US3400420A - Covers for dust mop heads - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 10, 1968 c. N. GRANVILLE ET AL 3,400,420

COVERS FOR DUST MOP HEADS Filed March 30, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN'JORS CHARLES N. GRANVILLE, WILLIAM P. DALY 8.

Y OLIVER L. POULIOT their ATTORNEYS Sept. 10, 1968 C. N. GRANVILLE ET AL COVERS FOR DUST MOP HEADS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 30, 1966 FIG. 9

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United States Patent 3,400,420 COVERS FOR DUST MOP HEADS Charles N. Granville, 30 Spoonwood Road, Wilton, Conn. 06897; William P. Daly, 123 Chelsea Road, White Plains, N.Y. 10603; and Oliver L. Pouliot, 233 Prospect Ave., Oradell, NJ. 07649 Filed Mar. 30, 1966, Ser. No. 538,714 17 Claims. (Cl. 104.93)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE As described herein, there is provided a disposable dust mop cover which comprises an outer tubular liner adapted to fit over the head of a dust mop. The liner is formed from relatively strong paper, and the liner has on its bottom side a dust-collecting facing of cleansing paper.

This invention relates to covers fitted over dust mop heads and used in lieu of such heads for dusting and other cleansing to thereby spare the heads from becoming soiled. More particularly, this invention relates to covers of such sort which are disposable.

Proposed covers for dust mop heads have already been disclosed in U.S. Patents 2,075,345; 2,221,305; 2,226,424; 2,546,505 and 2,916,759. Insofar as is known, however, none of such proposed covers has enjoyed any commercial success for the probable reason that none of such covers has been marketable at low enough cost to gain acceptance by the buyer that it is disposable, i.e., costs so little that it is not wasteful to dispose of it as a whole as soon as it has become soiled. On the other hand, a disposable dust cover has the advantages over a non-disposable cover of being more sanitary and more convenient to store, replace and use. Moreover, to have the cover disposable avoids the need for keeping around the house for a substantial time an object which becomes unsightly and must or should be washed.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide dust mop covers which can be manufactured and sold cheaply enough to gain acceptance by buyers as being fully disposable covers.

Another object of this invention is to provide covers of such sort which are structurally adapted for use with dust mop heads of differing configuration.

A further object of this invention is to provide dust mop covers collapsible into a flat shape convenient for packaging and storage.

A still further object of the invention is to provide dust mop covers having a germ-killing action.

These and other objects are realized according to the invention by providing a dust mop cover comprised of an outer tubular liner adapted to fit over the head of a dust mop. The liner is formed from relatively strong paper, and the liner has on its bottom side a dust-collecting facing of cleansing paper. Because the cover is constituted entirely of paper, it can be manufactured at a low enough cost and sold at a low enough price to make it economically worthwhile to a consumer to treat such cover as being disposable when once it becomes soiled.

As another aspect of the invention, our cover is preferably of simple flat rectangular form (when collapsed) and is formed from sheets of paper which are rectangular so that there is no wastage in cutting such sheets from a web.

As a further aspect of the invention, our cover is preferably formed entirely from crepe paper so as to be elastically flexible to the point where the cover is adapted to conform to and cling readily to dust mop heads of various shapes and sizes.

Moreover, according to another aspect of the invention,

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our cover is preferably impregnated with a bacteriostatic or germ killing agent.

For a better understanding of these and other aspects of the invention, reference is made to the following description of a representative embodiment theerof and to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a panel from which a cover according to the invention is made;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the panel of FIG. 1 after the same has been folded to form gussets and side flaps therein;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view in cross section of the panel at its FIG. 2 stage, the view being taken as indicated by the arrows 3--3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the FIG. 2 panel after the side flaps thereof have been folded and secured to each other to form an as yet incomplete collapsed dust mop cover;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the collapsed cover of FIG. 4 after a forward end flap thereof has been folded over and secured to the upper side thereof so as to close the front end of the cover;

FIG. 6 is a view in cross-section of the collapsed cover of FIG. 5, the view being taken as indicated by the arrows 6-6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view of a package comprised of a plurality of FIG. 5 collapsed covers after they have been further folded to make them more compact;

. FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of the FIG. 5 cover when expanded for use by the insertion therein of the head of a dust mop; and

FIGS. 9 and 10 are views in cross-section of the expanded FIG. 8 cover, the cross-sections of FIGS. 9 and 10 being taken as indicated in FIG. 8 by the arrows 9-9 and 1010, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a rectangular paper panel 10 is formed of a rectangular sheet 11 of liner paper 12 and a rectangular sheet 13 of cleansing paper 14. Sheet 13 forms a facing on the bottom side of sheet 11 and is secured to that bottom by strips 15 therebetween of adhesive 16 disposed just inside the edges of sheet 13. Adhesive 16 is a conventional dextrin type adhesive. The upper left-hand corner of sheet 13 is shown lifted (to better illustrate strips 15) but is ordinarily maintained flat against sheet 11 by the adhesive strips. As shown, sheet 13 is longitudinally of about the same dimension as sheet 11 but is laterally of smaller dimension than sheet 11 and is centered between laterally opposite side portions of the last-named sheet.

Because sheets 11 and 13 are rectangular, each may be cut from a continuous paper web (not shown) without any scrap being left over. Thus, the rectangular form of panel 10 and of sheets 11 and 13 eliminates any wastage of paper and implements manufacture of the covers by mass production methods.

The paper 12 of sheet 11 is conveniently provided by 22 lb./ream bleached crepe kraft paper with wet strength and approximately 10% stretch. The paper 14 of sheet 13 is a softer textured bulkier paper as, for example, 20 lb./ream wet strength napkin stock. Like the liner paper 12, the cleansing paper 14 is a crepe paper. The liner paper and cleansing paper complement each other in the following ways.

The cleansing paper 14 is a scratchless lint-free paper which because of its relatively high bulk has a texture which is soft and somewhat fuzzy and well adapted to pick up dust. The tearing strength, however, of the paper 14 alone is not as great as is desirable to avoid tearing, when the cleansing paper is rubbed vigorously against a dusty surface. 7

The liner paper 12 is less bulky than cleansing paper 14 and thus is harder textured and not particularly well 3 adapted to pick up dust. The paper 12 has, however, the high tearing strength lacking in paper 14.

The combining of both papers into the panel shown in FIG. 1 results in a paper structure which is better for dust cover purposes than either of the papers 12 or 14. That is, in the panel 10, the cleansing paper 14 provides the good dust collecting capability which is lacking in the liner paper. The liner paper, in turn, provides good support for the cleansing paper in each of the lateral and longitudinal dimensions against tearing of the cleansing paper or parting thereof from the liner paper. In effect, the liner paper imparts to the cleansing paper the tearing strength it would not have alone, and the cleansing paper imparts to the bottom of the liner paper the dust collecting ability the liner paper would not have alone. In addition, the relatively greater stiffness of the liner paper enables the folding and gluing of the total structure to be done at greater and more efiicient production speeds.

Because both papers 12 and 14 are crepe papers, the FIG. 1 panel as a whole is characterized by stretchability and elastic flexibility. By elastic flexibility of the panel is meant that once the panel has been formed into a selected shape (to be described), the panel as a whole or any portion thereof when displaced from that shape will resil iently oppose the displacing force so that, when such force is released, the cover will spring back or tend to spring back to original shape. Such characteristic elastic flexibility is advantageous for reasons later described.

The papers 12 and 14 each has high wet strength to prevent the cover from disintegrating when brought into contact with moisture during use. The wet strength of the cleansing paper also serves the purpose of preventing its disintegration during application thereto of the impregnant now to be described.

The stippling in FIG. 1 represents a chemical compound 20 transferred in liquid or spray form to the cleansing paper 14 by a roller, sprayer, wick, or the like. The compound 20 is constituted by 0.5% by weight of 2.2 methylene bis-(3,4,6) trichlorophenol present in 99.5% by weight of a carrier consisting of an inert oil the same as, or similar to mineral oil. The trichlorophenol constituent is an active and effective bacteriostatic agent. Hence, in the course of a cleansing by the paper 14, the paper has a germ-killing action of the surface or area being dusted or mopped. Simultaneously, the oil carrier serves as an effective agent or magnet for dust. That is, the oil enhances the ability of the paper 14 to collect and retain dust. While the compound 20 is applied as a liquid, it is quickly absorbed by paper 14. Hence, although after absorption, the

paper has a slightly slick or oily feel, in the finished cover I the paper 14 is dry.

In the intermediate stage of forming the cover which is shown in top view and in cross-sectional view by FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively, the laterally opposite side portions of panel have been folded and shaped to form a pair of longitudinally extending lateral side flaps 25a, 25b, which are joined to the bottom 26 of the panel by respective gussets 27a and 27b. Gusset 27a is comprised of upper and lower leaves 28a and 29a joined together along a transversely central elastic hinge line 30a to form a longitudinally-extending normally reentrant angle on one lateral side of the cover. Leaf 29a is joined to cover bottom 26 along an elastic hinge line 31a, and leaf 28a is joined to side flap 25a at a line 32a which later becomes an elastic hinge line. The gusset 27b is constructed similarly to gusset 27a. Elements of gussets 27b which are counterparts of those of the left-hand gusset are indicated by the same reference numerals with different suffixes for those numerals.

As shown in FIG. 2 the upper portions of the side flaps 25a and 25b include thin dextrin type adhesive strips 33a and 33b, respectively, which extend laterally from the top leaves of the gussets 27a and 27b to the longitudinallyextending edges 35a and 35b of the side flaps.

It will be noted that gussets 27a and 27b are formed at a position such that side portions of the sheet 13 of cleansing paper are included within the gussets and cover the outer sides of the leaves thereof. To have the cleansing paper extend over the outsides of the gussets is advantageous as later described.

In FIG. 4, the side flaps 25a, 25b of FIGS. 2 and 3 have been folded along lines 31a, 31b up and over and back towards bottom 26 so that respective edges a and 35b of those flaps are in lapping relation with each other. The forward end of folded side flap 25b is adhered to the forward end of the upward facing side of sheet 11 by strip 33b, and the forward end of side fiap 25a is adhered partly to said upward facing side of sheet 11 and partly to the lapping edge 3512 by strip 33a.

The lapping edges 35a, 35b form a laterally central seam 36 extending longitudinally from the front 37 to the rear 38 of the cover. As shown, the edges 35a and 3512 are bonded together from front 37 to a point 39 by a dextrin type adhesive strip 40 on edge 35b. Hence, seam 36 is closed from front 37 to point 39 and is open from point 39 to rear 38. FIG. 4 shows the upper right-hand corner of flap 25a as being lifted (to better illustrate strip 40) but it will be understood that, in practice, such corner is fiat and bonded to flap 2511 by the adhesive strip.

By virtue of the bonding together of lateral flaps 25a and 2512, the original fiat sheet 11 (FIG. 1) has been converted into a collapsed tube (FIG. 4) of rectangular form. The tube 50 is clossed at its front end by a toe 49 formed in the manner shown by FIG. 5. That is, the forward part of the tube is first folded along line 51 to form an end flap 52 extending laterally across the whole tube. Flap 52 is then folded upwardly and over and back onto the upper surface 53 provided by the glued-together portions of flaps 25a, 25b. After being so folded, fiap 52 is bonded to surface 53 by a dextrin type adhesive strip 54 deposited on that surface. The shown lifted corner of flap 52 is, in practice, fiat against surface 53 and bonded thereto by strip 54.

While the front end 37 of tube 50 is so closed as described, it will be noted that the rear end of tube 50 is transversely open across the entire lateral width of the collapsed tube.

The closing of the front end of tube 50 by the bonding of end flap 52 completes the structure of a collapsed dust mop cover 60. As depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6, the collapsed oover is in the form of a flat rectangular envelope with each leaf of each of the gussets 27a and 2711 being flat against the other leaf of the gusset and with each gusset forming a dihedral reentrant angle between the top 53 and the bottom 26 of the cover 60. The described flat-envelope shape is the cover shape which is characterized by minimum elastic stress. Hence, that shape is the one to which the elastically flexible cover tends to return when the whole cover or a portion thereof is caused to depart from flatness by an internal displacement force developed, for example, by insertion of the head of a dust mop into the cover.

Because of its flat-envelope shape, a cover is easily foldable along a lateral center line into a rectangular flat article 71 which is more or less square. A plurality of such folded covers 71 is formed without space wastage into a stack 72 (FIG. 7). The stack 72, in turn, is inserted into an outer rectangular container envelope 73 formed, say, of a flexible transparent synthetic resinous material such as polyethylene. The insertion end of envelope 73 is sealed for merchandising purposes and is re-opened by the buyer to permit the contained covers 60 to be withdrawn one by one. In this connection, it might be noted that the filled container envelope 73 is of such shape that a number thereof are adapted to fit together with little space wastage into a conventional rectangular packing carton. Hence, covers 60 of the sort described have an optimum shape for merchandising purposes and can be stored conveniently by the buyer.

As stated previously, by forming covers 60 from rectangular sheets of papers, the covers can be manufactured without any wastage whatever of paper. Moreover, because of the simple structure of the covers, the few manufacturing steps needed to form a finished cover from stock, and the lack of space wastage in packaging and shipping the covers, they are saleable at a cost low enough so that it is not wasteful to throw away each cover as a whole after the cover has become soiled by use. Hence, the described cover 60 is a true disposable dust mop cover.

FIG. 8 shows dust mop cover 60 when transversely expanded by being fitted over the head 80 of a dust mop. As illustrated the handle of the mop is inserted through the open rear portion of the seam 36. Although cover 60 is of rectangular shape and mop head 80 is usually of triangular shape, the cover elastically clings to and conforms to the head to be held securely on the head by friction. The cover 60 is adapted to be frictionally maintained on dust mop heads of differing configuration (i.e., differing in size or shape or both) by virtue of features of the cover which will now be described.

First, while the front end of cover 60 is held closed by toe 49, the rear end thereof is transversely expandable upon insertion of a mop head so that the cover becomes wedge-shaped in cross-section in longitudinally-extending transverse planes therethrough. As shown by FIG. 8, such expansion of the cover to be of transverse wedge-shaped cross-section outline is permitted by an unfolding of the gussets 27a, 27b which are held closed at the front by toe 49, but which progressively expand transversely (with accompanying elastic stressing) with distance away from toe 49. The transversely open rear end of cover 60 and the rear open portion of seam 36 allow the rear part of cover 60 to transversely expand to a much greater degree than if its back end were closed and seam 36 were closed over its whole length. Hence, cover 60 is adapted to accommodate dust mop heads which vary widely in transverse dimension. Also, because cover 60 is open at the rear, the cover is adapted to accommodate dust mop heads which are large in longitudinal dimension relative to the length of the cover, and dust mop heads of all sizes are more easily insertable into the cover.

Second, because toe 49 holds gussets 27a and 27b closed at their front ends, the dimension d (FIG. 9) between the gusset central hinge lines 30a, 30b at the front of the cover is substantially less than the separation dimension d (FIG. 10), of those same hinge lines at the rear of the cover. Thus, in the longitudinally extending lateral central plane of the cover, the interior thereof is in effect wedge-shaped. By virtue of being so shaped interiorly, the cover 60 is adapted to better cling to and conform with the usual triangular mop head.

Third, because being made entirely of elastically flexible crepe paper and because being in a condition of minimum elastic stress when in collapsed or flattened form (FIGS. 5 and 6), the cover 60 when transversely expanded by insertion of mop head 80 is of elastically clingy character. That is, when expanded, the cover tends to return to its flattened form and, in so tending, exerts on the inserted mop head a resilient displacement force which causes the cover to better grip the head frictionally and, further to cause the several portions of the cover to better conform to the configuration of the head. An important contribution to the elastic flexibility of the cover is made by the gussets 27a and 27b which act as elastic hinges at each of their middle, lower and upper hinge lines (i.e., lines 30a, 31a and 32a for gusset 27a). The other cover portions, however, are elastically flexible in themselves and, therefore, also contribute to the elastic flexibility of the cover as a whole.

It is to be noted that full elastic flexibility of cover 60 depends on both the liner sheet 11 and the cleansing sheet 13 being made of crepe paper or other paper characterized by elasticity so that both sheets are elastically flexible. If either one of the liner sheet 11 or the facing sheet 13 were inelastic, that sheet would detract from the overall elastic flexibility of the cover.

Ordinarily, the dust mop head is small enough in lateral dimension so that, when the head is inserted in the cover, the gussets thereof remain reentrant. On occasion, however, the head is large enough in lateral size to cause the angles of the gussets to reverse themselves so as to become salient from the cover. In that instance where the gussets bulge outwardly, the lower gusset leaves 29a and 2% face downwardly. Because the sheet 13 of cleansing paper 14 covers the outsides of those leaves, the result of the downward facing of the leaves 29a and 29b is to increase the expanse of cleansing paper which is available for dust collecting.

The above-described embodiment, being exemplary only, is to be understood that additions thereto, modifications thereof and omissions therefrom can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that the invention comprehends embodiments differing in form and/or detail from that specifically disclosed. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited save as is consonant with the recitals of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A disposable cover for a dust mop head comprising a tubular liner in which said head is insertable, said liner being closed at its front end and having an opening therein for insertion of said head and being changeable in shape from a collapsed flat envelope to a transversely expanded container for said head, said liner being formed of liner paper, and said cover further comprising a facing of soft textured, dust-collecting cleansing paper on the bottom of said liner and supported both laterally and longitudinally by said liner against tearing of said cleansing paper when rubbed against a surface to be cleaned thereby.

2. A cover as in claim 1 wherein both said liner and said cleansing paper are provided by crepe paper, said crepe paper being elastically flexible so as to render said liner elastically clingy and conformable to dust mop heads of differing configuration.

3. A disposable cover as in claim 1 in which the laterally opposite sides of said liner are comprised of respective reentrant gussets extending longitudinally from the front to the rear of said liner, said gussets being elastically expandable transversely so as to render said liner elastically clingy and conformable to dust mop heads of differing configuration.

4. A cover as in claim 3 in which said gussets are held transversely closed at the front of said liner but are transversely expandable to a progressively greater degree With distance rearward from said front, said gussets thereby imparting to said liner when transversely expanded an effective wedge shape both in longitudinally-extending transverse planes and in the longitudinally and laterally extending central plane of said liner.

5. A cover as in claim 3 in which said facing of cleansing paper extends up said sides of said liner and over said gussets to provide an increased expanse of cleansing surface when said gussets are bulged outwardly by the insertion in said liner of a dust mop head of large lateral dimension.

6. A cover as in claim 1 in which said liner is rectangular in shape and in which an originally rectangular sheet of paper is folded and attached along overlapping portions of its folds to form said rectangular liner.

7. A cover as in claim 6 in which said facing of cleansing paper is provided by a rectangular sheet of said cleansing paper.

8. A cover as in claim 1 in which the closed front end of said liner is formed by a forward end flap constituting part of said liner and extending laterally across the width of said liner, said flap being folded back upon and attached to the upper surface of the main body of said liner.

9. A cover as in claim 1 in which said opening in said liner is provided by a laterally central seam extending longitudinally from the front to the rear of said liner in the upper surface thereof, said seam being closed from the front of said liner part way to the rear thereof and being open for the remainder of the way to the rear of said liner.

10. A cover as in claim 1 in which the rear end of said liner is transversely open across the whole lateral width of said liner so as to facilitate insertion in said liner of dust mop heads which are of large size relative to that of said liner.

11. A cover as in claim 1 in which said facing of cleansing paper is impregnated with a bacteriostatic agent.

12. A cover as in claim 11 in which said bacteriostatic agent is 2,2-methy1ene-bis-(3,4,6)trichlorophenol.

13. A cover as in claim 11 in which said cleansing paper is also impregnated with a dust-attracting agent.

14. A cover as in claim 1 in which both said liner paper and said facing of cleansing paper are resistant to deterioration by moisture.

15. A cover as in claim 1 in which said cleansing paper is bulkier than said liner paper so as to have lesser tearing strength but softer texture than said liner paper.

16. A disposable cover for a dust mop head comprising, a rectangular panel comprised of a rectangular sheet of liner paper and a rectangular sheet of cleansing paper on the bottom side of said liner paper and attached thereto, said panel having longitudinally-extending laterally opposite side flaps folded upwardly and over the bottom of said panel to lap edges with each other so as to form a tubular liner having along said edges a laterally-central longitudinally-extending seam, said liner being closed at its front end by an end fiap forming part of said panel and extending laterally across the whole of said liner and folded over and secured to the upper liner surface provided by said side flaps, the rear end of said liner being transversely open across the entire lateral width thereof, said lapping side flap edges forming for said liner a longitudinally-extending laterally-central seam in the top of said liner, and said edges being secured to each other over a length of said seam from the front of said liner part way to the rear thereof so as to render said seam closed over said length and open over the portion of said seam which is rearward of said length.

17. A disposable cover for a dust mop head comprising, a tubular outer liner for said head, said liner being closed at its front end and having an opening therein for insertion of said head, said liner being formed of liner paper, said cover further comprising a facing of soft-textured dust-collecting cleansing paper on the bottom of said liner, both said liner paper and said cleansing paper being crepe paper which is elastically flexible to render said liner elastically clingy and conformable to dust mop heads of differing configuration, and said cleansing paper being bulkier than said liner paper so as to have lesser tearing strength but softer texture than said liner paper.

References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 26,151 l/l967 Duncan et a1. 16l128 1,731,340 10/1929 Lambert 15227 X 1,756,408 4/1930 Walker et al 15--227 2,087,209 7/1937 Lahey et al 16199 X 2,221,305 11/1940 Chase 15-247 2,495,066 1/1950 Jones 15l04.93 3,231,918 2/1966 Marks 15-104 3,248,041 4/1966 Burke 161-428 X 3,329,985 7/1967 Glowacki 15104 CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

L. G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner.

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