Self-wringing mop

2,801,433

Aug. 6, 1957

J. PALMA, JR., ET AL

SELF-WRINGING MOP

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2,801,433

Patented Aug. 6, 1957

United States Patent Office

2,801,433 SELF-WRINGING MOP Joseph Palma, Jr., Berwyn, and James G. Knapp, Lombard, Bl., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Amencan-Marietta Company, Chicago, DI,, a corporation of Illinois

Application December 2,1950, Serial No, 198,808

Claims. (CI. 15—119) side braces terminating in balls secured in sockets in. the mop head plate. We have further discovered that it is desirable to use a hinged handle socket and that the socket should be hollow and have side slots therein.

Our invention is illustrated, in a preferred embodiment by the accompanying drawing, in which—

Figure 1 is a prospective elevational view showing our improved self-wringing mop; Fig. 2, a broken vertical sectional view taken on the line 2—-2 of Fig. 3 and showing the details of the socket and housing construction; and Fig. 3, a schematic view showing the mop head in wringing position combined with a cross-sectional view showing the V-notch and drop hinge.

In the illustration given, 1 represents a handle adapt15 ed to be connected to a mop head that carries a mop body. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the handle is secured to socket 13 by rivets 24, and has sleeve 2 sliding thereon. Ball detents 23, as shown in Fig. 3, are preferably provided to secure sleeve 2 in its upper20 most position on handle 1.

Sleeve 2 has flange supports 3 on each side thereof in which are pivotally secured sliding rods 5 by means of pins 4. Sliding rods 5 extend downwardly parallel to and on opposite sides of handle 1, and are pivotally 25 secured by upper pins 10 to the enlarged ends 9 of side braces 8. Side braces 8 extend laterally and downwardly from handle 1.

j-rods 6 are pivotally secured by lower pins 10 to the enlarged ends 9 of side braces 8 below sliding rods 5, so 30 as to extend downwardly parallel to handle 1, and into the center of socket 13 through slots 14. The J-rods 6 are fastened together by pivot pin 7 inside socket 13 to form a U beneath handle 1. As shown in Fig. 2, the juncture of rods 6 may if desired be maintained in a fixed position by the anchoring of pin 7 in socket 13. J-rods 6, as best seen in Fig. 3, function as fulcrum rods for their respective sliding rods 5.

Handle socket 13 is mounted on housing or support 16 by means of socket hinge 15. Housing 16 rests 40 on mop head plate 17, but is not physically connected thereto. As seen best in Fig. 3, mop head plate 17 is composed of right section 17α and left section 17 b. Sections 17α and 17 b preferably have their inner ends 19a and 196 turned downwardly to form V-notch 21. Thus, V-notch 21 extends transversely across the center of mop head plate 17. A drop hinge 20 is provided to’ secure plate sections 17α and 17b together at the bottom of V-notch 21, and to make sections 17α and 17b foldable together downwardly. The hinge barrels of drop hinge 20 are preferably integrally formed with plate sections 17a and 17b and are pivotally carried on a pintle extending therethrough and that projects outwardly therefrom and through the housing 16. Mop head plate 17 preferably has perforations 18 to assist in wringing the mop.

Plate sections 17α and 17b have sockets 12α and 126 respectively formed in their upper surfaces at preferably an equal distance from drop hinge 20. Within sockets 12α and 126 there are secured balls 11, which are integrally formed with side braces 8. As previously de10

Our invention relates to mops, and more particularly to mops of the self-wringing type in which the mop body is composed of an absorbent sponge.

. Heretofore various types of self-wringing mops have been known. All of these mops, however, have suffered from certain defects. One problem in regard to self- ^!wringing mops which has not been adequately solved is that of providing a means for wringing the mop body, which satisfactorily cleans the mop. The prior known wringing means result in forcing dirt collected on the edges of the mop body, which is usually a sponge, into the interior of the mop. Some of the mops provide a presser plate hinged along the front edge of the mop head, while some provide a presser plate hinged along the rear edge. The front wringing type is especially undesirable, since in normal mopping operations the largest quantity of dirt tends to accumulate on the front edge of the sponge, and this dirt is forced into the interior of the sponge by wringing it from the front. The rear wringing mops, however, are also, unsatisfactory in this respect, since a considerable quantity of dirt also accumulates on the back edge of the sponge. This, is true because the mop is moved both forwardly and backwardly in moping. ,

Prior self-wringing mops have other disadvantages such as requiring a separate presser plate and a squeezing lever attached thereto, and means must be provided to latch, the squeezing lever against the handle during the mopping. Mops of this character also require a long hinge either on the front or rear edge of the mop head. A further disadvantage is that the mop handle has not been made sufficiently adjustable, because of the structural limitations imposed by the wringing means.

It is therefore an object of our invention to devise a mop which flushes from the center outwardly, and thereby cleanses the exterior edges of the mop sponge without causing dirt to be forced into the interior of the sponge. Another object of our invention is to eliminate the separate presser plate now required in self-wringing mops together with the squeezing lever and longitudinal hinge. It is a still further object of our invention to produce a mounting for the handle which will make it adequately adjustable for both mopping and storage. Other specific objects and advantages will appear as the specifica' We have discovered that the above objects can be sub- ³⁰ scribed,, side braces 8 are pivotally linked^to handlejleeve stantially accomplished by attaching a sponge, such as a ~ ' - -&gt; ^J cellulose sponge, to a mop head plate which is hinged transversely at about the center thereof. More specifically we have discovered that the mop head plate should be formed in two sections having their inner ends bent ⁰⁵ mop head plate 17. downwardly and formed into a hinge, thus providing a drop hinge at the bottom of a V-notch. We have further discovered that it is desirable to provide a sliding sleeve on the handle with linking means adapted to fold .

the mop head plate together, and thereby apply pressure 70 materials. We prefer, however^to use a cellulose sponge, to the sponge when the sleeve is moved downwardly. ' We have also discovered that it is advantageous to utilize

2, This linkage causes a downward force to be exerted on the top of plate sections 17α and 17b, when sleeve 2 is moved downwardly on handle 1.

An absorbent sponge 22 is secured to the bottom of ' ' '7. This can be accomplished by means of a heat resistant adhesive such as cellulose acetate. Sponge 22 is notched transversely at the center, to provide a space for V-notch 21 without bunching the sponge. The sponge can be made of various flexible absorbent but foam rubber is also desirable.

If it is desired, the sponge can be made more readily

2,801,433 detachable in various ways. For example, by the means shown in U. S. Patent 2,515,403 issued to N. B. Greenleaf et al.

Operation

For mopping operations, sleeve 2 is secured in its ⁵upper-most position by ball detents 23 and sections 17α and 17 b of mop head plate 17 are kept in horizontal alignment. The hinged mounting of socket 13 on housing 16 allows mop handle 1 to be pivoted backwardly and forwardly during mopping, within the limits provided by ¹⁰the housing edges that define the slot through which the socket extends and that may be dimensionally varied as desired, or brought to a vertical position for storage.

When it is desired to wring the mop sponge, one hand can be used to grasp handle 1 and the other hand used ¹⁵to grasp sleeve 2. The hand on sleeve 2 can then disengage sleeve 2 from ball detents 23 by pushing sleeve 2 downwardly on handle 1. This causes sliding rods 5 and J-rods 6 to pivot outwardly, and thereby transfers the downward motion of sleeve 2 to sections 17α and ²⁰17b by means of side braces 8. It should be noted that balls 11 on the ends of side braces 8 rotate in sockets 12α and 126, while transmitting the downward force applied to sleeve 2. This combined movement and rotation causes plate sections 17α and 17b to fold down- ²⁰wardly on drop hinge 20.

On the continuing of the downward movement of sleeve 2, a position is reached, as shown in Fig. 3, in which the bottom surfaces of sponge 22 are brought into parallel alignment. After this position, further down- ³⁰ward force applied to sleeve 2 causes the mop to be thoroughly wrung and to be wrung from the center outwardly. This wringing action cleanses all the outer sur⁷ faces of the sponge without forcing dirt into the interior ,. of the sponge. V-notch 21 and the correspondingly ⁰notched portion of sponge 22 prevent any bunching of the sponge at the fold which would interfere with the wringing. Therefore, it can be seen that the V-notch is important in facilitating a complete wringing of the sponge. ⁴0

While in the foregoing specification we have shown our improved self-wringing mop in great detail and in a specific arrangement for illustration, it will be understood that such arrangement and details of the structure can be varied widely by those skilled in the art without 45. departing from the spirit of our invention.