This invention concerns a unit for the cleaning of shafts or pipes and consits of a brush rotating around an axis; this brush is designed mainly for filling in the shaft or pipe section, and the brush is designed to rotate by means of the fluid pressure.

Prom the specifications covering U.S. patents nos. 163^591, 1779983 _. 1820077, 2162677, and 3134120, we know of con¬ structions of this type, designed for entering from one end of a pipe, and by which you may clean pipes which are not vertical.In the case of these constructions, both the actual control and the liquid supply will be performed from the same side -of the unit, i.e. from the side of enterin *go.'

The purpose of the present invention is that of pointing to a unit which is particularly suitable for cleaning ver¬ tical shafts, preferably waste chutes.

The unit to the invention is characteristic in that the unit has been suspended in a bearing, in that there are ^' means of hoisting the unit up and down, in that between the bearing and the brush liquid nozzles with directions have been mounted, the latter providing a reaction torque when the liquid is sprayed out, and in that the unit is con- nected at the underside with fluid pressure hose over a rotating coupling so that the unit may rotate without the hose rotating, too.

When the unit has been thus suspended at the upper side and is supplied with liquid from the underside, we obtain a construction which is most accurately controlled in its working position because of the effect of central tensile forces in it from both sides, i.e. from above and from below. These forces have, ^' however, such a direction and such an extent that it will still in most cases be pos¬ sible for the unit to perform a svivelling movement along circles at the horizontal level, a so-called precession movement, and this is vital to the cleaning effect when the circumference of the brush is a little less than that of the shaft section which is always the case .'hen the construction is also limited for orientation in ver¬ tical shafts, it is also important that the nozzles

placed above the rotating brush so as to establish a flushing effect around the outer circumference of the brush. Thus, cleaning will take place in two spots, i.e. firstly at the spot or the spots where the liquid jets will hit the shaft wall, and secondly at the spot or the spots where the brush will be working on the wall while the liquid is flowing past .

One mode of design of the unit is characteristic in that in front of each nozzle viewed in the rotation direction clamps or plates have been mounted inside the circle sur¬ face described by the nozzles, stretching mainly tangen- tially forward from each nozzle.

This design is particularly suitable for waste chutes having insertion openings at the sides, these being most generally used. For in the case of such openings, the chute will not have a cylindrical shape inside but a some¬ what larger section which will deviate from that of a cylindrical shape. The clamps will thus prevent the unit from getting stuck.or being braked in its rotation by the passage of any such extended sections.

The invention is explained further with reference to the drawing wh-..re

Pig. 1 shows in part a vertical section in a waste chute in a house in which a unit to the invention has been placed,

Fig. 2 the unit to a particularly suitable mode of design on a larger scale, partly in section and without means of hoisting & liquid supply, and

Fig. 3 this unit viewed from above.

Fig. 1 shows a residential house 1, equipped with a waste chute 2. At the individual floors, there are insertion gates 3, 4, 5, and 6, and at the bottom an exhaust outlet 7. The actual unit 8, shown in Figs. 2 and 3, have been suspended in actually known hoisting means 9- Obviously, mechanical hoisting means may be connected at the top. Below, the unit has been connected to liquid supply means through a hose 10.

The unit to Figs. 2 and 3 has been equipped above with a suspension ring 11, mounted in a bearing 12, so that the ring 11 may rotate freely around a vertical axis in re- lation to the other part of the unit . The unit is equipped with two nozzle arms 13 and 1-4 at the outer ends of which high pressure nozzles 15 and 16 have been mounted, direc¬ ted partly radially and partly tangentially outwards. Nozzles 15 and 16 are supplied with cleaning liquid through arms 13 and 1-4 which are hollow, and connected with a cen¬ tral supply canal 17, below connected with a quick-coupling unit 18 which over a svivel coupling 19 has been designed to rotate freely in relation to the other part of the unit in the same manner as that of the ring 11. Below nozzles 15 and 16, a circular brush 20 has been mounted it has a diameter a little larger than the diameter on which nozzles 15 and 16 have been placed. In front of nozzles 15 and 16 viewed in the rotation direction, clamps 21 and 22 have been mounted, running at the horizontal level, at which nozzles 15 and 16 have been designed to rotate.

The unit now works in the following manner.

When the unit has been suspended in a vertical shaft as shown in Fig. 1, the part carrying nozsles and brush will

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be able to rotate freely in the chute in relation to the other parts, and the vertical orientation of the unit axis will be quite stable because there is a central ten¬ sion in the unit from both sides. On the other hand, the unit may, when rotating and colliding with a point or a minor stretch at the chute wall, very easily perform oscillations in the form of precession-like movements at the horizontal level. Thus, a considerable amount of cer¬ tainty is provided with respect to the cleaning of all the areas of the chute wall which will in a given posi¬ tion be radially outside the brush. If the section of the chute is not altogether circular, such as is the case of insertion openings, clamps 21 and 22 will prevent nozzles 15 and 16 and nozzle arms 13 and 14 from getting damaged and the rotation from being braked.

This invention is not limited to the use of the unit with two nozzles and one brush, and clamps 21 and 22 may just as well be replaced by plates. One may also imagine the nozzles mounted in such a Dlate-like υart.