GB734864A - Improvements in or relating to mechanically operated floor treatment machines - Google Patents

Abstract

734,864. Floor cleaning machines. TRUVOX, Ltd. Nov. 20,1953 [Dec. 5, 1952], No. 30966/52. Class 138 (1). A floor-treating machine of the kind employing brushes, pads or the like rotated e.g. by an electric motor (not shown) while in contact with the floor, is provided with a wheeled undercarriage 15 for supporting the machine during transportation thereof with the brushes 11 or the like in an out-of-use position, which undercarriage is adapted to be raised or lowered by means controlled by a steering handle 19 of the machine, and locking means for locking the undercarriage when lowered so as to free the steering handle for pivotal movement for steering the machine during transport. The undercarriage 15, Fig. 3, has four wheels 18 and is vertically slidable in the machine main body structure 10 by means of two rods 16 rigidly connected to the undercarriage 15 and mounted in guides 17 of the structure 10. Compression springs 39 urge the undercarriage in the upward direction. The steering handle 19 is pivoted on the structure 10 at 22 and has an abutment 24, adapted, when the handle is raised to the vertical position, Fig. 2, to engage a bar 25 connecting together two rocker arms 26 pivoted respectively to the structure 10 at 27. Noses 28 on the arms 26 contact the tops of the rods 16 to depress the undercarriage 15 as shown in Fig. 2. When the undercarriage 15 is lowered it is locked in position as by blocks 30 engaging between the bar 25 and a main body part 29 carrying the pivot 22. The blocks are carried on the ends of a bifurcated leaf spring 36 attached to a plunger 33 controlled by a manually-operable cam lever 32, the plunger being slidable in the body structure by the action of a compression spring 35, whilst the lever 32 is pivoted to the body structure. Referring to Fig. 3, when the machine is in operation the lever 32 is normally in a raised position and the handle 19 inclined and freely pivotal, the blocks 30 being disposed underneath the bar 25 and the undercarriage raised by the springs 39. In order to lower the undercarriage the lever 32 is turned downwardly to raise the plunger 33 and flex the leaf spring 36. The handle 19 is then momentarily moved to the position shown in Fig. 2, whereby the rockers depress the undercarriage. As the rockers are depressed the spacing gap between the bar 25 and the part 29 increases until the blocks 30 snap into position therebetween and lock the undercarriage in its lowered position. The handle 19 can thereafter be freely pivoted about the pivot 22 in order to move the machine on the wheels 18: