Coating brush cleaning and storing apparatus and method

Abstract

A brush cleaning and storing apparatus, particularly for storing of paint brushes and coating brushes and brushes of like material, in such Manner that the brush can be introduced into a solvent and then rubbed against a plate having a surface which aids in removal of the paint or similar substance. In addition, the apparatus and the method provide for suspending the brush in a housing of the apparatus. In this way, the solvent is contained within the housing, thereby avoiding environmental nuisance problems associated with the disposing of the solvent, and which also enables the reuse thereof.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention[0002] This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in apparatus and method for storage and cleaning of brushes, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for the cleaning and storage of paint brushes and similar coating brushes by introducing same into a solvent, and where the solvent can be reused on subsequent occasions.[0003] 2. Brief Description of Related Art[0004] Both home users who engage in any painting activity and painting professionals, have need to periodically clean paint brushes after use thereof. Typically, a paint tray is used for the cleaning of the brush and the painter or other individual introduces a paint thinner or like solvent into the tray, so that the brush can be rubbed against a rippled surface on the tray. This introduction into a solvent along with the rubbing against a ribbed or rippled surface, aids in removing entrained paint contained within the brush.[0005] The cleaning of paint b...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] It is, therefore, one of the primary objects of the present invention to provide a paint or other coating brush container, which allows for the rapid and efficient cleaning of paint brushes and similar coating brushes within the containers, and where the solvents used in the cleaning of the brushes can be retained within the container.

[0011] It is another object of the present invention to provide a brush cleaning and storage apparatus of the type stated, in which a container for receiving the brush allows for the efficient and rapid cleaning of the brush on a member contained within the container itself.

Problems solved by technology

Notwithstanding the foregoing, after the typical painter or home user has finished cleaning the brushes, there is the attendant problem of disposing of the solvent.

Most paint solvents and other coating solvents are typically environmentally unfriendly.

Even if the solvent per se was not an environmentally unfriendly substance, the fact that paint or other materials is incorporated in the solvent could make the same itself to be environmentally unfriendly.

Therefore, the painter and other user constantly encounters the problem of how to dispose of a paint containing solvent or other coating containing solvent.

In this case, the solvent, particularly a paint thinner type solvent, typically presents a fire hazard.

In many cases, the paint brushes, particularly those of painting professionals, can be quite expensive and therefore the painters are desirous of maintaining relatively clean paint brushes to prevent the hardening.

The bathing of a paint brush or similar brush within a solvent contained within a paint tray or like container, also presents undesirable environmental consequences as a result of the evaporation of the solvent.

Notwithstanding, the evaporation of these solvents into an atmospheric condition presents other well known environmentally detrimental conditions.

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