Method of washing venetian blinds

May 7, 1940. r. _G. long et al 2,199,747

METHOD OF WASHING VENETIAN BLINDS

Filed Oct. 3, 1938 3 Sheets—Sheet 1

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INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEYS

May 7, 1940. r. g. long et al 2,199,747

METHOD OF WASHING VENETIAN BLINDS

Filed Oct. 3, 1938

Sheets-Sheet 2

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May 7, 1940. r. _g. long et al 2,199,747

METHOD OF WASHING VENETIAN BLINDS

Filed Oct. 3, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3

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Patented May 7,1940

2,199,747

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,199,747

METHOD OF WASHING VENETIAN BLINDS

Richard G. Long and Walter D. French, Denver, Colo., assignors of one-fourth to Arthur H. Bosworth and one-fourth to Robert B. McGaughey, both of Denver, Colo.

Application October 3, 1938, Serial No. 233,042

Claims. (Cl. 15—269)

This invention relates to an improved method for washing Venetian blinds or the like.

As is well known, the so-called Venetian type blind is normally constructed of a plurality of 5 rotatable and reversible slats that can be positioned in open spaced relationship or closed in overlapping contact. When these slats become soiled in use from dust, smoke, finger marks, and like foreign matter, it is a difficult and 10 tedious task to wash them by the usual hand method.

Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved method for thoroughly washing such blinds, whereby an operator 15 may use mechanical force to speed up and improve the quality of the work.

A further object is to provide such a method that can be very economically used for the stated objectives, because most of the cleaning fluids 20 can be collected for reuse.

Still another object is to provide, in such a method, means for rapidly drying the washed blinds.

Other objects and advantages reside in details 25 of design and construction which will be more fully disclosed in the following description and in the drawings wherein like parts have been similarly designated and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of apparatus built ac30 cording to this invention and that is well adapted to perform the improved method;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken approximately along the line 2—2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken 35 along the line 3—3 of Figure 2 and drawn to a larger scale;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view on a larger scale, showing certain details of construction;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view looking in 40 the direction of arrow 5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a sectional view along line 6—6 of ^Figure 5, and drawn to a larger scale;

Figures 7 and 8 are fragmentary views on lines 7—7 and 8—8 respectively, of Figure 1, and 45 drawn on a larger scale; and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary view showing certain details.

In the drawings, to illustrate an embodiment of the invention in a typical apparatus that is well 50 suited to perform this improved method of washing Venetian blinds, reference character 15 denotes an undercut channel track, preferably, but not necessarily, made endless as in Figure 1. The track may be suitably supported by structure 16 55 and adjacent the track are spaced sprayers 17 and 18. Each sprayer can be conveniently made up of pipe and fittings, assembled in the form of a rectangular loop vertically positioned around the track. The upstanding sections of the pipe are provided with spray apertures facing oppo- 5 sitely toward the center of the respective assembles, to project cleaning and washing fluid onto opposite sides of a blind 19 that is suspended in a frame 20 that is hung on rollers 21 in the undercut channel of said track 15. 10

The frame 20 and its suspended blind 19 can be moved along the track 15 and through the sprayers 17 and 18, by means of a cord 22 removably attached thereto, and reeved over pulleys 23. 15

Between the sprayers 17 and 18, is positioned a mechanical scrubber that comprises two oppositely positioned brushes 24, that are mounted for reciprocation in contact with opposite surfaces of the blind, on crankshafts 25 and 26, the latter 20 one of which is rotated by any suitable driver, such as a motor 27.

A motor 28 is in driving connection with a pump 29 that is connected to deliver a forceful spray of fluid cleaning medium from a tank 30, 25 through a pipe line 31 to sprayer 17, from which it is projected, and another motor 32, drives another pump 33 to deliver a flow of rinsing fluid from a tank 34 through a conduit/ 35 for projection from the sprayer 18. An operator can 30 selectively operate the respective motors by means of a two-way switch 36. A three-way valve 37 is connected to receive drainage from the sprayers and is selectively operable by means of a lever 38 to return drainage fluid to either the tank 35 30 or the tank 34, as desired.

Spray apertures 39 are provided in sprayer 18 and other discharge apertures are provided in sprayer 17, that are partially shielded by spreaders 40 to effect a fan-like discharge, as illustrated 40 in Figures 7 and 8.

In Figures 4, 5 and 6, certain optional details are illustrated wherein reference character 41 denotes the individual reversible slats in the blind 19, that are reversible by the usual means 45 inclusive of a cord 42 and a pulley operated thereby at 43. A bracket 44 is mounted on the side member 45 of the frame 20 and supports a plurality of pulleys or rollers 46 over which the cord 42 is reeved, and a bracket 47 on angle 50 cross members 48 of the frame 20, journals a two-groove pulley 49 at 50.

Opposite ends of the cord 42 are temporarily attached to the pulley 49 as by passing them through openings 51 to be releasably gripped by gg

2,199,747 a spring clamp 52 operable by a push-botton 81. The excess length of the cord 42 may be pushed Into the hollow interior 54 of the pulley 49, so that no slack exists in the cord between the ⁵ pulley 43 on the blind and the operating pulley 49 on the frame.

The operating pulley 49 carries a pinion or small gear 55 that is engageable with a transversely retractable rack 59 that is slidably sup10 ported on the track 15 by slides 57 in guides 58. The position of the rack may be controlled by an operator from his station at 60, by means of a hand wheel 61 on a shaft 62 Journalled in bearings 63 along the track, to turn a worm gear 15 64 journalled at 65 to turn a screw 86 that is in threaded engagement with the rack 86, whereby it is laterally moved.

The cord 22 that is used for moving the frame and blind along the track, is attachable to the 20 frame by a hook 67 engageable in a plate 68. Bumpers 69 may be provided on both sides of each frame 20 so that when, as preferred, a plurality of frames are used, they will contact each other by means of said bumpers to transmit 25 movement from one to the next along the track 15. A heated drying station preferably is positioned along the track at 70, and may be heated to a super-atmospheric temperature by well known means such as steam pipes, electric heat30 ers or the like.

Operation

In use, a soiled Venetian blind is suspended in the frame 20, which is movable along the track 15 ³⁸ and which is guided along its lower edge by a guide rail 20α. Pump 29 is started to project fanlike sprays of cleaning fluid from tank 30 simultaneously onto both sides of the blind as it is moved through sprayer 17. The brushing and 40 scrubbing mechanism is driven to effect a scrubbing action on the blind, after it is thoroughly sprayed with the cleaning medium, to further loosen the dirt on the blind. During the first spraying step, the three-way valve 37 is set to 45 return most of the sprayed fluid to the tank 30. from which it came, screens 80 being removably set up to prevent unnecessary dissipation of the fluid, which runs to the center of the enclosed area and down through a drain 81 to the valve.

Next, the operator starts the second pump 33 to project sprays of rinse water or other washing fluid from sprayer 18 onto the scrubbed surfaces of the blind as it progresses along the track 15. The fluid cleaning and/or washing mediums may 55 be used at atmospheric or at super-atmospheric temperatures, and the second sprayed fluid may also be returned to its storage tank 34 for reuse, or sent to waste as desired, depending upon its value. Elongated apertures 39α, Figure 9, may 60 advantageously be provided in either sprayer to effect a knife-like jet projection of cleaning or rinsing fluid, particularly the latter.

Since the slats 41 of the blind overlap, they must be reversed and the same operations re65 peated, to clean all parts of their surfaces. This reversing of the slats can be done by hand but, preferably it is accomplished by the mechanism illustrated in Figures 4, 5 and 6 and hereinabove described. The rack 56 is positioned as desired 70 along the track 15 to engage the gear 55 to rotate the pulley 49 and thereby operate the reversing mechanism of the blind at a predetermined position along the track, as suggested at 56, Figure 2.

A complete second station for effecting the jg washing of a reversed blind can be set up beyond the rack 58 to repeat the washing process on the reversed slats, or the blind can be reversed by moving it past the rack and then retracting the rack out of alinement with the gear 85, whereupon the blind can be moved back along the track 5 into the first cleaning station 90, with its slats reversed, for a repetition of the said cleaning steps.

After a blind is cleaned, reversed and finally finished, its frame is unhooked from cord 22 and another frame, with another blind, is hooked to 10 the cord and the above set forth method of cleaning is repeated. As the frames 20 move along the track, they contact each other by bumpers 69 and are thus moved along the track and through the drying station 70. The drying 15 station may be omitted if preferred, as the blinds will air-dry under some conditions, especially if heated rinse water is used.

A plurality of racks 56 can be placed along the track 15 to effect reversal of the slats 41 as de- 20 sired, one complete reversal mechanism having been disclosed, it is considered sufficient for patent purposes. Naturally, the size of any installation will depend upon local conditions, and by reciprocating a blind through only one cleaning 25 station, less space will be required.

Since the automatic reversing mechanism is an optional feature of the apparatus, it has not been illustrated in detail in Figures 1 and 2, but a location for the reversing rack 56 is suggested 30 in Figure 2, which may or may not be associated with the retracting mechanism above set forth. If a second washing station is used along the track beyond the rack, the rack need not be retracted nor the blind reciprocated back through 35 the first washing stage.

The combined effects of suspending a blind, the forceful impingement of the sprays on the blind, the mechanical scrubbing action, the reversal of the slats either automatically or by hand, and 40 the movement of the blind along the track, are well adapted to accomplish the stated objectives.

While this specification discloses preferred meians for reducing the present invention to practice and a preferred embodiment of the in- 45 vention, changes may occur to those skilled in the art and may be made within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.