DEVICE FOR WRINGING OUT A MOP DESCRIPTION Everyone is familiar with the domestic implement that looks like a large brush and is known as a mop and which, attached to a suitable handle, is used to wash floors. Using a mop also requires the use of a wringing device in order to extract the dirty water with which the mop is impregnated after it has been rinsed in the bucket. One of the wringing devices currently in use consists of a small conical plastic vessel with holes, into which the mop is inserted vertically; the mop is wrung out using an alternating compressive action; this vessel is attached to the edge of a bucket containing the rinse water. However, the wringing action currently carried out in this manner is not very effective and the operation is time- consuming and awkward. The reason for this is that, as is known, in order to wring as much water as possible out of a textile which is full of water, it must be subjected to a torsional rather than a compressive force.

The present invention enables such a torsional force to be exerted on the mop, ensuring maximum wringing and quick operation.

To wring out the implement in question-the so-called mop used for cleaning floors and shaped like a large brush with textile strands or the like attached to a head-a structure is provided that can be made to slide and rotate with respect to the handle of said implement and that comprises a ring which is attached to one end of an elastically flexible and permeable tubular sleeve through which the handle passes and which is able to accommodate the implement by sliding said structure with respect to the handle so that the sleeve is turned in on itself; the strands of the implement are then wrung out using a torsional force by rotating said structure with respect to the handle.

In practice said structure comprises a collar for carrying out the various maneuvers and a small frame that connects it to said ring, the length of this frame being at least equal to the length of the sleeve.

Said sleeve-which can be made out of an elastic fabric-is roughly frustoconical in shape, its larger base being fixed to said ring and its dimensions being such that it fits closely around the bundle of textile strands; the free smaller base of the sleeve is designed to engage with said head of the implement.

In order to carry out the rotating maneuver the collar has a relatively large diameter and/or projections designed to facilitate angular maneuvers; a similar structure can be provided for the handle.

Suitable means can be provided for holding said structure in the rest

position away from the bundle of strands while the implement is being used.

A better understanding of the invention will be gained by following the description and the appended drawing, which shows a non-limiting practical example of said invention. In the drawing: Fig. 1 shows an overall view of an implement fitted with the device in question; Fig. 2 shows a detail of Fig. 1 on a larger scale; and Figs 3,4,5,6 and 7 show partial views of various stages of a wringing operation.

The device comprises a structure 2 made up of a collar 2A, a frame 2B and a ring 2C which is held away from the collar 2A by the frame 2B. The frame can be formed by one or more ribs or by a beaker-shaped element with many perforations or in any other suitable way. The ring 2C is attached to one end of an elastically flexible and permeable tubular sleeve 4, the other end 4A of said sleeve being free; the sleeve 4 is preferably frustoconical in shape, the free end 4A constituting the smaller base; this shape can be achieved by giving the sleeve elastic properties, at least in the radial direction. The sleeve 4 can be attached to the ring 2C by means of stitching or adhesive bonding, by means of a metal band or in any other suitable way. The sleeve 4 is essentially funnel-shaped.

The device is mounted so that it can slide along the pole handle 6 of the mop, with the head 8 bearing the bundle of strands 10 that make up the mop being fixed to one end of the pole. The handle 6 passes through the collar 2A, the ring 2C and the sleeve 4,4A.

The device can be held in the rest position, away from the head 8-as <BR> <BR> may be seen in Figs 1 and 2-by suitable means, including friction, elastic retention or other means.

Said Figs 1 and 2 illustrate the position assumed while the floor is being washed.

Once the floor has been washed and the bundle of strands 10 has subsequently been rinsed in a bucket (or the like), the device is moved manually downward with respect to the handle 6, in the direction of the arrows f1 in Figs 3, 4 and 5, by maneuvering the collar 2A; the sleeve 4 thus begins to sheathe the unit 10, with the end 4A being held by the head 8 and the sleeve being gradually turned in on itself, as may be seen in Figs 3 and 4.

Fig. 5 shows the bundle of strands 10 of the mop fully sheathed within the sleeve 4, where said unit 10 is slightly reduced in diameter as a result of the elastic action of the sleeve 4.

Fig. 6 illustrates the wringing stage which is achieved by rotating the

handle 6 (for example in the direction of the arrow) and the collar 2A in opposite directions to each other; in order to facilitate this operation, the collar 2A can be shaped so that it can be grasped easily and a handgrip 12 can also be provided on the handle 6; it is thereby possible to exert a greater rotational force. By rotating the handle 6, and therefore the mop 10, with respect to the unit 2A, 2C, the sleeve 4 and mop 10 assembly is twisted and therefore wrung out; the dirty water drains via the bottom end of the mop 10 and through the entire lateral surface of the sleeve 4, which is made of a permeable elastic material.

Once the wringing stage is complete (Fig. 6), the handle 6 is rotated in the opposite direction so as to return everything to the previous configuration shown in Fig. 5; then, moving the collar 2A upward with respect to the handle 6, in the direction of the arrow f2, the sleeve 4 gradually releases the mop 10 (Fig. 7), tuming out on itself, i. e. inverting itself in a manner similar to peeling a banana, and the device is retumed to its position of use (Figs 1 and 2).

The structure 2B can vary but it should, in all cases, constitute a closed system such that it can withstand the torsional force to which the ring 2C is subjected. The shape of the ring 2C depends on the shape and size of the head 8 to which the bases of the strands of the mop 10 are attached. The length of the sleeve 4 should be slightly longer than the length of the strands of the mop 10.

The sleeve 4 can also be made of thin rubber which is suitably perforated so that the dirty water can drain away during the wringing stage.

All the stages of using the device can be summarized in four quick and simple movements, i. e.: lowering the device by acting on the collar 2A, rotating the handle 6 in one direction (with respect to the collar 2A), rotating it in the opposite direction and lifting the device.

It should be understood that the drawing shows only one example given solely as a practical demonstration of the invention and that the forms and arrangements of the latter may vary without thereby departing from the scope of the basic concept of said invention.