) with this member in such a way that said bundles can be moved in respect of said member (2,20) for bringing the active ends of said bristles (13) at the desired distance from the outer edge (17,23) of said holding member (2,20),
characterized in
that each bundle (12) of bristles (13), at the end opposite to the free active ends of said bristles (13), is provided with a connecting element (15) to connect the bundle (12) to the holding member (2,20), said holding member (2,20), at the position of each bundle (12) of bristles, running substantially rectilinear and being provided with either a number of bores (10) being distanced from each other in the direction of the bundle (12), or with a slotted hole running in the direction of the bundle (12) for receiving in it connecting means (11) by which said connecting element (15) can be fixed to the holding member (2,20), said holding member (2,20) near its outer edge (17,23) directed towards the active ends of the bristles (13), being provided with support elements (18,24) to support the bristles (13) when the broom (1,19) is in use.

2. Broom according to claim 1,
characterized in
that the holding member (2) is in the shape of a truncated cone (3), the bundles (12) of bristles (13) extending according to generating lines along the inner side of the conical skirt, such that the active ends of the bristles (13) extend outside the end of said cone with the largest diameter.

3. Broom according to claim 2,
characterized in
that the support elements (18) are formed by a disc or ring (5) in which slotted holes (9) are provided through which the bristles (13) extend.

4. Broom according to claim 1,
characterized in
that the holding member (20) is formed by at least one helically shaped plate (22) mounted on a shaft (21).

5. Broom according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in
that the bundles (12) of bristles (13) are obtained by sliding a number of bristles (13) into a short tube (14) with a substantially rectangular cross-section, such that half of the length of the bristles (10) corresponds with half the length of the tube, after which said tube (14) together with the bristles (13) is bent into the shape of a U, the web of the U-shaped tube (14) being provided with a lug (15) extending from the bristles (13) to receive a connecting bolt (11) being provided in the bores (10) either in a slotted hole in the holding member (2,20).

6. Bundle of bristles,
characterized by
a number of bristles (13) being received in a U-shaped bent tube (14), the web of the U-shaped tube (14) being provided with a lug (15) extending from the bristles (13) for receiving a connecting bolt (11).

7. Method for the manufacturing of a bundle of bristles,
characterized in
that a number of bristles (13) is slid into a short tube (14) with a substantially rectangular cross-section such that half the length of the bristles (13) corresponds with half the length of the tube, after which said tube (14) together with the bristles (13) is bent into the shape of a U, said tube (14) either before or after being bent, being provided with a lug extending from the bristles (13) after bending of these.

Drawing