GB2029202A - Cleaning appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

A cleaning appliance suitable for removal of animal or human hair from carpets and upholstery comprises a rigid support (10), which may be flat or arcuate and may form part of a vacuum cleaner attachment, provided with a surface layer (11) including a large number of small resilient hook-like members. This layer (11) may be provided by a sheet of material having integral hooks or studs providing hook-like tips and marketed under the Registered Trade Mark VELCRO. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cleaning appliance This invention relates to a cleaning appliance.

Animal and human hairs cause considerable problems when cleaning carpets and upholstery, particularly in the home. The texture of animal or human hair is such that it clings tenaciously to the fibres of a carpet or of some types of upholstery material particularly those with a pile. On carpet, there is a tendency for hairs to be trodden in and to become matted with the carpet fibres.

Conventional cleaning means such as sweeping by hand or the use of a vacumn cleaner have little effect or require considerable physical effort to clean adequately in a room frequented by domestic pets which tend to shed hairs.

The present invention has been developed with a view to assisting in the removal of animal and human hair from carpets and upholstery and it is an object of the invention to provide a cleaning appliance capable of removing such hairs with increased efficiency compared with conventional cleaning appliances, without substantial damage to the materials being cleaned.

According to the invention there is provided a cleaning appliance comprising a rigid support and, permanently secured to or integral with the rigid support, a surface layer provided with a plurality of small resilient hook like members.

Preferably, the hook like members do not exceed 5 millimeters in height. It is also preferable that the number of hook like members exceeds about five per square centimetre.

The surface layer may comprise a portion of a known sheet-like material which is marketed under the Registered Trade Mark VELCRO and comprises a woven backing of synthetic plastics fibres, and having a large number of small hook like members on one surface, these members being short and resilient and giving the effect of a pile surface on the material. Where such a sheet material is used, it may be secured to the rigid support by adhesive. The rigid support may have a flat or arcuate surface.

The rigid support may form part of a vacumn cleaner attachment or may be provided with a manually engageable handle.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a cleaning appliance according to the invention with part of the handle broken away, FIGURE 2 is a front view of the appliance, FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the appliance, FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the appliance.

In the embodiment to be described in detail, the appliance is intended for manual use in cleaning carpets. With some minor modifications, other embodiments may be suitable for cleaning upholstery or for use in conjunction with a conventional vacuum cleaner.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, the appliance shown is a flat rigid support 10 which may be of wood or synthetic plastics material. On the underside of the support 10 there is provided a layer 11 of material which carries, on its under surface, a plural ity of small flexible hook like members. The material 11 is preferably a conventionally available material marketed under the Registered Trade Mark VELCRO.

This material was devised primarily for use as a quick acting securing means for clothing and comprises one layer of material having hook like formations as described above used face to face in conjuction with another layer of material having a fleece texture with which the hooks engage. In the cleaning appliance according to the invention, however, only the hook carrying material is used.

The layer 11 may conveniently comprise a number of strips of VELCRO secured to the rigid support 10 by means of an impact adhesive. Alternatively it could be stapled on or, where the rigid support is a plastics material, it could be secured by heat sealing, solvent adhesive, ultrasonic welding or other known techique.

On the other side of the rigid support 10, an attachment block 12 is provided. As will be seen by reference to Figures 2 and 4 of the drawings, the attachment block is provided with a through hole 13.

The block is formed with an obliquely cut under surface 14 which is secured by means of screws, adhesive or the like to the upper surface of the rigid support 10. The through hole 13 is inclined with respect to this oblique under surface 14 and serves to receive a handle 15 which is in the form of a long pole, shown broken away in the drawings. It is preferred that the angle subtended between the handle 15 and the upper surface of the rigid support 10 is of the order of 60".

If the rigid support 10 is made of a plastics material, the handle may be moulded directly to the rigid support as will be appa rent to those skilled in the art.

The cleaning appliance described is used in the following manner. Either before or after a carpet is cleaned with a conventional vacuum cleaner, dog hairs, cat hairs, human hairs and any other similar fibres can be removed from the carpet by pulling the appliance across the surface of the carpet with the layer 11 running over the surface of the carpet. Only slight pressure need be exerted since the hook like members on the layer 11 would readily pick up the hair from the carpet. The length of the hooks is relatively short so that they do not penetrate deeply into the carpet texture which might result in damage to the carpet but merely penetrate slightly into the surface of the carpet, picking up hairs which tend to lie on or nearthe surface.It will be appreciated that even matted animal hair on a carpet will not penetrate very deeply into the pile because of the nature of its texture.

The appliance can continue to be used effectively even when the surface of the layer 11 is thoroughly covered with matted hair. However, if it is desired to clean the hair from the layer 11, any convenient form of stiff wire or plastics brush, for example a dog brush, can remove the hair very readily. It will be appreciated that the VELCRO material used for the layer 11 is extremely tough and difficult to damage and hence the hair can be removed with a wire brush without damaging the surface.

In an alternative embodiment, not illustrated, the rigid support has a central opening and is coupled by means of a suitable socket to the intake of a domestic vacuum cleaner of the upright or flexible hose variety. The appliance can then be used to remove dog hairs simultaneously with the normal cleaning of a carpet.

A further modified form of appliance can be made and provided with a small handle which can be used forthe cleaning of upholstery material, particularly pile upholstery material such as velvet or plush. The appliance may be so constructed that alternative handles can be secured to the rigid support 10 for use respectively on carpets or upholstery.

It will be appreciated that the appliance is designed primarily to lift animal hair or human hair from a carpet or from upholstery. However, other fibres, particularly those of animal or vegetable origin, may also be raised by the appliance, for example wool, cotton thread or fluff.

Claims (11)

1. A cleaning appliance comprising a rigid support and, permanently secured to or integral with the rigid support, a surface layer provided with a plurality of small resilient hook-like members.

2. An appliance according to Claim 1 wherein the hook-like members do not exceed 5 millimetres in height.

3. An appliance according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein at least five hook-like members are provided per square centimetre.

4. An appliance according to any preceding claim wherein the surface layer comprises a sheet of material having a woven backing of synthetic plastics fibres and a large number of hook-like members on one surface.

5. An appliance according to Claim 4 wherein the sheet forming the surface layer is of a material marketed under the Registered Trade Mark VELCRO.

6. An appliance according to Claim 4 or Claim 5 wherein the sheet material is secured to the rigid support by adhesive.

7. An appliance according to any preceding claim wherein the rigid support has a flat surface.

8. An appliance according to any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the rigid support has an arcuate surface.

9. An appliance according to any preceding claim wherein the rigid support is provided on a vacuum cleaner attachment.

10. An appliance according to any one of Claims 1 to 8 wherein the rigid support is provided with a manually engageable handle.

11. An appliance substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.