Tennant Company

Wetrok, Inc.

Steven J Waldhauser

Richard D Masbruch

Keith N Krier

Neil F Brown

Bruce F Field

Paul M Pierce

Richard A Mason

Donald J Haub

Christopher K Pearce

Dennis J Corneil

Ross Rumfola

A burnishing machine having a burnishing motor in a motor compartment covered with a hood defining an air plenum having at least one air inlet positioned near the top of the hood spaced from the floor. The plenum includes a discharge outlet immediately adjacent the motor such that clean air is drawn through the air inlet, flows through the plenum to the discharge outlet for providing clean air to cool the burnishing motor.

Floor maintenance machine with air-cooled motor

A floor scrubbing machine for tile and other hard surface floors has a low enough profile height that it can be operated bodily under furniture or equipment such as, for example, seats in fast food stores. This floor scrubber has three principle functioning components, comprising a tank for cleaning solution and means to apply that solution to the floor, a powered scrub brush to agitate the solution on the floor, and a vacuum pickup squeegee system which dries the floor after scrubbing by removing spent solution from the floor to an on board tank. Floor scrubbers are known which comprise the three above elements, but are too tall to operate under the seats of fast food stores, except with a remote wand attachment which is cumbersome and slow. Other floor scrubbers are known which are low enough to operate bodily in such places but lack a vacuum pickup squeegee system for drying the floor, and leave a hard surface floor unacceptably wet, or require following operations to dry it. The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of these prior art floor scrubbers.

Low profile scrubber

This is an improvement for a powered floor scrubber which in use is moved forward and backward across a floor to be scrubbed. A scrub brush is rotated within a housing which is open at the bottom and water is supplied within the housing. The improvement consists of attaching double lipped suction squeegees at both the front and rear of the housing and connecting them both to a source of vacuum to suck up soiled water from the floor. The flexible squeegee lips are mounted in such a way that as the machine is moved forward the lips of the front squeegee fold together and shut off the airflow to it while the rear squeegee remains functional. When the machine is moved backward a reverse action of the squeegees occurs, so that there is always a functional squeegee sucking up soiled water behind the scrub brush while airflow to the opposite squeegee is shut off whether the machine is moving forward or backward.

Scrubber squeegees for scrubbing forward and backward

A method of control and a control circuit for use in connecting all or sub-parts of a battery supply to a battery driven motor includes relays connected between a motor and each sub-part of a battery supply; a timer having a predetermined time period and which changes its output condition at the end of each time period; a motor speed selector for selecting either full motor speed or a portion thereof; and a switch arrangement which interconnects the relays, timer and motor speed selector. The switch arrangement provides for a first sub-part of the battery supply to be connected to the motor when the selector is in a less than full speed position and when the timer has one output condition. A second sub-part of the battery supply is connected to the motor when the selector is in a less than full speed position and the timer has a second output condition. The relays connect the full battery supply to the motor when the selector is in a full speed position.

Voltage control for battery powered motor or the like

An automatic floor cleaning machine includes a unitary, self-contained and propelled, power driven body mounting from front to rear in a normal cleaning direction of travel: a propulsion mechanism including drive wheels and guide wheels for dry tracking on the floor surface to be cleaned, a scrubber mechanism including a pair of rearwardly disposed, vertically articulated counter-rotating magnetically and floatably mounted brushes for wetting and cleaning such floor surface, a vacuum mechanism including a vertically and horizontally articulated quick-detachable squeegee for drying of and proper tracking on the cleaned surface, and a combined mechanical and electrical control system operatively associated with each of such propulsion, scrubber and vacuum mechanisms, for convenient actuation by a walk-behind operator to control actuation of such machine. Preferably, a sweeper mechanism is mounted on the body forwardly of the propulsion mechanism and operatively associated with such control system for advance sweeping of a debris-laden floor surface.

Floor cleaning machine

An improved support (48) for mounting a crescent shaped squeegee assembly (46) on the body (18) of a self propelled walk behind floor scrubbing machine (10) of the type which deposits cleaning fluid on a hard surfaced floor, scrubs the floor, and then squeegees and vacuums the dirty cleaning fluid from the floor. The squeegee supporting means (48) includes first and second intermediate members (84, 98) and first, second, and third pivot means (68, 70, 72). The first pivot means (68) secures the first intermediate member (84) to the body (18) for swinging movement about a generally vertically extending axis (Z). The second pivot means (70) secures a forward portion of a downwardly and rearwardly extending arm (90) to the first intermediate member for swinging movement about a generally transversely extending axis (Y). The second intermediate member is secured to a rear portion of the arm, the securing means including an attitude adjusting member (102). The third pivot means (72) secures the squeegee assembly (46) to the second intermediate member (98) for rocking motion about a generally fore-and-aft extending axis (X), which axis is disposed well below the second pivot forming means (70). A lift cable (138) and a down pressure exerting means (124) are also associated with the improved support.

Support for a squeegee assembly

A mechanism for controlling the speed and direction of a self-propelled machine, such as, for example, a floor cleaning machine, or the like. A rotatable control handle is provided and includes a speed control cam which moves a variable resistor slide member by means of a speed control arm connected to the cam follower. The variable resistor is connected between a battery power source and a propulsion motor to control the voltage to a speed control. The handle has a neutral position at which the machine is stationary, and rotation of the handle about its own axis in either direction will cause the motor to move the machine, the direction of rotation determining the direction of movement. The control handle carries a series of direction control cams which operate switches to control the direction of flow of current to the motor and thereby the direction in which the machine moves.

Speed and direction control mechanism

A floor cleaning machine having drive wheels, scrub brushes, and cleaning liquid applying and pick-up means. The machine has a drive train including a drive motor, a drive axle assembly and the drive wheels. The drive train is mounted on a removable carriage which is slidable laterally of the machine while the latter is in operating position, to provide access to the drive train for maintenance and repair.

Automatic floor cleaning machine with removable drive carriage

A squeegee support assembly for automatic floor cleaning machines of the type having a housing, drive wheels, spaced holders for floor cleaning members mounted for powered rotation about a vertically disposed axis and a substantially crescent-shaped vacuum housing and squeegee blade carrying assembly mounted to the housing for articulated movement about a vertical axis which is located at the midpoint between a diametral line passing through the axis of the holding members. The support assembly including an arm support member pivotally mounted to the housing for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, an upper arm having one end pivotally connected to the arm support member for rotation about a horizontal axis, a lower arm having one end pivotally connected to the arm support member below the upper arm end for rotation about a horizontal axis, a connecting structure at the other ends of the arms for pivotally connecting the same to the squeegee assembly and constraining the same to vertical movement with respect to the arm support member, the arms including adjusting means for adjusting the vertical pressure forces of the squeegee assembly against the floor when the blades thereof are in contact therewith and also including means for adjusting the attitude of such blades with respect to the floor surface, and a cable-pulley assembly for vertically lifting the squeegee assembly to it's inoperative position.

Squeegee support assembly for automatic floor cleaning machines

An improvement for floor maintenance equipment employing electrically driven scrubbing or polishing brushes including means for varying the speed of the brush motors. Two brush speeds are provided by switching apparatus which change the interconnection of the brush motors from series to parallel and from parallel to series. This results in a substantial change in motor speed and power.

Multi-speed brush control

A scrubbing machine that includes an articulated vehicle having a power unit and a trailer unit coupled thereto, said trailer unit having cleaning and dirty solution tanks thereon, a squeegee assembly on the power unit having a central liquid take-up tube and a second take-up tube at one end portion thereof, controls operated by turning the vehicle in the appropriate direction for switching the application of vacuum from the central tube to the second tube, a scrubber head unit and an assembly for mounting and carrying the scrubber unit on the vehicle and raising and lowering the scrubber unit including an articulated joint to permit limited pivotal movement of the scrubber head about a generally vertical axis and an axis perpendicular thereto.

Growing community of inventors

Niagara Falls, NY, United States of America

Steven J Waldhauser