Fibrous pad for cleaning/polishing floors

Abstract

A cleaning / polishing pad for cleaning or polishing stone, terrazzo or concrete floors comprises a flexible, disk-shaped pad body having an upper mounting surface and a lower working surface, the pad body comprising natural wool fibers. A plurality of resin segments spaced apart from one another and affixed adjacent the lower working surface of the disk-shaped pad body, the resin segments including diamond particles embedded therein, wherein each of the plurality of resin segments is affixed to the pad body in such a way that the majority of the resin segment stands proud of the pad body.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to pads for use with floor cleaning machines for cleaning and polishing stone, terrazzo, and / or concrete floors.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Scouring, cleaning and polishing pads are widely known and used to clean and restore stone, terrazzo, and / or concrete floors and surfaces. Often, such pads are disk-shaped and fitted to a conventional floor-cleaning machine of a conventional type. Typically, floor-cleaning machines apply pressure to the disk-shaped pads and rotate or gyrate the pads against the floor to be cleaned / polished. It is widely known in the art for a user to apply a cleaning / polishing paste or solution to the floor before applying the disk-shaped pads thereto, to aid the pads in successfully removing dirt and / or residue from the floor. Generally, these pastes or solutions often include abrasive particles therein to aid in scouring and grinding the stone / concrete floor.[0003]Recently, cleaning pads ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]Preferably, the fibrous pad body comprises a natural fiber, and most preferably the disk-shaped pad body comprises dense natural wool. The inventor has found that a natural wool pad body does an excellent job of adhering the resin segments thereto, improving the life and reliability of the cleaning / polishing pad.

[0007]With the cleaning / polishing pad having a strong, reliable adhesion between the resin segments and the fibrous pad body, long-lasting, normally costly, abrasives can be employed rationally. Indeed, the strength of the bond between the resin segments and the wool pad body is particularly well-suited to the use of industrial diamond as the abrasive. The resulting cleaning / polishing pad exhibits outstanding cleaning and polishing performance, while at the same time providing very long life (good economy).

[0009]The inventor has found that placing the resin segments on the working surface of the pad body (so that the resin segments stand proud thereof) is superior to imbedding abrasive-bearing resin in openings formed in a pad. This is so because having the resin segments extend above the surface of the pad body keeps the resin (and the abrasive therein) continually exposed despite progressive wear on the resin segments during use. Indeed, in this way nearly all of the resin (and nearly all of the abrasive) can be consumed before the cleaning / polishing pad becomes unusable due to wear. This construction thus makes economical use of diamond particles.

Problems solved by technology

However, these cleaning elements only apply the abrasive particles to the surface to be cleaned when the cleaning element is compressed against the same with force.

Additionally, it has been found that nylon scouring elements are not well-suited for retaining a sufficient quantity of abrasive particles, resulting in a very short pad life span.

Moreover, the abrasive particles that are retained within nylon scouring elements are often easily detached therefrom.

Images