Floor treating machines

Claim 1

In an electrically powered floor treating machine for scrubbing floors including a scrubbing wheel for engaging the floor, the improvement which comprises the combination of a body, at least three wheels rotatably mounted on said body, a battery supplying d.c. power, two d.c. motors carried by said body each having an armature, current control means in series with each of said armatures and said battery for separate control of the current supplied to said armatures, relay means for controlling the direction of current flow through said armatures, means individually connecting the rotative output of said motors to two of said wheels, a third of said wheels being freely rotatable on an axis and swivelly mounted on said body, portable controlling means distant from said body and connected to said body by electric cables for controlling the current control means, said controlling means comprising a control panel having two thumb wheels and a pushbutton switch, said switch controlling said relay means whereby the current flow in both armatures is reversed, one of said thumb wheels actuating a first variable component for varying both current control means simultaneously, the other thumb wheel actuating a second variable component for altering the balance between the current control means, the said electric cables operatively connecting the reversing switch means to the relay and the variable components to the current control means.