Pole-Mounted Drying Cloth Structure for Hard-to-Reach Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hand-held drying cloths require users to bend, stoop, kneel, or climb to reach hard-to-reach areas on vehicles and structures, making the cleaning process cumbersome and potentially dangerous.
Innovation Solution
A drying cloth designed to fit over a brush or squeegee attached to a long pole, allowing for easier positioning and providing a larger absorbent surface area, with a flexible shell and openable seam for secure attachment to the cleaning tool.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional hand-held drying cloth is used, then the user can dry vehicles and structures, but the user must bend, stoop, kneel, and climb to reach hard-to-reach areas, making the process cumbersome and potentially dangerous
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extends the drying operation into a new dimensional space by attaching the absorbent cloth to a long pole or handle, allowing the user to reach hard-to-reach areas without physical contortion. This transforms a two-dimensional hand-held operation into a three-dimensional extended operation, enabling access to elevated, distant, or confined spaces while maintaining user safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The long pole or handle serves as an intermediary tool between the user and the target surface. Instead of the user's hand directly contacting the cloth at the drying location, the pole acts as a mechanical extension that transmits the user's motion to the cloth, eliminating the need for the user to physically position themselves in dangerous or awkward positions.
2Ease of operation
If a drying cloth is attached to a long pole or handle, then the user can reach hard-to-reach areas safely, but the drying cloth requires a more complex attachment structure with openable seams and multiple openings
Solution Approach 1:
The drying cloth is segmented into functional zones with distinct openings: a first opening for attaching to the pole or handle, a second opening for securing to the cleaning tool, and a pole opening positioned midway for handle insertion. This segmentation allows each opening to serve its specific purpose, enabling the cloth to adapt to the extended pole structure while maintaining ease of attachment and detachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The openable seam provides dynamic adaptability, allowing the cloth to transition between a closed configuration for secure attachment and an open configuration for easy installation and removal. This dynamic feature enables the cloth to accommodate the long pole structure while maintaining user-friendly operation, resolving the conflict between structural complexity and ease of use.
3Quantity of substance
If the drying cloth is sized to loosely fit over the brush or squeegee, then the surface area for absorbing liquid is increased, but the attachment structure becomes more complex requiring an openable seam
Solution Approach 1:
The drying cloth is designed to loosely envelop the brush or squeegee, creating a nested configuration where the cloth surrounds the cleaning tool. This nesting arrangement maximizes the cloth's surface area in contact with the target surface, thereby increasing liquid absorption capacity. The openable seam enables this nested configuration while maintaining ease of attachment, as the seam can be opened to slide the cloth over the tool and then closed to secure it in place.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables safer and more efficient drying of large vehicles and structures by allowing users to maintain a safer posture while effectively covering and drying hard-to-reach areas with increased surface area absorption.
Implementation Method 1
The drying cloth is made of absorbent fabric wrapped and/or sewn to form a flexible shell
Data Source
AI summary
A drying cloth for drying a large vehicle or structure. The drying cloth may be made of absorbent fabric sewn to form a fabric shell with a hollow center extending between a first and a second opening. The drying cloth may also have a pole opening formed therethrough mid-way between the first opening and the second opening and a first seam edge and a second seam edge extending between the pole opening and the second opening to cooperatively form an openable seam. The openable seam may be placed in an attached and an unattached configuration via attaching and detaching attachment devices of the drying cloth. The drying cloth may be attachable to a cleaning tool having an elongated handle and an end fixture attached to the handle. The elongated handle may fit through the pole opening and the drying cloth is sized to loosely fit over the end fixture.