FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to cleaning tools for different surfaces, specifically for the surfaces that to be properly cleaned must first be moistened with cleaning liquid and then cleaned with surface cleaning cloth. The tool has at least two functional parts assembled in one utensil: a cleaning fluid container with fluid spraying mechanism and a cleaning surface. The whole tool can be used as a traditional cleaning wipe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The presented invention relates to cleaning tools for different surfaces, which contain at least two functional parts: a cleaning fluid container with spraying mechanism and a cleaning surface. The said two parts are combined to make a single utensil. The cleaning surface covers the cleaning fluid container. The cleaning fluid container has a fluid spraying mechanism capable of even spraying of the cleaning fluid. The sprayed cleaning fluid and the dirt are cleaned away by the cleaning surface.

Differently shaped rigid containers for cleaning fluid with differently shaped cleaning surfaces can be found both described in invention patent descriptions (such as US8683642B2, US7841795B2, CN201324732(Y), WO2013131747(A1 )) and publicly available for purchase (such as http://www. vd hsoft.be/sp36/36103. htm (accessed on 05 November 2014), httpv qetclean.am/pacies/store (accessed on 05 November 2014)).

We have found a cleaning tool similar to the invention presented in this description, it is introduced in the patent WO9637141 (A1 ) published on 28 November 1996. The utensil described in the said patent has a rigidly shaped cleaning fluid container placed in a bag filled with soft material and having good cleaning properties on the outside. The said soft filling enables close contact of the cleaning fabric to the surface being cleaned; however, if there is too much filing, the fabric that covers it gets tense leading to reduced ability to adapt to irregularities in the surface being cleaned and reduced surface area responsible for doing the cleaning, and if there is too little filing, the said rigid cleaning fluid container limits efficiency of contact to the surface being cleaned and poses a danger of mechanical damage to the surface being cleaned. If the cleaning fabric itself is much larger than the cleaning fluid container, the cleaning process is not so ergonomic: it may be necessary to clean with one hand while supporting the fluid container with another, making no sense to combine the spraying and cleaning utensils into a single tool. The filling material in the utensil introduced in the cited patent accounts for extra size (volume) and for this reason this utensil cannot be as compact as the one presented in the current description. The entire shape (and function) of the utensil according to the cited patent reminds more of a cleaning sponge than a cleaning wipe, which is in contrast to the presentation in the current description. The cleaning fluid container in accordance with the cited patent occupies only a part of the entire utensil, while the fluid container in the utensil presented in the current description takes the whole volume produced by the cleaning fabric.

The closest related art can be found in the American patent application US2014223680 (A1 ) published on 14 August 2014. In shape and function of the cleaning fabric the utensil presented in the cited application is analogous to the utensil presented in the current description, but their cleaning fluid spraying methods are essentially different. The utensil according to the cited patent has only an orifice for spraying the cleaning fluid, making it impossible to spray the fluid evenly and control the quantity of the fluid being sprayed out. The description of the cited patent says nothing about the case of stronger compression of the utensil - doesn't the cleaning fluid then run out of the cleaning fluid container through the said orifice?

Carrying out a search for similar tools we have noticed that most tools for cleaning with cleaning fluid holding and spraying as well as dirt removal functions do not have at least one of these features:

1 ) no flexible cleaning fluid container capable of quick adaptation to unevenness in the surface being cleaned;

2) no possibility to use the whole cleaning tool as a conventional cleaning wipe;

3) no capability to evenly distribute the cleaning fluid on the surface being cleaned while this fluid is being sprayed;

4) no protection from unintentional spraying or spilling of the cleaning fluid;

5) the quantity of the cleaning fluid differs at each spraying: no dosing.

In response to the identified and exposed shortcomings a new cleaning tool described below has been created. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention description presents a cleaning tool that has a flexible cleaning fluid container with fluid spraying mechanism and a cleaning surface partially or fully covering the said container. This tool is suitable for cleaning screens of electronic equipment as well as other even surfaces.

The tool in accordance with this invention performs two functions at once: sprays cleaning fluid on the surfaces to be cleaned and cleans those surfaces; is thin, compact and easily fits even in standard-size pockets of clothes; the flexible fluid container enables use of this tool as a traditional cleaning wipe; fluid spraying mechanism evenly distributes the being sprayed fluid over the surface to be cleaned; fluid amount is equally dosed during every spraying; spraying mechanism is protected with a cap against unintended spraying and spillage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 shows a cleaning tool according to this invention: side view, front view, and zoomed fragment of front view.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention is embodied by combining utensils performing at least two different functions into a single utensil. One of these utensils is intended for holding cleaning fluid and spraying it evenly over the surface to be cleaned; another is the cleaning fabric that partially of entirely covers the fluid container and is intended for cleaning various surfaces.

In this description the term "thin", when used in describing the layers, is to be interpreted as a shape of the object / layer one of the three dimensions of which is vanishingly small in comparison to the other two dimensions in the 3D coordinate system.

Cleaning fluid container (1 ) is made of polypropylene or other material and intended for leak-proof holding of fluid. Material that can be used to make the said container is subject to the following minimum requirements: ability to hold the cleaning fluid inside for a long period of time and flexibility leading to capability of adaptation to unevennesses in the surfaces being cleaned and enabling use of the entire cleaning tool (2) as a traditional wipe. Cleaning fluid container in its structure and shape resembles an envelope: when there is much of cleaning fluid the shape is more round, when there is no fluid the container becomes almost flat and thin, not different from a traditional cleaning wipe. The primary preferred embodiment of such a container involves two equally dimensioned thin layers of polypropylene or other material, which are tightly alloyed, pressed or attached to each other in some other way. The said attachment of the layers is implemented narrowly along almost the entire perimeter of both said layers, leaving a small orifice in which a neck shaped like a cylinder or having some other shape is placed so that it is leak-proof and the other end of the said neck is hermetically attached to spraying mechanism (3). Another embodiment is possible where when attaching the said two layers of the material of the container to each other the left orifice is sealed to the spraying mechanism directly, without using the said neck.

At a minimum, the spraying mechanism of the said container consists of the following parts: fluid spraying member, pressuring member (4), pressuring member cap (5) and body (3).

The said fluid spraying member has a system of tubes and supplemental containers where the being sprayed fluid is temporarily stored and a system of valves. One end of one of the said tubes must always be in contact with cleaning fluid while the other end supplies fluid during spraying to auxiliary containers from where the fluid enters another tube protruding from the body (3) or pressuring member (4) and used for spraying the fluid from the auxiliary cleaning fluid containers outwards. The valve system closes and opens orifices of auxiliary containers during different periods of the spraying cycle thus enabling the fluid flow through the spraying member and spraying out. The fluid spraying process is activated by mechanical pressing of pressuring member (4). All the mechanical energy required for spraying the fluid out is acquired via the pressuring member, from the subject pressing the said member (4). The spraying process needs no other energy source than the said pressuring of the pressuring member (4). The pressuring member (4) is covered by the pressuring member cap (5) that, in addition to other functionality, protects against unintentional pressing of the pressuring member (4). All the components responsible for spraying the fluid during pressuring of the pressuring member (4) are placed within the spraying mechanism body (3). Almost the entire spraying mechanism is on the outside of the cleaning fluid container, except one end of the tube of the spraying member, which must be in contact with the cleaning fluid. The external shape of the spraying mechanism may resemble a cylinder or some other shape. Cleaning fabric (6) serving the cleaning function partially or entirely covers the cleaning fluid container. Cleaning fabric can be made of microfiber or some other material capable of efficient removal of dirt from the surfaces being cleaned. The best embodiment of the invention would be with the shape and size of the cleaning fabric being the same as of the cleaning fluid container. Like with the container, two thin layers of the cleaning fabric covering the container are attached to each other along almost their entire perimeter, leaving a small orifice for the spraying mechanism. Cleaning fabric attachment can be done simultaneously with container material attachment, that is, the said layers of container material and cleaning fabric are placed on each other in the following order: cleaning fabric layer, container layer, container layer, cleaning fabric layer and then all the layers are attached to each other along almost the entire perimeter leaving only an orifice for spraying mechanism. In other embodiments cleaning fabric layers can be larger or smaller than the material layers comprising the container, the cleaning fabric may cover only one of the two layers of the container.

To illustrate and describe this invention, description of preferred embodiments is given above. This is not a complete or limiting description aimed at prescribing a precise embodiment or implementation option. The description given above should be regarded more as an illustration than a constraint. Obviously, the specialists in this field may clearly see a multitude of modifications and variations. The embodiment has been selected and described so as to enable the specialists in this field to best understand the principles behind this invention and their best practical application for different embodiments with different modifications fit for a specific application or embodiment customisation. The invention scope is defined by the attached claims and their equivalents wherein all the used terms have the broadest possible meanings unless stated otherwise.

Embodiments described by specialists in the respective field may contain changes that do not depart from the scope of this invention, as described in the claims given next.