Mechanical floor mat

Nov. 18, 1958 g. _D. kemp 2,860,366

MECHANICAL FLOOR MAT Filed Oct. 13, 1954 3 _Sheet_s-Sheet 1

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Nov. 18, 1958

2,860,366

G. D. KEMP

MECHANICAL FLOOR MAT

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G. D. KEMP

MECHANICAL FLOOR MAT

Nov. 18, 1958

Filed Oct. 13. 1954

2,860,366

Sheets-Sheet 3

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INVENTOR.

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United States Patent

2,860,366

Patented Nov. 18, 1958

2,860,366

MECHANICAL FLOOR MAT 5

Gibson D. Kemp, Columbia, Ga.

Application October 13, 1954, Serial No. 462,129

Claims. (Cl. 15—311) io (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266)

The invention described herein, if patented, may be 15 manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a mechanical means for cleaning the bottoms of shoes while on the wearer’s feet and 20 is intended to be installed at the entrances to public buildings, business establishments, or at any place where it is desirable, for aesthetic or economic reasons, to remove a high percentage of grit and dust from peoples’ shoe soles without requiring any labor on their part. 25

One of the primary objects of the invention is to provide a strong and durable construction of shoe cleaner which is of simplified construction, but nevertheless is highly efficient in operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be 30 apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the novel construction of mechanical floor mat;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view partly in section 35 taken on line 2—2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3—3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus with the mid-portion thereof broken away; 40

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the apparatus, with the grid removed;

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view of a modified construction of operating means;

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail sectional view of a wear 45 cup, showing its extreme positions in dotted lines;

Figures 8 and 9 are enlarged fragmentary views of various designs of scrapers and the tread portions of the stationary grills; and

Figures 10 and 11 are sectional views taken on the lines 50 10—10 and 11—11 of Figures 8, 9.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail the numeral 1 indicates the floor of a building in which the mechanically operated floor mat is to be installed, and the numeral 2 indicates the hinge by means of which 55 the mat is hingedly connected to one edge of the floor opening.' The body of the mat is indicated by the numeral 3 and is provided with the grill portion 4, and removable plank 5 for permitting access to certain of the parts of the mechanism as hereinafter indicated. 60

Disposed beneath the floor adjacent each end of the opening therein is an end member 6 adapted to support the body of the mat which is removably secured to the members 6 by means of screws 7. The grill 3 includes the cross bars 8 which are spaced apart to provide open- 65 ings 9 through which project upwardly a slight distance above the surface of the grill the wipers 10 which may be formed of rubber or other suitable material and which may take a variety of forms as indicated in Figures 8 to 11 inclusive. ₇θ

Disposed below the grill 3 for horizontal reciprocating movement is a scraper frame 11 which carries a plurality of transversely arranged channel members 12 which receive the lower ends of the wipers, the latter being provided with flanges 13 which rest upon the upper edges of the channel members 12. The frame member 11 is caused to move to the left (Figure 4) by means of a rotary cam 14 which is rotated by means of a motor 15 secured to the underside of the mat body 3, and the cam cooperates with a roller 16 mounted on the adjacent end of the frame. The opposite end of the frame may be provided with a piston 17 slidably mounted in a cylinder 18 against the pressure of a compression spring 19 mounted within the cylinder; and the compression of the spring may be adjusted by means of screw 20 mounted in the end of the cylinder.

The scraper frame, in the present illustration, is provided with two pairs of E-channels 21 which extend substantially throughout the length of the scraper frame and have the middle rib portion 22 thereof mounted in lubricant-containing receptacles 23 which are preferably lined with Babbitt metal and supported on I-beams 24 to constitute tracks for the scraper frame. These E-channels 21 are of such size that the end ribs 25 overhang the sides of the lubricant-containing receptacles 23 so as to exclude dust, and the length of the center ribs 22 are slightly shorter, lengthwise of the mat, than the length of the receptacles 23 so as to avoid any possibility of engaging the end walls of these receptacles during the reciprocations of the frame member.

In order to maintain the reciprocating frame upon its tracks 23—24 and avoid any undue rattling of the mechanism, the frame is provided with four wear cups or oil cups 26. These wear cups are secured adjacent the four corners of the frame by screws 27, as clearly indicated in Figure 7, and screw bolts 28 are threaded into the grill member and extend downwardly into the cups 26 which latter are preferably lined with Babbitt metal and provided with a suitable lubricant such as graphite or the like. These bolts are threadedly adjusted downwardly through sleeves 29 depending from the corners of the grill member, as indicated by the numeral 30, and in order to avoid the possibility of dirt, grit or the like being deposited into the wear cup 26 a dirt shield 31 is secured to the lower end of the sleeve 29 by screws 32 and is of sufficient lateral dimensions to permit movement of the cup back and forth as the scraper frame 11 is reciprocated.

Disposed below the I-beams 24 which may be secured to the end members 6 by bolts or the like 33, is a container 34 which is supported on plate 35 carried by end members 36. The end members 6 and 36 together with the bottom plate 35 and side walls 35' (Fig. 3) form a box-like enclosure for the underside of the mat. The container 34 is preferably filled with water so as to collect dust, cigarette butts and the like which may descend through the grill 3 and frame 11, and the frame and scraper are preferably provided with suitable openings to permit the passage of such refuse downwardly into the container. To assist in causing the gravitation of such material into the container an air pump or fan 37 is mounted slightly above and to one side or end of the container 34 and is operated by a belt 38 taking power off of the shaft of motor 15 by means of pulley wheel 39. By this means and due to the box-like enclosure of the lower portion of the mat a downdraft is created across the grill for the purpose indicated, and in order to avoid drawing the refuse material into the fan or air pump a baffle 40 extends across the top of the container 34 adjacent to the air pump 37 and extends downwardly to a point adacent the surface of the liquid within the container.

The surface of the grill, which is a -fixed element of the combination, and the scrapers themselves which constitute the movable member of the combination may take

2,860,366 various forms. In Figures 8 to 11 inclusive several different designs of grill tread are disclosed but need not be described in detail inasmuch as they form no material part of the present invention. Likewise, the scrapers. 10 may take various forms as indicated, but they all have in common the laterally extending flanges 13 which rest upon the upper edges of the channel members 12 and extend an equal distance above and below the flanges 13 so that after becoming worn the scrapers may be turned through 180° so as to present a new and active edge for engagement with the soles of the wearer’s shoes. It is highly desirable that these scrapers be formed of a somewhat flexible material such as rubber or the like, but if desirable, metallic elements may be incorporated therein in certain instances.

In the modified form of the invention as shown in Figure 6, the construction is substantially the same as that heretofore described except for the operating means for reciprocating the scraper frame and the position of the air pump. In this modified iform of the invention the motor 41 is mounted with its shaft extending vertically and the upper end of the shaft carries an eccentrically mounted disk 42 for cooperation with a roller 43 carried by the reciprocating scraper frame so as to impart the necessary movement to the frame. The lower end of the shaft is provided with a propeller or fan 44 disposed within a vertically extending sleeve 45 having a lateral extension 46 extending below the reciprocating scraper frame so as to provide the necessary downdraft through the floor mat. In this type of installation a baffle such as baffle plate 40 is unnecessary inasmuch as the material drawn down through the mat is forced away from the air pump 44—45.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 6, as well as that shown in the first described form of the invention, the scraper elements 10 are removably secured within their channels 12 by means of rods or bolts 47 which extend throughout the length of the mat and pass through apertures 48 in the walls of the channel member and apertures 49 in the opposite ends of the reversible wipers.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that I have devised an exceedingly simple construction of mechanically operated floor mat comprising relatively few parts which are compactly arranged and provided with various refinements such as the means for preventing vibrations in the reciprocating member, the means for drawing the refuse material downwardly into a pan of water or the like, and the construction providing for double wear on the scrapers themselves by incorporating a reversible feature therein.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described what I now consider to be the preferred form of construction, but since minor changes may be made in structural details without departing from the spirit of the invention it is intended that all such changes be included within the scope of the appended claims.