REDI MICHELE (IT)
| WO2002071914A1 | 2002-09-19 | |||
| WO1990014039A1 | 1990-11-29 | |||
| WO1992003083A1 | 1992-03-05 |
| DE19636988A1 | 1998-03-19 | |||
| DE19634924A1 | 1998-03-05 | |||
| US5525393A | 1996-06-11 | |||
| DE29512702U1 | 1996-01-04 | |||
| DE2262121A1 | 1974-07-11 | |||
| DE29713368U1 | 1998-12-03 |
CLAIMS
1) Cloth (1; 10) for cleaning surfaces, comprising a flexible laminar surface (2; 20) with a covering (3) on at least one face composed of a microfibre layer constituting the active part of said cloth (1 ; 10), characterised in that said covering (3) is provided with discontinuities constituted by strips (4; 40; 50) without microfibre.
2) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to claim 1), characterised in that said strips (4) without microfibre develop for at least one section of the length of said laminar surface (2; 20). 3) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to claim 1), characterised in that said strips (4; 40) without microfibre develop according to a constant pitch.
4) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to claim 1), characterised in that said strips (4; 40) without microfibre develop according to a variable pitch.
5) Cloth (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said strips (4) develop parallel to the longitudinal direction defined by said laminar surface (2).
6) Cloth (10) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said strips (40) develop in an oblique direction with respect to the longitudinal direction defined by said laminar surface (20). 7) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said strips (4; 40) develop partially parallel to and partially oblique with respect to the longitudinal direction defined by said laminar surface.
8) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that each one of said strips (4; 40) defines a direction according to a straight line.
9) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that each one of said strips (50) defines a direction according to a curved line. 10) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that each one of said strips (4; 40; 50) defines a direction according to a mixed line.
11) Cloth (1 ; 10) according to claim 1), characterised in that said covering (3) is constituted by the tips of a plurality of thread-like elements (7) inserted so as to pass through said laminar surface (20). 12) Method for the production of a cloth (1; 10) for cleaning surfaces, comprising the following operations:
- arrangement of a flexible laminar surface (2; 20);
- execution, on said flexible laminar surface (2; 20), of a plurality of stitchings (5) spaced from one another, each one of which presents a first section
(5a) protruding from the opposite side and constituting an eyelet (6), and a second section (5b) perpendicular to said laminar surface (2; 20);
- shearing of the tips of each one of said stitchings (5) in order to form a plurality of thread-like elements (7), characterised in that it also comprises the following operations:
- arranging of each one of said stitchings (5) at a preset distance, thereby interrupting the execution of the seams according to regular intervals;
- repeating of said spacing operations until the overall active surface is covered. 13) Cloth carrier device (30) for the cleaning of surfaces, comprising:
- a cloth carrier plate (32) for cloths (1 ; 10) comprising a flexible laminar surface (2; 20);
- one manipulation rod (31) suitable for being gripped by a user,
- means (33a, 33b) for connecting said plate (32) to said manipulation rod (31), said connection means (33a, 33b) being present on the surface opposite the active surface of said cloth (1 ; 10), said flexible laminar surface (2; 20) having a covering (3) on at least one face composed of a microfibre layer (3a) constituting the active part of said cloth (1; 10), characterised in that in said covering (3) discontinuities are identified that are constituted by strips (4; 40) without microfibre. |
"PERFECTED CLOTH FOR CLEANING SURFACES".
DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to a perfected cloth for cleaning surfaces, in particular for cleaning floor surfaces. Various cleaning cloth typologies for cleaning surfaces are used manually, directly on the surface to be cleaned or, more frequently, they are carried by support mounts manipulated directly by the user.
Known types of cloths come in various typologies as well as in different sizes based on their use. A frequently used cloth typology relates to microfibre cloths commonly known as MOPs, capable of absorbing materials and liquids up to eight times their weight.
MOPs are composed of high strength material that does not leave fibre residues or smudges on the cleaned surfaces; furthermore, after use and after washing, they can be simply left to dry in a well-aired place.
Said microfibre cloths of known type however do present some drawbacks.
In commonly known cloths, dirt will accumulate inside the crevices between the thread-like elements constituting the active surface of the cloth until said crevices are completely clogged, thus preventing the cloth from removing material and liquids from the surface being cleaned.
Due to the fact that the accumulation of dirt occurs rather quickly, the user is forced to use the cloth only for a limited time before needing to wash the cloth out.
Frequent stops to wash the cloth out also result in quicker wear and tear of the cloth itself and, consequently, in the need to frequently replace the microfibre cloth, with evidently increased expenses for the user.
The object of the present invention is therefore the production of a type of cloth for cleaning surfaces whose active surface has the same size as that of the previous, already known cloths, yet is capable of retaining a larger amount of dirt.
A further object of the present invention is the production of a microfibre cloth featuring the same number of thread-like elements yet having a longer-lasting life.
The objects described above are achieved by the cloth that is the subject of the present invention, the main features of which are in accordance with the
state of the art as specified in claim one.
The cloth carried out according to the present invention advantageously provides a cleaning tool for effective, in-depth cleaning of the surfaces, so that a longer period of time can actually elapse between one washing session and the next.
An additional benefit of the cloth that is the subject of the present invention lies in that it does not disperse the material and liquids removed from the surfaces being cleaned. The foregoing objects, advantages and benefits will become more apparent and best understood by examining the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, merely provided by way of a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein:
- Figure 1 shows an axonometric view of the cloth carried out according to the present invention; - Figures 2 and 3 show section views of a detail of the cloth as shown in Figure 1 , in two different production phases;
- Figure 4 shows an axonometric view of another embodiment of the cloth illustrated in Figure 1 ;
- Figure 5 shows an axonometric view of a further embodiment of the cloth illustrated in Figure 1 ;
- Figure 6 shows the cloth illustrated in Figure 1 combined with and fitted onto a cloth carrier device;
- Figure 7 shows an exploded view of the cloth shown in Figure 6.
As can be observed in Figure 1 , the cloth that is the subject of the present invention and is indicated as a whole by 1 comprises a flexible laminar surface 2, provided with a covering 3 on one face, said covering being constituted by a microfibre layer 3a which in turn constitutes the active part of the cloth 1.
According to the known technique, the cloth 1 is produced by providing the flexible laminar surface 2, using a sewing machine, with a plurality of stitchings 5 that are spaced from one another and visible in Figure 2.
Said stitchings 5 are performed as continuous rows of seams sewn alongside one another.
Again in Figure 2 it can be observed that each one of the stitchings 5 presents a first section 5a protruding from the opposite side of surface 2 and thus
constituting an eyelet 6, and a second section 5b adherent to the laminar surface itself.
Subsequently, as can be observed in Figure 3, the tip of section 5b protruding from surface 2 is sheared to form a plurality of thread-like elements 7 that all approximately have the same height.
According to the present invention, the stitchings 5 are interrupted at regularly spaced intervals, in order to obtain a plurality of strips 4 without microfibre.
The operation of interrupting the stitchings 5 is repeated many times until the entire active surface area of the cloth 1 is covered, Once said interruption operations are complete, the result is a cloth constituted by a laminar surface 2 featuring a covering 3 constituted by the foregoing thread-like elements 7 and by a plurality of strips 4 without microfibre.
Said strips 4 are formed so that they point in a plurality of different directions, as shown in Figure 1 , where for example they are parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the cloth.
According to an embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 4, the strips without microfibre, now indicated by 40, develop in oblique direction with respect to the longitudinal direction of the laminar surface 20 of cloth 10.
In further embodiments of the invention, the strips without microfibre can develop in such a way as to point in various different directions, whereby and for example according to another embodiment of the invention as illustrated in
Figure 5, the strips without microfibre, now indicated by 50, are constituted by sinusoidal lines.
Obviously, still further embodiments of the invention will be possible in which the strips without microfibre can be arranged according to curved, straight or mixed line patterns pointing in any direction whatsoever, depending on how the seam stitching is done by the sewing machine.
It will furthermore be possible also to form on the same cloth microfibre strips pointing in different directions, for example a straight line strip alternated with a wavy strip and a transversal strip, and so on.
The strips without microfibre according to this invention can be formed in such a way as to have both constant and variable pitch, thereby forming microfibre strips with different widths.
Said microfibre strips generate dirt accumulation areas whereby larger amounts of dirt are retained compared to already known cloths, even though
their active surface area has the same size.
In so doing, longer time intervals elapse between each cloth washout operation.
The microfibre cloth that is the subject of the present invention is preferably used by applying it to a cloth carrier device 30, generally constituted by a manipulating rod 31, suitable for being gripped by the user.
At one end of said manipulating rod 31 a substantially flat cloth carrier plate 32 is provided, for application of the microfibre cloth as illustrated in Figures 6 and 7. For this purpose, the surface opposite to the active surface of the cloth 1 is provided with side pockets 33a and 33b that enable coupling of the cloth with the relative cloth carrier plate via the insertion of the plate's ends 32a and 32b into the corresponding pockets 33a and 33b respectively, as illustrated in
Figure 7. The laminar surface for the microfibre cleaning cloth of the present invention is preferably made from polyester resin, although use of other materials will be possible, i.e. cotton fabrics for example.
As inferred by the foregoing description, the cloth according to the present invention achieves all the set objects. The cloth carried out according to the present invention may be subjected to any changes and/or variations, which must all be deemed as being covered by this patent, provided that they fall within the scope of the following claims.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference sings have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.