Disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a hand held cleaning implement having an elongated handle

Abstract

A disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a butterfly mop includes a layer of sponge material, a layer of flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin fixedly attached to the layer of sponge material and attachment structure fixedly secured to the layer of sponge material for removably attaching the cleaning pad to a butterfly mop. In one embodiment of the invention the attachment structure includes a first and second plate section connected by a hinge. In using the hand held cleaning implement the layer of flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin is the layer of the cleaning pad that contacts the surface to be cleaned.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a butterfly mop, the butterfly mop including a pair of hingedly connected base plates, said disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad comprising:
 (a) a layer of a flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin, wherein the layer of melamine resin is greater than or equal to ⅛ inch in thickness,   (b) a layer of sponge material attached to said layer of a flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin,   (c) a backing plate attached to the layer of sponge material wherein the backing plate comprises a first and second plate section connected by a hinge portion, and   (d) means for removably attaching said backing plate to said pair of base plates.   
     
     
         2 . The disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a butterfly mop of  claim 1 , wherein the means for removably attaching the backing plate to the mop comprise two tabs and one slot on each of the first and second plate sections. 
     
     
         3 . The disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a butterfly mop of  claim 1  wherein the layer of a flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin is greater than or equal to 7/16 inches in thickness. 
     
     
         4 . The disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a butterfly mop of  claim 1  wherein the layer of sponge material is selected from the group consisting of polyester foam, natural sponges, polyurethane foam and cellulose. 
     
     
         5 . The disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a butterfly mop of  claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the layer of a flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin is about 30% of the thickness of the cleaning pad.