US2563189A - Brush drive mechanism for carpet sweepers - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 7, 1951 E. E. RIGBY BRUSH DRIVE MECHANISM FOR CARPET SWEEPERS Filed April 7, 1948 ERNST EPHRAIM RIGBY Patented Aug. 7, 1951 BRUSH DRIVE MECHANISM SWEEPER'S' as i Ernest Ephraim Riglgy, Prstom England Application April 7, 1948, Serial No. 19,617 In Great Britain April 11, 1947 1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to hand operated machines for cleaning floors, carpets and the like, which are commonly known as carpet sweepers.

According to this invention a carpet sweeper is provided with two brushes, each of which is driven in one direction only, irrespective of the direction of movement of the carpet sweeper, and each of which is driven in the opposite direction to the other, the said brushes being frictionally driven from at least one supporting wheel of the carpet sweeper by two alternative trains of driving connections which are selectively brought into and out of operation on reversal of the direction of movement of the carpet sweeper, the arrangement being such that after leaving the carpet the bristles of the respective brushes will first approach one another and then diverge after moving through approximately a quarter of a revolution.

It is believed that by maintaining such directional rotation of the brushes, irrespective of the direction of travel of the sweeper, it is possible, due to the co-operation of the respectiv brushes with one another, largely to avoid projection of dust to the exterior of the sweeper casing.

The invention is further described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrates one form of construction of the invention by way of example and in which:

Figure 1 is a view of one end of a carpet sweeper;

Figure 2 is a sectional View on the line II--II of Figure 1; and t Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view corresponding to Figure 1.

The cleaner or carpet sweeper according to Figures 1, 2 and 3 has a casing formed of side walls I, 2 and two end walls 3 of which only one is shown in the drawings. The end walls 3 are spaced inwardly from the ends of the side walls I, 2 to provide a space 4 for the brush driving means. A metal band 5 is provided at each end of the carpet sweeper and extends from the end of the side wall I to the end of the side wall 2 and serves to support journals 6 at the ends of the brush bodies I.

At each end of the carpet sweeper there is provided a supporting wheel 8 borne at the lower end of a lever 9 which is pivoted at III to an end wall 3. The levers 9 are connected at their upper ends to a handle connection II (only a portion of which is shown in Figures 1 and 2) and the handle connection I I is provided at its mid length with a socket to receive a handle or stave.

The brush bodies I are provided at each end counterclockwise direction to hold the wheel 8 in contact with the boss I6 of the pulley I3 to cause the pulley I3 to move in a clockwise direction and pulley I2 to move in a counterclockwise direction as indicated in Figure 1 by the arrows drawn in full lines. If the direction of movement of the carpet sweeper is reversed then the pull on the yoke II will urge lever 9 in a clockwise direction to bring the wheel 8 into engagement with the boss I5 of pulley I2 to cause the pulley I2 and its brush to rotate in a counterclockwise direction, i. e. in a counterclockwise direction and thus to cause the pulley I9 and its brush to rotate in a clockwise direction i. e. in the same direction as before.

It will be appreciated that the driving arrangement illustrated in the drawings is preferably provided in duplicate one on each end of the carpet sweeper.

It Will also be appreciated that in the form of construction described with reference to the drawings, either the brushes or the supporting wheel or wheels are suitably connected to or influenced by the handle connection to cause 1ongitudinal displacement thereof and thus to change the train of driving connections to the brushes on reversal of the movement of the sweeper.

Dust pans of any suitable form may be provided in the casing of cleaners of the present invention but for the sake of simplicity and as they are well known in the art they ar not shown in the accompanying drawings.

I declare that what I claim is:

In a cleaner of the type set forth, a casing, a pair of rotary brushes lying between the ends of the casing and each provided with a bossed pulley on at least one end thereof, a crossed belt connecting said pulleys, a supporting wheel at each end of the casing and located between said pulleys, a pair of levers pivoted one to each end of the casing and each connected at its lower end to one of said supporting wheels, a handle connection extending between the upper ends of said levers and adapted on reversal of movement of the cleaner to cause angular displacement of said REFERENCES CITED levers and movement of said supporting wheels The following references are of record in the from driving engagement with one brush and into me of this patent; driving engagement with the other brush whereby to reverse the driving relationship between said 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS wheels and said brushes and to maintain the ro- Number Name Date tation of said brushes in the same direction ir- 173,582 Breckenridge Feb. 15, 1876 respective or the direction of movement of the 598,602 Keesee Feb. 8, 1898 cleaner, 'the arrangement and disposition of the 642,172 Sweitzer Jan. 30, 1900 parts being such that after leaving the carpet the 10 755,59 Keyes Mar. 22, 1904 bristles of the respective brushes wil1 first ap- 1,886,950 French Nov, 8, 1932 preach one another and then diverge after moving through approximately one quarter of a revolution.

ERNEST EPI-lRAm RIGBY.

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