EP0104345A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
In-situ carpet cleaning method and apparatus
Assignee: Individual
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Filing: 1983-07-20
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2003-07-20
Abstract
Abstract When cleaning a carpet (118) using a cleaning head with nozzles (102) for directing a cleaning liquid against the carpet and a suction mouthpiece (113) for removing cleaning liquid and dirt dislodged from the carpet, the liquid is directed against the carpet (118) with a delivery pressure of at least 20 bar, preferably 20-60 bar, under a relatively acute angle (a) of maximum approximately 30° with the plane of the carpet, and the vacuum in the suction mouthpiece (113) is held at a value as measured behind the mouthpiece of at least 60 per cent of atmospheric pressure, preferably between 60 and 80 percent, the lips (113a,113b) of the mouthpiece engaging the carpet in or close to the area. where the liquid iets from the nozzles (102) hit the carpet. The method makes it possible to remove dirt and cleaning liquid substantially more effectively than has been possible with known equipment using lower pressure and lower vacuum, and where the mouthpiece does not engage the carpet close to the area, in which the cleaning liquid hits the carpet. In a preferred embodiment of the method, a detergent is sprayed onto the carpet and left to loosen the dirt for, say, 15 minutes, after which the above process is carried out using pure rinsing liquid, for example hot demineralised water. It is suggested that Figure 1 be published.
Inventors
- 👤 Gustav Madsen
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 01:26
CPC Classifications
A; A47; A47L; A47L11/00; A47L11/40; A47L11/4036; A47L11/4044; A47L11/29; A47L11/30; A47L11/34; A47L11/4002; A47L11/4027; A47L11/4041; A47L11/4077; A47L11/408; A47L11/4088
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
201 words
A method of cleaning carpets (118) placed on a support, such as a floor, said method being of the kind comprising the following steps a - c: a) a liquid is directed against the carpet (118) through a number of nozzles (102), b) the carpet is subjected to suction in order to remove at least part of the liquid thus directed together with dirt from the carpet, and c) the carpet is dried or allowed to dry, characterized in - d) that the liquid is directed against the carpet (118) under a pressure as measured upstream of the nozzles (102) of at least 20 bar, preferably between 20 and 60 bar, under a relatively acute angle (a) with the plane of the carpet (118) of approximately 30°, and e) that the suction is applied with a vacuum of at least 60%, preferably between 60 and 80%, of atmospheric pressure by means of a suction mouthpiece (113) with lips (113a,113b) that are held close to or in engagement with the carpet (118) in or in the immediate vicinity of that area, in which the liquid issuing from the nozzles (102) impinges upon the carpet (118) or the deep-lying parts of its pile.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
201 words
A method of cleaning carpets (118) placed on a support, such as a floor, said method being of the kind comprising the following steps a - c: a) a liquid is directed against the carpet (118) through a number of nozzles (102), b) the carpet is subjected to suction in order to remove at least part of the liquid thus directed together with dirt from the carpet, and c) the carpet is dried or allowed to dry, characterized in - d) that the liquid is directed against the carpet (118) under a pressure as measured upstream of the nozzles (102) of at least 20 bar, preferably between 20 and 60 bar, under a relatively acute angle (a) with the plane of the carpet (118) of approximately 30°, and e) that the suction is applied with a vacuum of at least 60%, preferably between 60 and 80%, of atmospheric pressure by means of a suction mouthpiece (113) with lips (113a,113b) that are held close to or in engagement with the carpet (118) in or in the immediate vicinity of that area, in which the liquid issuing from the nozzles (102) impinges upon the carpet (118) or the deep-lying parts of its pile.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
147 words
A method as'claimed in claim 1, characterised in a) that a surface-active agent, such as a solution of soap or a sulphonated fatty alcohol, is applied to the carpet before the liquid mentioned (in claim 1, item a) is applied to the carpet, b) that the surface-active agent is allowed to act on the dirt present in the carpet (118), e.g. during a period of up to 15 minutes, and c) that as the liquid mentioned (in claim l,item a)) is used a rinsing liquid substantially devoid of solids in solution, e.g. pure water or ion-exchanged water, said rinsing liquid being supplied in a quantity per unit weight of the carpet sufficient to remove the major proportion of said surface-active agent together with dirt from the carpet, e.g. approximately 7. litres of pure water per kilogramme of textile fibre in the upwardly facing parts of the carpet.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
45 words
A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the carpet (118) is subjected to mechanical treatment, such as brushing with a rotating brush (114), prior to the liquid mentioned (in claim 1, item a)) being directed against the carpet. -
Claim 5
Independent Claim
255 words
An apparatus for use in carrying out the method as claimed in claims 1 to 3 and adapted to the cleaning of carpets (118) placed on a' support, such as a floor, said apparatus being of the kind comprising a) a number of nozzles (102) for directing a liquid against the carpet (118) and b) at least one'suction mouthpiece (113) adapted to be held in contact with or close to the carpet (118) and connected to a vacuum source (140) in order to remove at least part of the liquid thus directed together with dirt from the carpet by suction, characterised by/in c) liquid supplying means (139 etc) adapted to supply the liquid mentioned (in item a)) to the nozzles (102) under a pressure of at least 20 bar, preferably between 20 and 60 bar, d) that-the nozzles (102) are adapted to direct the liquid against the carpet (118) under a relatively acute angle (n) of not more than approximately 30 , e) vacuum means (140 etc.) to apply a vacuum to the suction mouthpiece (113) of at least 60%, preferably between 60 and 80%, of atmospheric pressure, and f) that the suction mouthpiece (113) is adapted to be held in such a position during the use of the apparatus that its lips (113a, 113b) are held close to or in engagement with the carpet (118) in or in the immediate vicinity of that area, in which liquid issuing from the nozzles (102) impinges upon the carpet (118) or the deep-lying parts of its pile.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the lips (113a, 113b) of the suction mouthpiece (113) comprise downwards facing convex engagement portions with a radius of curvature of the order of 5 mm.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
40 words
An apparatus as claimed in claims 4 or 5, characterised in that the lips (113a, 113b) of the suction mouthpiece (113) are spaced from each other with a gap of the order of 3 mm, preferably not exceeding 3.75 mm.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
78 words
An apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 4 to 6, characterised in that at least those parts of the lips (113a, 113b) of the suction mouthpiece (113) likely to come ` into contact with the carpet (118) being cleaned are made of a material having a low coefficient of friction with carpet textile fibre, preferably of the order of 0.08 or less, said material e.g. consisting of low-pressure polyethylene with a high degree of polymerization.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
227 words
An apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 4 to 7, characterised in that it consists of two sub-units, viz.: a) a mobile manually operable cleaning head (Figure 1) comprising those parts designed to come into contact with or to be situated close to the carpet (118) to be cleaned, such as the rinsing nozzles (102) and the suction mouthpiece as well as associated equipment, such as a liquid separator (125) for separating used rinsing liquid from the mixture of air and liquid sucked in through the suction mouthpiece (113), and b) a power and processing unit (Figure 2) comprising those parts of the apparatus, which are not required to come into contact with or to be placed close to the carpet to be cleaned, such as equipment (136-139) for supplying, treating and, when required, heating the rinsing liquid and delivering it under high pressure to the cleaning head, equipment (140,141) for applying a vacuum to the suction mouthpiece (113) in the cleaning head and filtering the air drawn from the suction head, and equipment (142) for filtering the used rinsing liquid separated-out in said liquid separator (125) before discharging same, as well as c) flexible connection means (111,109,129 etc.) connecting the parts of the apparatus situated in the cleaning head with those parts situated in the power and processing unit, with which they cooperate.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
52 words
An apparatus as'claimed in clam 8, characterised in that the liquid exit (125b) of the liquid separator (125) is connected to the intake side of a pump (128), the delivery side of which is connected to the flexible connection means (129) for conveying used rinsing liquid to the power and processing unit.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
56 words
An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 9, and comprising electrically powered propelling (132) and/or pumping (128) and/or other eguipment, characterised in that the electric motors used for driving the equipment in question are adapted to run on alternating current power with a frequency of the order of 100 Hz or higher.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
33 words
An apparatus as claimed in claims 8 and 10, characterised in that the power and processing unit (Figure 2) comprises a high-frequency electric generator (143) for supplying power to said electrically powered equipment.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
75 words
An apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 4 to 11, characterised in that the cleaning head (Figure 1) is closed on all sides except below, the closed space enclosing at least the rinsing nozzles (102) and the region between the rinsing nozzles (102) and the suction mouthpiece (113), preferably also a set of moistening nozzles (101) and a rotary brush (114) situated between the moistening nozzles (101) and the rinsing nozzles (102).
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Cited
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WO1981000805A1
Cited
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