Tennant Company

Tennant

Steven Vincent Feeny

Robert Erko

John C Ickes

Kevin Leroy Shinler

Daniel Lawrence Joynt

David W Berg

Richard F Milun

Paul Leonard Groschen, Jr

Peter Alexander Loring

Robert J Erko

Richard Milun

A releasable squeegee assembly for coupling to a surface maintenance machine and including a compliant bushing and an over-center lever attached to a pull rod and compliant spring. The compliant bushing is compressed via said over-center lever with said compliant spring providing a spring force. A bushing sleeve is provided to limit the degree of compression of said compliant bushing by the over-center lever. A method of coupling a squeegee assembly to a surface maintenance machine is also provided.

Quick lock squeegee attachment and method of use

A rider surface maintenance vehicle with variable dynamic braking, in contrast to a mechanically-engaged braking system that uses a brake cable. A brake pedal engages a sensor that encodes the pedal position as an electronic signal. The electronic signal, along with the vehicle velocity, determines a machine deceleration rate, or braking rate, either by calculation, lookup table, or a combination of the two. The braking rate may be tuned so that the of the brake mimics or approximates the feel of a conventional mechanically-engaged brake that uses a brake cable. During stopping, once the vehicle passes below a threshold velocity, a parking brake is automatically engaged. The braking rate is converted to a duty cycle, and the braking is preferably accomplished by pulse width modulation (PWM) of an electrical load applied in parallel to the motor.

By wire control of braking and acceleration

A wiper assembly for surface maintenance vehicles has a non-destructive failure mode when impacting stationary objects, or otherwise becoming subject to instantaneous or rapidly increasing resistance to forward movement, due to an improved mechanical coupling. The improved mechanical coupling for a wiper assembly absorbs some of the impact stresses imparted to the wiper assembly. Portions of each improved mechanical coupling designed to absorb the stress forces deforms most nearest the location of increasing resistance to forward movement, and may either become fully disconnected if the stress force reaches a threshold force value or recoils to the original mounting location after absorbing forces that are less that said threshold force value. The threshold value force at which a wiper assembly dislodges from its mounting location is designed to avoid damage to the wiper assembly, the articulated mounting member (if any), and the maintenance vehicle itself. The mechanical coupling provides independent range and precision of motion and mechanical tolerance with respect to discrete instantaneous forces affecting the wiper assembly so that the wiper blades exhibit an increased effectiveness in response to contact with diverse size obstacles present on, and obstacles adjacent to, a surface to be cleaned. The improved mechanical coupling utilizes a resilient, deformable member that adds a modicum of additional travel in response to stress forces imparted to a wiper assembly. Accordingly, the teaching of the present invention may be applied to previously manufactured surface maintenance equipment and vehicles in the form of retrofitted mechanical couplings, requiring modest engineering and re-installation efforts.

Squeegee assembly having a non-destructive release mode

This is concerned with a disc brush suspension or arrangement for a scrubber or sweeper or the like. The arrangement uses a flexible bellows which may be of rubber or a suitable rubber substitute which functions as the total or primary suspension for the disc brush and its drive motor.

Disc brush suspension for a floor maintenance machine

Growing community of inventors

Plymouth, MN, United States of America

Steven Vincent Feeny