Floor Maintenance Machine Using a Spiral, Tufted, Cylindrical Brush

Abstract

Leading and trailing cylindrical brushes ( 14 ) are moved in an operation direction to sweep and wet scrub a floor In differing aspects, the trailing cylindrical brush ( 14 ) is rotated at a greater rotational speed than the leading cylindrical brush ( 14 ) to enhance sweeping ability and preferably in the order of 1500 RPMs to enhance polishing. The brushes ( 14 ) include spiraled, equally circumferentially spaced rows (R) of a multiplicity of equally spaced tufts ( 54 ). The tufts ( 54 ) of an adjacent trailing row (R) are indexed laterally from a leading row (R) by an index distance (T) less than one half of the distance (I) of the tufts (54) in the rows (R).

1 . Brush for a floor maintenance machine comprising, in combination: a cylindrical core having a rotational axis and a cylindrical outer surface concentric to the rotational axis at a radial spacing, with the cylindrical core adapted to be mounted to a floor maintenance machine for rotation about the rotation axis; and a multiplicity of rows of a multiplicity of tufts of bristles, with the multiplicity of rows being equally circumferentially spaced and arranged at an acute angle to the rotational axis to create a spiral, with the tufts being equally spaced by a tuft spacing in each of the multiplicity of rows, with the tufts of an adjacent trailing row being indexed laterally from a leading row by an index distance less than one half of the tuft spacing. 
     
     
         2 . The brush of  claim 1  with the multiplicity of rows being equally spaced by a row spacing generally equal to the tuft spacing. 
     
     
         3 . The brush of  claim 2  with the multiplicity of rows repeating in at least two identical row patterns. 
     
     
         4 . The brush of  claim 3  with each of the multiplicity of tufts comprising a tuft hole extending radially into the cylindrical outer surface of the core, with the tuft hole having a hole diameter; and a plurality of bristles received in the tuft hole, with the index distance being one half of the hole diameter or less. 
     
     
         5 . The brush of  claim 4  with the bristles extending from the core hole by a length, with a ratio of the length of the bristles to the hole diameter being in the range of 4.5:1 to 5:1. 
     
     
         6 . The brush of  claim 5  with the acute angle being between 15° and 25° when the cylindrical outer surface is unwrapped from the rotational axis and lain flat. 
     
     
         7 . The brush of  claim 6  with each of the plurality of bristles formed of crimped type nylon having a crimp amplitude around 0.025 inch and a pitch around 0.11 inches. 
     
     
         8 . A floor maintenance machine utilizing the brush of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         9 . Method of maintaining a floor comprising:
 rotating a leading cylindrical brush about a leading rotational axis parallel to the floor at a first rotational speed, with the leading cylindrical brush having tufts of bristles extending radially from the leading rotational axis;   simultaneously counter rotating a trailing cylindrical brush about a trailing rotational axis parallel to the floor at a second rotational speed greater than the first rotational speed, with the trailing cylindrical brush having tufts of bristles extending radially from the trailing rotational axis, with the leading and trailing rotational axes being parallel;   providing a hopper intermediate the leading and trailing cylindrical brushes for receiving debris swept from the floor by the leading and trailing cylindrical brushes; and   simultaneously moving the leading and trailing cylindrical brushes in an operation direction parallel to the floor with the leading cylindrical brush being forward in the operation direction of the trailing cylindrical brush.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein counter rotating the trailing cylindrical brush comprises counter rotating the trailing cylindrical brush of identical construction as the leading cylindrical brush. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the tufts of bristles of each of the trailing and leading cylindrical brushes are spaced and are arranged in a multiplicity of rows, with the multiplicity of rows being circumferentially spaced around the rotational axes, with the multiplicity of rows being arranged at an acute angle to the rotational axis to create a spiral. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein counter rotating the trailing cylindrical brush comprises counter rotating the trailing cylindrical brush at the second rotational speed in the order of 1200 to 1800 RPMs. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the multiplicity of rows are equally circumferentially spaced, with the tufts being equally spaced by a tuft spacing in each of the multiplicity of rows, and the tufts being equally spaced by a tuft spacing in each of the multiplicity of rows, with the tufts of an adjacent trailing row being indexed laterally from a leading row by an index distance less than one half of the tuft spacing. 
     
     
         14 . A floor maintenance machine utilizing the method of  claim 9 . 
     
     
         15 . Method of maintaining a floor comprising:
 rotating a trailing cylindrical brush about a trailing rotational axis parallel to the floor surface at a rotational speed in the order of 1200 to 1800 RPMs, with the trailing cylindrical brush having tufts of bristles extending radially from the trailing rotational axis; and   moving the trailing cylindrical brush in an operation direction parallel to the floor.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the tufts of bristles are spaced and are arranged in a multiplicity of rows, with the multiplicity of rows being circumferentially spaced around the rotational axes, with the multiplicity of rows being arranged at an acute angle to the rotational axis to create a spiral. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the multiplicity of rows are equally circumferentially spaced, with the tufts being equally spaced by a tuft spacing in each of the multiplicity of rows, and the tufts being equally spaced by a tuft spacing in each of the multiplicity of rows, with the tufts of an adjacent trailing row being indexed laterally from a leading row by an index distance less than one half of the tuft spacing. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  further comprising:
 simultaneously counter rotating a leading cylindrical brush about a leading rotational axis parallel to the floor surface at a first rotational speed, with the leading cylindrical brush having tufts of bristles extending radially from the leading rotational axis, with the leading and trailing rotational axes being parallel;   providing a hopper intermediate the leading and trailing cylindrical brushes for receiving debris swept from the floor by the leading and trailing cylindrical brushes; and   moving the leading cylindrical brush in the operation direction parallel to the floor, with the leading cylindrical brush being forward in the operation direction of the trailing cylindrical brush.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein rotating the trailing cylindrical brush comprises rotating the trailing cylindrical brush of identical construction as the leading cylindrical brush. 
     
     
         20 . A floor maintenance machine utilizing the method of  claim 15 .