US3828390A

US3828390A - Carpet cleaning machine

Info

Publication number: US3828390A
Application number: US00179712A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Cater
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-09-13
Filing date: 1971-09-13
Publication date: 1974-08-13
Anticipated expiration: 1991-08-13

Abstract

Improvements in a carpet cleaning machine of the type employing hot water with a cleaning additive, ordinarily liquid, and progressively sprayed onto the carpet and then evacuated and discharged with entrained dirt, the improvements including arrangement of a dual purpose pump to provide the necessary suction into a filter as well as to apply sufficient pressure on the retrieved dirty water to drive the same toward a drain, and the cleaning head used to traverse the carpet is balanced and weighted and has multidirectional spray nozzles for the hot water spaced sufficiently from the actual vacuum duct to assure reasonable time for the water and chemicals in the water to achieve their cleaning action before being drawn back into the cleaning head as the latter is moved at normal speed over the carpet.

Description

[ Aug. 13, 1974 1 CARPET CLEANING MACHINE A [76] Inventor: Jerome D. Cater, 14135 Ezra Ln.,

Poway, Calif. 92064 [22] Filed: Sept. 13, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 179,712

[52] US. Cl. 15/321, 15/353 [51] Int. Cl A471 7/00 [58] Field of Search 15/320, 321, 322, 353

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,391,754 9/1921 Bair 15/321 X 2,270,579 l/l942 Chamberlin et al. 15/322 X 3,439,374 4/l969 Wisoom 15/321 3,496,592 2/1970 Jones l5/32l 3,605,169 9/1971 Howerin et al. 15/321 3,663,984 5/1972 Anthony et al. 15/321 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 892,658 3/1962 Great Britain 15/322 Primary Examiner-Harvey C. Homsby Assistant Examiner-C. K. Moore Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Roy L. Knox [5 7] ABSTRACT lmprovements in a carpet cleaning machine of the type employing hot water with a cleaning additive, ordinarily liquid, and progressively sprayed onto the carpet and then evacuated and discharged with entrained dirt, the improvements including arrangement of a dual purpose pump to provide the necessary suction into a filter as well as to apply sufficient pressure on the retrieved dirty water to drive the same toward a drain, and the cleaning head used to traverse the carpet is balanced and. weighted and has multidirectional spray nozzles for the hot water spaced sufficiently from the actual vacuum duct to assure reasonable time for the water and chemicals in the water to achieve their cleaning action before being drawn back into the cleaning head as the latter is moved at normal speed over the carpet.

1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PAIENIEO Au 3|974 susnmrz illllllllllllllllll INVENTOR. JEROME 0. CATER PATENTEDMJBI 3,828,390

sum 2 or 2 v INVENTOR. JEROME D. CATER CARPET CLEANING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is not new to use jets of water, with soap or the like added, in the cleaning of carpets and the use of vacuum pumps for partial drying of the carpet is not new. Various types of carpet-contacting heads have been developed, some including rotary brushes and foam generators, the foam of course being drawn from the carpet by vacuum pumps and hopefully carrying a large percentage of the dirt loosened by the water and any chemicals added. This shampooing of rugs and carpets is routinely accomplished by professional carpet cleaners without removing the carpet but the wetting of the carpet is ordinarily a considerable inconvience. There exists a need, therefore, for a carpet cleaner which will clean a carpet with a minimum of wetting and with a minimum number of passes of the cleaning head over the carpet, and the cost of the equipment is also an important consideration as well as the bulk and weight of the equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As claimed, the instant invention meets the above I mentioned need by providing improvement including a simplified dual purpose pump which evacuates the dirty water and/or foam from the carpet and drives the same through a filter and flexible hose to a drain, the filter being unique in its simplicity and removability and its capability of insuring against flow stoppage and the cleaning head having cooperative features for more efficlent contact with the carpet and improved multidirectionalized jetting and controlled timing of the wetting pickup cycle, all these improvements being oriented also toward making the cleaner more economically and easily operated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation view, partially cut away, of the complete apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a rear elevation view of the cleaning head unit;

FIG. 6 is a enlarged underside view of the cleaning head; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the embodiment represented in the drawing, the disclosed improvements are in both of the main sub-assemblies, namely, the ambulant cabinet generally indicated at 10 and the ambulant cleaning head 12.

The cabinet 10 is of upright type with

horizontal shelves

14 and 16 supporting a pump 18 and a filter 20. A flexible hose 22 is connected through a metering valve 24 to a pipe 26 and this hose is connected, in use, to a source of presurized hot water.

A chemical cleaning agent, usually a detergent, emulsifier, de-greaser or water softener, is inducted into the water from a tank 28 through a gooseneck pipe 30 leading into a T-connection 32. A flow control valve 31 or filter terminal 33 may be incorporated with the pipe 30 but the sizing of this pipe and the prior adjustment of the valve 24 may be adequate for proper regulation of the flow of water and cleaning agent into the pipe 34 and flexible hose 36. Detergent tank 28 is supported on the shelf 16 and shares the space below the cabinet cover 38 with the filter sub-assembly 20, which will now be described.

Filter sub-assembly 20 includes an easily removable basin 40 closed at the top by a lid 42 with a peripheral seal 44 and a base mounted standpipe 46 which is continued below the base of the basin 40 as indicated at 48, the shelf 16 being apertured as at 50 to accept the portion 48. Coaxially and exteriorly of the standpipe is a filter element 52 which may take the form of a metal screen and this filter element extends close to but is carefully spaced from the lid 42 to prevent complete closure of the outlet in the event that the filter element becomes clogged with lint or other material from the carpet. The filter inlet pipe 54 may be fixed to the basin 40 and dimensioned to extend throught the side of the cabinet 10 for connection to the flexible vacuum hose 56 or the pipe 54 may be secured to the cabinet and the side of the basin 40 is then apertured and fitted with a tight fitting grommet to achieve an air tight seal.

Negative pressure in the filter is achieved by the pump 18 which will ordinarily be an electrically powered rotary pump with a dual function of producing negative pressure or so-called vacuum in the pipe 46-48, to which it is removably connected by the coupling 60, and positive or discharged pressure in the outlet pipe 62. This latter pipe 62 extends to the exterior of the cabinet for connection to the flexible discharge hose 64 leading to a drain which will preferably have a direct connection with a sewer line or the equivalent.

Coming to the cleaning head 12, the frame comprises a pair of parallel spaced elongated bars 66 held rigidly by

saddles

68 and 70. The bars 66 continue upwardly and outwardly for handholds 72, and at the lower extremities are bolted or otherwise affixed as at 74 to the hood 76. This hood 76 has a forwardly and downwardly inclined top wall 78, two side walls 80, an open bottom and a rear wall 82. In addition, the hood has a generally V-shaped wall 84 with vertical side walls 86 secured to the top wall 78 and defining therewith a funnel 88 converging toward and communicating with stub pipe 90 to which the lower end of the vacuum hose 56 is connected. The forward extremities of the

walls

78 and 84 are vertical and spaced apart to define what is referred to herein as a vacuum duct 92 extending across the front of the cleaning head. On the rear wall 82 of the hood suitable casters 94 are mounted and inside the rear wall is mounted a distributor pipe 96 with connection means 98 for the lower end of a pipe 100 mounted between the bars 66. A flow control valve 102 is installed in this pipe 100 and made remotely operable by a hand lever 104 on one of the bars adjacent to a handgrip 72. For improved dispersion of the chemically treated water the distributor pipe 96 carries a plurality of spaced jet nozzles 106, alternate nozzles being at very slightly different angles relative to a horizontal plane so that the spray from some of the nozzles is slightly forwardly and from other nozzles is slightly rearwardly as indicated at 108 in FIG. 7 to provide more efficient multi-directional jet action. The jet nozzles are spaced from the vacuum duct 92 a distance on the order of 6 inches, this feature insuring that the hot water and chemicals added thereto from the tank 28 will be in contact with the pile of the carpet for a reasonable time before being drawn back into the vacuum duct as the cleaning head 12 is moved over the carpet at a reasonable speed, while still avoiding unduly prolonged wetting of the carpet. This feature is regarded as a structural improvement resulting in a somewhat fool-proof operation of the machine, it being recalled that these machines are often operated by unskilled persons. The said V-shaped wall 84 and walls 86 weight the cleaning head so that the trailing edge and vacuum duct 92 tend to be depressed so that the vacuum duct will be retained in use, close to the pile of the carpet with an increase in efficiency in the drying operation.

and a removable filter on said exhaust port;

said removable filter comprising a reticulated upstanding screen surrounding said exhaust port and having an open top;

said vacuum tank having a self-sealing cover spaced slightly above said open top and thus defining an emergency passage to said exhaust port of the vacuum tank in the event of the clogging of the reticulated screen;

a dual purpose vacuum pump connected to said exhaust port and discharging into a drain hose; and

a hand-pulled ambulant cleaning head connected by a flexible hose to said intake port of said vacuum tank, said cleaning head having a vacuum duct adjacent to the trailing edge thereof, as disposed when being pulled across the carpet during use, and being weighted to hold said trailing edge and duct in close contact with the pile of the carpet being cleaned, whereby the suction of said single pump is conserved and more fully utilized for partial drying of the carpet;

said cleaning head also having jet nozzles adjacent the leading edge thereof, as the cleaning head is being pulled across the carpet, and spaced from said vacuum duct a distance on the order of at least 6 inches so that the sprayed water and any chemicals therein will be in contact with the pile of the carpet for an assured time even when the cleaning head is moved rapidly over the carpet.

Claims

1. Improvements in a carpet cleaning machine of the type using water based cleaning fluid conveyed through a flexible hose to an ambulant cleaning head having nozzles whereby the fluid is directed onto the carpet and then evacuated, to a drain, for partial drying of the carpet, said improvements comprising: a vacuum tank having an inlet port, an exhaust port and a removable filter on said exhaust port; said removable filter comprising a reticulated upstanding screen surrounding said exhaust port and having an open top; said vacuum tank having a self-sealing cover spaced slightly above said open top and thus defining an emergency passage to said exhaust port of the vacuum tank in the event of the clogging of the reticulated screen; a dual purpose vacuum pump connected to said exhaust port and discharging into a drain hose; and a hand-pulled ambulant cleaning head connected by a flexible hose to said intake port of said vacuum tank, said cleaning head having a vacuum duct adjacent to the trailing edge thereof, as disposed when being pulled across the carpet during use, and being weighted to hold said trailing edge and duct in close contact with the pile of the carpet being cleaned, whereby the suction of said single pump is conserved and more fully utilized for partial drying of the carpet; said cleaning head also having jet nozzles adjacent the leading edge thereof, as the cleaning head is being pulled across the carpet, and spaced from said vacuum duct a distance on the order of at least 6 inches so that the sprayed water and any chemicals therein will be in contact with the pile of the carpet for an assured time even when the cleaning head is moved rapidly over the carpet.