|
(11) | EP 1 468 639 A2 |
(12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
(54) | Improved mop assembly with liquid detergent supply |
(57) An improved mop assembly with liquid detergent supply has a detergent storage bottle
connected between the mop and the handle of a mop, a pump installed inside the storage
bottle, a sucking tube disposed at one end of the pump, and an outlet nozzle connected
with the storage bottle disposed on the other end of the pump, so that the handle
pushes the pump and compresses a spring to resume the pump into its original position.
Such back and forth movement squeezes the liquid detergent out from the pump and sucks
liquid detergent into the pump when the pump resumes its position, and thus spraying
the detergent out from the outlet nozzle. By means of the handle directly driving
the pump in the storage bottle for the back and forth squeezing, it gives the convenience
of supplying detergent before mopping. Furthermore, the sectional handle, storage
bottle, and mop are detachable to provide a convenient way for easily assembling and
storage, and reducing the volume of packaging materials and lowering the transportation
cost. Further, a n-shape contractible support rod is disposed each on both sides of
the mop to fit mops of different specifications, and thus having the effect of expanding
the applications. |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
Description of the Related Art
(1) The first prior art hangs a storage bottle on the handle of a mop and installs a small direct current pump outside the storage bottle; a press switch is disposed at the top of the handle; an electric cable extends along the exterior of a pipe of the sectional handle to such small electric pump for supplying power from a battery outside the storage bottle; and by means of pressing the switch, the electric pump is controlled to spray liquid detergent from the storage bottle.
(2) The second prior art also sets a press switch at the top of the handle of a mop, and uses the siphon principle of an air pump as well as extends the pipeline from the interior of the pipe of the handle into a storage bottle. By pressing the switch, the air pump is controlled to spray the liquid detergent.
(1) The storage bottle is hung outside the handle of the mop. Since the storage bottle protrudes from the outer side, and liquid detergent is stored in the storage bottle when the mop is being used, the center of gravity deviates from the mop, which causes an unstable operation of the mop.
(2) Battery is used as power supply to the electric pump, and the power consumption is large. It is necessary to replace the battery quite often, and causes inconvenience to its use. The storage bottle is dipped or wetted by the liquid detergent easily, and causes corrosions and damages to the battery and the battery compartment.
(3) The electric cable is installed in the pipe of a sectional handle, which makes the assembling procedure complicated and increases costs. In addition, when the mops are packed separately, the volume is larger and thus increasing the volume of material for transportation as well as the transportation cost.
(4) The electric cable installed in the pipe of the sectional handle has a specific length, so that the length of the handle cannot be adjusted according to the height of the user, which limits its use.
(5) The foregoing mop is of a fixed specification, and cannot be used together with a longer piece of cloth for the mops of other specifications.
(1) Since the press switch is installed at the top of the handle, and there is a pipeline inside the pipe of the sectional handle. To detach the sections of the handle, a pipe connector is needed at each end of the joint for the connection of the sections of the handle. Air leakage may occur and make the operation impossible if such joint is loosened during the assembling or while the mop is in use.
(2) The assembling procedure of the aforementioned handle is complicated, and thus increasing the cost.
(3) The foregoing storage bottle is hung outside the front of the handle of the mop. Since the storage bottle stores liquid detergent and its center of gravity deviates from the mop, causing an unstable operation.
(4) Since the pipeline is too long, it is difficult for the air pump to provide a fixed quantity of the sprayed liquid detergent. It is necessary to press the press switch many times to spray the required amount of detergent, and thus making the use time-consuming and a waste of efforts.
(5) The foregoing mop is also of fixed specification, and cannot be used together with a longer piece of cloth of other specifications.
Summary of the Invention
(1) The present invention directly connects a storage bottle with a sectional handle and a mop, such that the center of gravity of the storage bottle falls onto the mop, and makes the operation stable for users, and can reduce the volume of material for individual packaging and lower the transportation cost.
(2) A pump is installed inside the storage bottle, and the back-and-forth pressing movement drives the handle to squeeze the pump in a longitudinal direction, and the compression is larger than that of the aforementioned electric pump, so that the liquid detergent can be spread out and sprayed evenly.
(3) There is no pipeline or electric cable inside the pipe of the sectional pipe in accordance with the present invention, which makes the assembly easy and saves assembling costs. In addition, the length of the sectional handle can be adjusted according to the height of the user, which flexibly expands the effect of its applications.
(4) The mop of the present invention has a contractible support rod at the interior of both sides to provide the extension of the mop's length and fit the cloths of different specifications.
(5) In this invention, a control rod bottle is set in the handle connecting pipe. And one end of the handle connecting pipe is fastened to the abovementioned limit axle bolt of the fixed bottle cover. The fixation makes the two ends of the control rod, which is within the handle connecting pipe, respectively butt the top of the pump and the butting part of the trigger. The butting part of the trigger can do the push directly to the control rod and relatively squeeze the pump. So, through the restoration of the squeezed auxiliary spring under the pump and the restoration of the squeezed spring inside the pump, it is liable to reach the effect upon controlling the spray of liquid cleaner.
(6) The suction pipe set in the pump as mentioned above adopts the suction of the material of soft quality and the material with weight, so it can totally set inside the cleaner to offer all-direction effects no matter how the storage bottle angles.
(1) The present invention makes the assembling easy, saves costs, reduces the volume of material after packaging individually, and lowers the transportation cost.
(2) The present invention is easy to operate, and gives a larger quantity of sprayed liquid detergent.
(3) The present invention provides a stable operation for users without the phenomenon of deviated center of gravity.
(4) There is no pipeline or electric cable inside the sectional handle, and the length of the handle can be adjusted according to the height of the user.
(5) According to the third embodiment, to raise the effect, our invention offers the function of spraying cleaner in various comers and places.
(6) The mop of the present invention allows contractible adjustments to fit the cloths of different specifications and thus expanding the effect of its applications.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG.1 is a cross-sectional diagram of the assembled structure of the present invention.
FIG.2 is a perspective cross-sectional diagram of the fixed bottle cover of the present invention.
FIG.3 is a perspective diagram of the disassembled parts of the outlet nozzle and storage bottle of the present invention.
FIG.4 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating the first step of the movement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.4A is an enlargement of a part of FIG. 4.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating the second and fourth steps of the movement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.5A is an enlargement of a part of FIG. 5.
FIG.6 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating the third step of the movement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.6A is an enlargement of a part of FIG. 6.
FIG.7 is an illustrative diagram of the present invention when it is in use.
FIG.8 is a cross-sectional diagram showing the operation of the outlet nozzle according to the present invention.
FIG.9 is a cross-sectional diagram of the assembled parts according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating the first step of the movement according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.11 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating the second step of the movement according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a perspective diagram of the disassembled parts of the mop according to the present invention.
FIG.13 is a perspective diagram of the assembled parts of the mop according to the present invention.
FIG.13A is a planar illustrative diagram of the mop according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a perspective diagram of the mop according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG 15 is a perspective diagram of the allocation of the disassembled parts according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG 16 is a perspective diagram of the assembled parts of the handle according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG 17 is a cross-sectional diagram of the assembled parts according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG18A is a cross-sectional diagram of the assembled parts according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG18B is a cross-sectional diagram of the assembled parts according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
(1) Adjust the handle connecting pipe A according to the user's height or requirements and secure it to the sectional handle. To prevent the bump 4 in the storage bottle 2 from being rotated when securing the handle, use the upward pushing force of the compressed spring 42 in the bump 4 and the secondary spring 47 at lower end of the bump to prop the push member 26 towards the surface of the central hole 2541 at the top of the interior of the storage bottle 2, and engage the latch serration 262 on the push member 262 and the fixed serration 255 on the surface of the central hole 2541 such that the fixed push member 26 and the handle connecting pipe A will not rotate as the sectional handle is being secured.
(2) Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 4A. Before the mop of the present invention has ever been used, there is no liquid detergent W in the bump 4. When the handle A erects the storage bottle 2 to a vertical position, the handle is in the most power saving condition for compressing the bump 4, therefore when the handle connecting pipe A compresses the push member 26, the bump 4 sinks and the main push pipe 46 relatively enters into the bump 4 while pushing the sealing stopper 43 up and separating the piston 44 and leaving a gap B behind. Please refer to FIGS. 5 and 5A. The relay push pipe 45 keeps on being pushed forward by the main push pipe 46 and the blocking edge 461 of the main push pipe 46 in turn pushes the piston 44 to squeeze the air in the squeezing chamber 48 in the bump 4. The sphere stopper 41 squeezed by the air pressure on one hand, and pushed by the compressed spring 42 on the other hand clogs the passage opening 411. The air is compressed by the piston 44, and enters through the gap B into the relay push pipe 45, main push pipe 46, flow hole 221, and nozzle opening 242 of outlet nozzle 24, and then discharge the air.
(3) Please refer to FIGS. 6 and 6A. If the user no longer pushes the handle A, then the resuming forces of the compressed spring 42 in the bump 4 and the secondary spring 47 are used to push the bump 4 upward, while the piston 44 uses the friction of the inner wall of the bump 4 to keep the piston 44 still in the original position. The sealing stopper 43 drops to the position of the piston 44 and clog the gap B. At that time, since the bump 4 rises, it is equivalent to the drop of the piston 44 to extract the air in the squeezing chamber 48 of the bump 4 such that the sphere stopper 41 is separated from the passage opening 411 by the suction and forms a gap B. Such suction sucks the liquid detergent W by the suction pipe 32 through the curved pipe 3, passage 33, passage opening 411, gap B' and then into the squeezing chamber 48 of the bump 4 for temporary storage.
(4) The liquid detergent W temporarily stored in the squeezing chamber 48 is blocked by the sealing between the sealing stopper 43 and the piston 44, and squeezed by the piston 44 according to the previous step (2), which is also shown in FIGS. 5 and 5A. The liquid detergent is squeezed into the relay push pipe 45 through the gap B between the sealing stopper 43 and the piston 44, and then sprayed out through the main push pipe 46, flow hole 221, and nozzle opening 242 of the outlet nozzle 24.
(5) In the foregoing step, the back and forth movement of the handle can squeeze and resume the bump 4 to spray the required quantity of the liquid detergent.
(7) The handle is usually set to an appropriate angle to use the mop (as shown in FIG. 7), and the mop 1 is placed in front of the user to facilitate the movement of the mop. Therefore the force exerting on the bump 4 produced by the inclination of the handle plus the resisting forces by the compressed spring 42 and the secondary spring 47 will not sufficient to squeeze the bump 4 when a pushing force is applied onto the mop when it is in use.
(8) Please refer to FIG. 8. To prevent the mop of the present invention from dripping the liquid detergent remained in the nozzle opening or spraying the detergent by accidentally trigger the handle to squeeze the bump 4, the outlet nozzle 24 can be lifted upward to detach the outlet passage 243 from the flow hole 211 and seal by the anti-leakage spacer 23 to prevent further spray of liquid detergent.
Please refer to FIG. 9 for the second preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the pump 4' has a structure identical to the pump 4 of the first preferred embodiment. The difference resides on that the position of the pump 4' has an inverted position of the previous bump 4, and the structure of the bump 4' is to extend the passage opening 411' of the bump 4' to a suction pip0e 32', and be embedded and limited on a limit pillar C protruded from the storage bottle 2, and such suction pipe 32' at its bottom has a suction opening 321', The push member 26 identical to that of the first embodiment having a limit member 263 directly embedded into the main push pipe 46' of the bump 4, and said main push pipe 46' connects a conveying pipe D to an outlet passage 243' of the outlet nozzle 24' and is fixed into the axial hole 254 of the fixed bottle cover 25. The secondary spring 47' is placed in said axial hole 254 and a press board A1 fixed on the handle connecting pipe presses said secondary spring 47'. By means of passing the handle connecting pipe A into a limit cover E and securing it above the axle hole 254 of the fixed bottle cover 25 such that the secondary spring 47' can be compressed and resumed in the axial hole 254 by the back and forth squeezing movement of the handle.(1) Please refer to FIG. 10. If the handle connecting pipe A pushes the push member 62 to sink the main push pipe 46', and the main push pipe 46 relatively enters into the bump 4', while pressing the sealing stopper 43 down, and separating the piston 44 to form a gap B between them. Please refer to FIG. 11. Said relay push pipe 45 keeps on being pushed forward by the main push pipe 46', and the blocking edge 461 pushes the piston 44 to squeeze the liquid detergent W in the squeezing chamber 48 of the bump 4'. The sphere stopper 41 is pressed by the pressure on one hand, and pushed by the compressed spring 42 on the other hand to block the passage opening 411'. Therefore, the liquid detergent W is compressed by the piston 4 to enter into said gap B and then into the relay push pipe 45, main push pipe 46, conveying pipe D, the outlet passage 243' of the outlet nozzle 24', and then discharged from the nozzle 242'.
(2) If the user no longer pushes the handle A, but resumes the movement as shown in FIG. 11 to the movement as shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, the resuming force by the compressed spring 42 and the secondary spring 47' in the bump 4' is used to push the main push pipe 46' up, while the pistons 44 uses the friction on the inner wall of the bump 4' to drop the piston 44 to the position of the sealing stopper 43 and blocks the gap B. At that time, since the main push pipe 46' rises, it relatively makes the piston to pump the liquid detergent W in the squeezing chamber 48 of the bump 4' and separates the sphere stopper 41 from the passage opening 411' by said suction to form a gap. Such suction sucks the liquid detergent W through the suction opening 321 and the suction pipe 32' and the gap B' into the squeezing chamber 48 of the bump 4' for temporary storage.
(3) The required quantity of liquid detergent can be sprayed by the back and forth squeezing and resuming movement of the handle on the bump 4' as described in the previous step.
Please refer to FIGS. 12 and 13. The mop 1 comprises a board body 13 and a board surface 14; a serrated latch groove 131 disposed respectively at the front and the rear ends of the board body 13, and a plurality of soft clipping boards 132 disposed thereon; a board surface 14 having an aslant sliding track 141 inclined towards both sides of the board surface 14; two n-shape contractible support rod 15 disposed on both sides of the opening end respectively having an vertically upward protruded ear 151 and a sliding rod 152 extended towards the inner side. When the n-shape contractible rod 15 is disposed at the bottom of the board body 13, the protruded ear 151 exactly passes through the serrated latch groove 131 and latches the protruded ear 151 into the latch groove 1311 of the serrated latch groove 131 by the elasticity of the n-shape contractible support rod 15. The aslant sliding track 141 exactly presses against the sliding rod 152 of the n-shape support rod 15 by means of combining the board surface 14 and the board surface. When the protruded ear 151 on both sides of the n-shape contractible support rod 15 is held inward, said protruded ear 151 will separate from the latch groove 1311 of the serrated latch groove 131 and contract the n-shape contractible support rod 15 towards both sides of the mop 1. If the protruded ear is released, the n-shape contractible support rod 15 is latched in the latch groove 1311. The aslant sliding track 1411 is used to tilt the sliding rod 152 aslant to both sides. Please refer to,FIG. 7. If the length of the cloth exceeds the length of the board body of the mop 1, the n-shape contractible support rod 15 is used to pass the cleaning cloth 5 into the two side pockets and extend outward. The outwardly aslant n-shape contractible support rod 15 guides both ends of the cleaning cloth to attached on the same plane as the cleaning cloth attached on the foregoing board surface 14 (as shown in FIG. 13A) to improve the effect of using the whole pieces of the cleaning cloth 5. Please refer to FIG. 14. The mop 1 has a soft clipping board 132 for engaging the polyester cloth or other cleaning cloth 6 for having a multiple effect on the applications.a mop, having a connecting pipe pivotally coupled with a pivotal connector;
a storage bottle, having a screw pipe extended from the bottom and secured onto said connecting pipe, and an outlet nozzle disposed at the front end of said storage bottle;
a fixed bottle cover, being coupled with said storage bottle, and sealed by an anti-leak spacer, and having a liquid detergent inject hole disposed at an appropriate position on the fixed bottle cover and using a bolt for sealing and filling up with liquid detergent; an axial hole disposed at the top of said fixed bottle cover; an O-shape ring disposed at the hole edge of the central hole at the bottom of the axial hole, and a limit axle bolt for securing said O-shape ring into the axial hole;
a push member, having a sleeve on one end, and a limit member extended from the bottom of said push member;
a handle connecting rod, passing through said limit axle bolt and embedded into the sleeve of said push member;
a curved pipe, having a limit groove for passing and limiting the limit member of said push member, and a suction pipe coupled to an appropriate position to connect a passage and a passage opening;
a pump, having a passage opening at the top coupled to the passage of said curved pipe , and the main push pipe at its bottom being embedded into a fixed hole at the bottom of said storage bottle, such that the bump being located between said push member and the bottom of said storage bottle; thereby the back and forth squeezing movement and the resuming movement of the handle sucking the liquid detergent from the suction pipe into the pump and then the piston in the pump squeezing the desired quantity of liquid detergent from the main push pipe and spraying from the nozzle of the outlet nozzle in order to achieve the effect of convenient use, easy assembling, stable operation, and cost cut.
Two n-shape contractible support rod, respectively disposed on both sides of an opening end, having a vertical protruded ear, and a sliding rod extended towards the inner side, and said protruded ear being latched by a serrated latch groove of said board body, and an elasticity between both ends of said protruded ear providing users to release and resume the latch;
a board body, having a plurality of soft clipping boards at appropriate positions thereon, and a serrated latch groove each disposed on both the front and rear sides of said board body; a plurality of latch grooves disposed in intervals on the latch groove for allowing said protruded ear to move sideway in the serrated latch groove, and fixing said protruded ear into the latch groove by the elasticity between two protruded ears;
a board surface, respectively having an slant sliding track titled sideway such that said sliding rod of the two contractible support rod respectively disposed on the aslant sliding track when coupled with said board body pushing out towards both sides and being tilted outward according to the inclination of said aslant sliding track; thereby when the length of cleaning cloth exceeding the length of the mop, the sliding rod of the n-shape contractible support rod being used to pass into a pocket each on both sides of the cleaning cloth and spread out the cleaning cloth, and the outwardly tilted n-shape contractible support rod guiding both ends of the cleaning cloth to attach on the same surface as that for said board surface of the cleaning cloth in order to enhance the entire cleaning effect of the cleaning cloth and fitting the cleaning cloths of different specifications.
A board body of the mop, upon it, a connecting pipe is pivotally coupled to a pivotal connector;
A storage bottle. From its bottom, a screw pipe is extended and locked and set in the aforementioned pivotal connector;
A spray nozzle, coupled to an outlet nozzle set forward;
A fixed bottle cover, secured onto the top of the storage bottle with a leak-proof washer used in between. Onto the fixed bottle cover, at an appropriate position, an inject hole is disposed for the fill-up of liquid cleaner, and is sealed by a stopper. Also, onto the top of the cover, an axial hole is disposed. On the central hole edge at the bottom of the axial hole, there is an O-shape ring fastened by a limit axial bolt;
A push member. A sleeve is set at one end of the push member and a limit member is extended from the bottom of it;
A handle connecting pipe, by a stud, pressed and secured to the side of the said limit axle bolt, which is set within the axial hole on the fixed bottle cover;
A control rod, set inside the handle connecting pipe and extended to the butting part which is also inside the handle connecting pipe and lies against it;
A handle grip, comprised of two half-shape handle grips with a pivot set inside. The pivot is pivotally coupled to a trigger. At one end of the trigger is the butting part, and at the other end is the triggering part. Because of the fixation to the top of the handle connecting pipe, the butting part precisely props up to the top of the control rod mentioned above;
A curved pipe, the limited member at the bottom of the said push member is embedded into a limit groove at the top of the curved pipe. The curved pipe is connected to a suction pipe extending into a pump;
A pump, its passage is connected to the passage of the aforementioned curved pipe, and the main push pipe is embedded into the fixed hole at the bottom of the storage bottle and that makes the pump disposed between the said push member and the bottom of the storage bottle;
Therefore, with the handle connecting pipe fixed to the limit axle bolt, the reciprocating actions of the control rod are triggered by the trigger of the handle to offer the convenient and all-direction spray of cleaner, also perform the function of watering plants and reach multiple utility.