US20080083080A1

US20080083080A1 - Surface stabilizer attachment for floor mop

Info

Publication number: US20080083080A1
Application number: US11/538,570
Authority: US
Inventors: Arthur Shen; Prins Chang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-10-04
Filing date: 2006-10-04
Publication date: 2008-04-10

Abstract

A plurality of ridges is woven into the water-absorbing material on a floor mop's attachment, eliminating the undesired “flip-over” caused by the wet stickiness of the fabric surface when users are mopping the floor. The parallel ridges provide the “push-away” force to resist the stickiness, and also increase the scrubbing power of floor mop due to the hardness of the ridge material.

Description

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to an improved design and construction for an attachment to be affixed to the mopping head of a floor mop, to make the mopping movements more efficient.
Floor mops are used widely either in home environment or in office/industrial use. The base of the floor mop is usually equipped with some kind of hinge or ball-bearing mechanism, allowing some pivoting freedom from the mop head relative to the mop handle. To use this kind of floor mop, the mop head (attached with water-absorbing fabrics) is dipped into a bucket of water (may contain some cleaning agents), and is placed onto the floor, while users hold the mop handle and push/pull the mop, resulting in the desired cleaning function.
As reported by many cleaning crew and household users, when pushing the mop back and forth on the floor, due to the wetness of the fabrics (facing down, in contact with the floor), “flip-over” oftentimes happens as a result of the natural wet stickiness. When this happens, users have to stop, manually flip back the fabric side (making face down again), and then resume the mopping.
Present invention addresses the “stop mopping—manual flip back” problem, as reported by cleaning crew and household users.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

After various experimentations, present invention provides a parallel-ridge formation that is woven to the water-absorbing layer, creating a stabilizer mechanism and successfully solved the “flip-over” problem.
The ridges, made from harder material and are generally not water-absorbing, create a push-away structure to counter the natural wet stickiness as existed between the fabric surface and the floor, when the fabric surface is wet. When the fabric surface of a floor mop is made in accordance with the teachings of present invention, the back-and-forth mopping action becomes stabilized and there is no more “flip-over” that requires temporary stoppages and then manual flipping back.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

A brief description of the drawings is as follows:

FIG. 1 shows top-down view of the stabilizer attachment surface.

FIG. 2 shows the side view of the stabilizer attachment surface.

FIG. 3 shows a diagonally parallel pattern of ridge formation in present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIG. 1, a plurality of ridges is shown inserted (by mean of weaving, or other production means) into the fabric side on the base. The fabric side is made up of a layer of water-absorbing material, such as cotton, or some other combination material.
The ridges are made from harder material, so that when the fabric surface is wet and is causing the surface to have the natural wet-stickiness, the ridges generate a “push-away” force during mop's pulling back, eliminating the “flip-over” as a result of the stickiness due to the wetness; and further enhancing the scrubbing force of a mop during mop's pushing forward.
In one embodiment of present invention, the ridges are made perpendicular to the length of the base whereupon the fabric is affixed, as in the case of FIG. 1.
The ridges, while parallel, can be made to be parallel to the length of the base, or be diagonal to the length of the base.
In FIG. 2, the layer of water-absorbing material is shown to have height slightly lower than that of the plurality of ridges.
In actual construction, as long the heights of the ridges and the water-absorbing material are substantially even, the anti-flipping purpose is achieved.
In FIG. 3, alternative pattern of the parallel ridges is shown in an orientation diagonal to the length of the base upon which the water-absorbing material is affixed.

Claims

1. Surface stabilizer attachment for floor mop, comprising:

a. A pliable base upon which a layer of water-absorbing material is affixed thereto; and,

b. A plurality of ridges inserted into said layer of water-absorbing material, whereby the height of said layer will not be higher than that of said ridges in their natural dry state.

2. The surface stabilizer attachment as defined in claim 1 wherein the plurality of ridges is made from material that is hard and substantially non-water-absorbing.

3. The surface stabilizer attachment as defined in claim 2 wherein the plurality of ridges is arranged in parallel pattern.

4. The surface stabilizer attachment as defined in claim 3 wherein the plurality of ridges is arranged along the length of said base.

5. The surface stabilizer attachment as defined in claim 3 wherein the plurality of ridges is arranged perpendicularly to the length of said base.

6. The surface stabilizer attachment as defined in claim 3 wherein the plurality of ridges is arranged diagonally to the length of said base.