The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 01, 2008
Filed:
May. 29, 2002
Applicant:
Kevin L. Shinler, North Branch, MN (US);
Inventor:
Kevin L. Shinler, North Branch, MN (US);
Assignee:
Tennant Company, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A47L 11/24 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A surface maintenance apparatus is described, having a sweeping system positioned near the front or leading edge of the apparatus. The sweeping system includes a plurality of brushes and a removable hopper for collecting debris. The sweeping system is capable of being raised off the surface being maintained when the sweeping system encounters an obstacle or irregularity on the surface. The brushes are pivotally mounted to the surface maintenance apparatus to allow the brushes to be rotated away from each other, providing access to the removable hopper from the front end of the surface maintenance apparatus.