CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. Â§119(e) of U.S. Patent Application No. 62/251,978, filed Nov. 6, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates generally to the field of flooring maintenance and, specifically, to a floor stripping head having segmented contact pads distributed equidistantly about its outer circumference and a method for using the same.

BACKGROUND

Vinyl tile floors, as the name suggests, include a plurality of adjacent vinyl squares positioned to completely cover the underlying subsurface, which may be bare concrete, terrazzo, hardwood, or the like. Vinyl tile floors may be attractive because the vinyl tiles are relatively easy to clean, resist wear, and are a quick, simple and cheap surface finish. A wax coating is typically applied over the tiles, and so during cleaning the dirty wax must be stripped off and the tiles cleaned prior to the application of fresh, clean wax.

In many cases, the subsurface under the vinyl tiles is not perfectly flat. Further, wear of the vinyl tiles preferentially occurs wear foot traffic is heaviest, further contributing to the â€˜wavinessâ€™ of the vinyl tile surface. This â€˜wavinessâ€™ interferes with the wax stripping process, as the spinning circular scrubbing pad that defines the head of commercial stripper machines encounters the crests of the vinyl waves, but does not extend down into the troughs, resulting in an inconsistent stripping of the floors, leaving areas that are still dirty and that continue to accrue dirt and grime, absent stripping by hand.

Thus, a need remains for method of maintaining a vinyl flooring surface, and particularly a worn and wavy or rippled vinyl flooring surface, that is more efficient and less maintenance intensive.

The present novel technology addresses these needs.

SUMMARY

The invention relates generally to the field of flooring maintenance and, specifically, to a floor stripping head having segmented contact pads distributed equidistantly about its outer circumference and a method for using the same.

The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side schematic view of a stripper grinding and removing dirty wax from a vinyl surface according to the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a circular drive board with circular abrasive pads symmetrically oriented thereupon according to a first embodiment vinyl floor stripping system.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the circular drive board with non-circular abrasive pads symmetrically oriented thereupon according to the embodiment of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the circular drive board of FIG. 2 engaging to a stripping machine.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the polishing machine of FIG. 4 stripping wax from a vinyl tile floor.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the floor of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the floor of FIG. 6 being waxed and buffed.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of an alternate embodiment segmented abrasive pad for connection to the circular drive board of FIG. 2.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present methods, implementations, and systems are disclosed and described, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to specific synthetic methods, specific components, implementation, or to particular compositions, and as such may, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular implementations only and is not intended to be limiting.

As used in the specification and the claims, the singular forms â€œa,â€ â€œanâ€ and â€œtheâ€ include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Ranges may be expressed in ways including from â€œaboutâ€ one particular value, and/or to â€œaboutâ€ another particular value. When such a range is expressed, another implementation may include from the one particular value and/or to the other particular value. Similarly, when values are expressed as approximations, for example by use of the antecedent â€œabout,â€ it will be understood that the particular value forms another implementation. It will be further understood that the endpoints of each of the ranges are significant both in relation to the other endpoint, and independently of the other endpoint.

â€œOptionalâ€ or â€œoptionallyâ€ means that the subsequently described event or circumstance may or may not occur, and that the description includes instances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not. Similarly, â€œtypicalâ€ or â€œtypicallyâ€ means that the subsequently described event or circumstance often though may not occur, and that the description includes instances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not.

In the current art, vinyl tile floors 10, as the name suggests, include a plurality of adjacent vinyl squares 12 positioned typically to completely cover the underlying subsurface 14, which may, for example, be bare concrete, terrazzo, hardwood, or the like. Vinyl tile floors 10 may be attractive because the vinyl tiles 12 may be relatively easy to clean, resist wear, and may be a quick, simple, and cheap surface finish. However, a wax coating 16 typically may be applied over the tiles 12, and so during cleaning the dirty wax 16 typically must be stripped off and the tiles 12 cleaned prior to the application of fresh, clean wax 16.

In many cases, the subsurface 14 under the vinyl tiles 12 may not be perfectly or even substantially flat. Further, wear of the vinyl tiles 12 may preferentially occur where foot traffic is heaviest, further contributing to the â€˜wavinessâ€™ of the vinyl tile surface 10. This â€˜wavinessâ€™ typically may interfere with the wax 16 stripping process (depicted in FIG. 6), as the spinning circular scrubbing pad that defines the head of commercial stripper machines encounters the crests of the vinyl waves, but does not extend down into the troughs, resulting in an inconsistent stripping of the surface 10, leaving areas that may be still dirty and that continue to accrue dirt and grime, absent stripping by hand. These features are depicted in FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2-8, a first embodiment of the present novel technology relates to a stripping apparatus 11 for stripping vinyl tile 12 and/or like surfaces, and a method for using the same. While the examples focus on vinyl tile surfaces 10, similar surfaces (e.g., stone, wood, laminate, etc.) that require stripping, waxing, buffing, and/or the like may be likewise treated.

Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 2, apparatus 11 may consist of one or more circular drive boards 18 having a high-density foam layer 20 (or, in some implementations, no foam layer 20 at all) fitted with a plurality of circular abrasive stripping and/or polishing discs or pads 22, typically positioned respectively at the equidistantly (such as three pads 22 each located respectively at the twelve, four, and eight o'clock positions; four pads 22 spaced at twelve, three, six, and nine o'clock positions, etc.) around the drive board 18.

In some other implementations, a single pad/base layer 22 having raised pad portions 23 distributed equidistantly therearound may be connected to the board 18 (see FIG. 8). Pad 22 typically may be connected to board 18 permanently and/or temporarily. For example, pad 22 may be connected via adhesives, grooves, hook-and-loop type fabric, fasteners (e.g., screws, bolts, etc.), and/or any other attachment mechanism.

In some further implementations, a multilayered and/or preferentially cushioned/deposited pad 22 may be used to achieve specific stripping and/or buffing patterns, depths, rates, and/or the like. For example, higher density foam layers 20 may be used where a surface 10 may have only minor waviness, whereas a lower-density foam layer 20 may be used where a surface may have greater waviness (allowing greater flexibility along crests and troughs).

In some implementations, the stripping/polishing discs 22 may be, but are not limited to, between about ten inches and twenty inches in diameter (more typically between about twelve inches and eighteen inches in diameter) and between about one-eighth inch and one and a half-inches thick (more typically between about three-eighths inch and seven-eighths inch), and may be typically positioned substantially at, or in some implementations slightly inwardly from (such as about one-fourth inch inward), the drive board edges 24.

Pads 22 typically may be made from, or include, abrasive media 26 such as steel wool, silica, carbon, metal, ceramic, wood, fiber, and/or the like, but typically may act in a scouring fashion using a polyester, nylon, abrasive granules, and/or the like rather than an extreme grinding fashion. The drive board 18 typically may be made of sufficiently rigid material so as not to deform or cup during polishing, and board 18 and/or pad 22 typically may connect to one or more floor polishing machines 28 via mounting hole adapter 27.

In some further implementations, pads 22 may be configured in modified patterns and/or shapes/sizes, such as depicted in FIG. 3. In one example, apparatus 11 may first be layered with a nonwoven polyester fabric substantially covering foam layer 20, followed by one or more layers of raised portions 23 made of nylon fibers cut into strips, discs, rectangles, triangles, and/or the like. Other examples may layer raised portions 23 in staggered fashions, have variable raised portion 23 heights, densities, and/or compositions (e.g., a first portion 23 being one-eighth inch thick, a second portion 23 being one-fourth inch thick, a third portion 23 being one-half inch thick, and/or the like), and/or the like. In still further examples, pads 22 may be segmented into raised pad portions 23 and then spaced on pads 22, such that the elevation of the raised pad portion 23 areas may be double, triple, and/or similarly multiplied thickness of base pad 22.

In some implementations, the discs/pads 22 and/or abrasive media 26 may be removable, replaceable, and/or rechargeable. For example, one or more pads 22 may be temporarily attached to board 18 and/or foam 20 with hook-and-loop fabric, removable adhesive, stitching, and/or the like, which may be allow the pads to be selectively and/or automatically (e.g., stitches may wear out after period of use). This may, for example, allow for differing wear rates of pads 22, raised portions 23, edges 24, media 26, and/or the like, without the need to discard an entire board 18, layer 20, and/or pad 22, which may only have substantial wear on a subset of the material. In other implementations, pad 22, raised portions 23, and/or media 26 may be recharged by resurfacing, reembedding, and/or the otherwise refreshing the materials of the component. These configurations may also allow for increased efficiency via wear indication, customizable media 26 and/or the like selections, and/or surface 10 preferences.

Typically, a relatively light amount of pressure may be applied (such as one-hundred sixty to one-hundred eighty pounds, as opposed to a typical grinding pressure of about three hundred to five hundred pounds applied with a full-size polishing disc) to the segmented polishing discs or pads 22. Specifically, the drive board 18 may be connected to a relatively lightweight rotary stripping machine 28 and run at a medium to slow speed, such as between about one-hundred seventy five to two-hundred twenty five revolutions per minute (rpm). Additionally, the machine 28 typically may have a tendency to heel to the right (or left, if the board 18 rotates in a counter-clockwise direction) and will typically be weighted to enhance the heel, rather than conventionally weighted to counter-balance the heel, thus creating an enhanced heel quadrant that does most of the work.

Enhancing the heel of the stripper/polisher 28 gives rise to the effect of the segmented pads 26 contacting the vinyl tiles 12 and layered waxed 16 and/or sedimentary dirt and grime buildup portions 17 of the wavy vinyl flooring surface 10 at a shallow angle, such that the pads 22 and/or abrasive media 26 dig out and excavate or shave the surface 10 with a proportionally larger shearing force, rather than a more perpendicularly applied force, as is typically characteristic of stripping. This results in a surface 10 having embedded grime and dirty wax materials removed at substantially the same rate to yield a surface 10 uniformly free of grime and/or wax buildup and resulting in a substantially more flush clean surface 10 than is the case with prior art systems and methods. Comparatively, with traditional stripping forces applied, the surface 10 is cleaned at the wave crests with greater efficiency, which leaves dirty wax 16 and grime 17 in the troughs and/or on the surface 10. This overly aggressive removal of the material results in a less attractive surface 10 that must be stripped and rewaxed more frequently with less than optimal results, assuming the removal does not also damage the vinyl tiles 12 underneath, which may necessitate costly replacement of the tiles 12 and/or subfloor 14.

Further, in some additional aspects, the present novel apparatus 11 and method may be used to substantially improve stripping and/or buffing of vinyl surfaces 10 that may be created having textured and/or contoured profiles. For example, vinyl tiles 12 created to look like textured wood, stone, having faux grout lines, and/or otherwise nonflat surfaces may be more effectively and/or safely stripped and/or buffed using apparatus 11. In effect, where crests and/or troughs are built in and/or desired for vinyl tiles 12, the present novel apparatus 11 may allow stripping and/or buffing far more easily and effectively than conventional, linear pads.

In yet other implementations, apparatus 11 may greatly enhance the effectiveness of stripping/buffing at surface 10 edges. Where current machines and/or pads are not able to effectively remove wax 16 and/or buildup 17 along edges of surfaces 10, walls, and/or transitions, the present novel technology's increased edge stripping/buffing effectiveness greatly increases an operator's ability to work in such areas without needing to resort to manual stripping/buffing or use of smaller machines. In some use cases, between the greater effectiveness of the apparatus 11 in general and lessening the need to resort to alternatives to work these problem areas, the present novel apparatus may reduce the time required to complete a job by half or more.

In some further implementations, machine 28 may further be fitted with one or more weights 32 to enhance one or more heels (e.g., right-front heel quadrant 30) for stripping and/or buffing. This may, for example, allow for faster, more efficient, and/or more specific stripping compared to an unweighted and/or insufficiently weighted machine 28 in certain use cases.

For the first stripping step 40 (typically depicted in FIG. 6), the work surface 10 is typically treated with two to four passes, until the dirty wax layer 16 and/or buildup portions 17 has palpably decreased in thickness, giving the stripper 28 and/or operator the feedback that the abrasive pads 22 and/or medias 26 are no longer doing substantial work. In other words, it typically may be the number of passes with the rotating stripping media 26 that do the wax removal work, not the amount of pressure applied to the stripping media 26, which provide stripping of wax 16 and/or grime 17. Further, in some instances, excess downward force 39 applied to the stripping media 26 may move the apparatus 11 out of optimization and retard the stripping process. This process typically may be depicted in FIG. 6, with stripped floor portion 36 to the right and dirty floor portion 38 to the left.

The next, application step 42 (typically depicted in FIG. 7) in the process is similar to stripping step 40, but instead of removing dirty wax 16 and grime 17, one or more layers or coatings of new wax 16 may be applied to the vinyl tiles 12 (e.g., via a paste, bar, liquid, and/or the like) and then polished and buffed in with a polisher/buffer disc 22. The buffer disc 22 typically may likewise have a set of segmented, raised buffer pads 23 extending from base pad 22 and positioned equidistantly around the outer portion of base pad 22, and in turn the circular drive board 18 and/or foam layer 20 to which base pad 22 is connected (see FIG. 8). The positioning of raised buffer pads 23 typically may allow for the same distribution of forces to apply the new wax 16 to both the crests and troughs of wavy or rippled vinyl flooring surfaces 10. Once polished to the appropriate finish, tiled surface 10 typically may be maintained by mopping with a detergent solution.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any inventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.

Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processes may be advantageous.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character. It is understood that the embodiments have been shown and described in the foregoing specification in satisfaction of the best mode and enablement requirements. It is understood that one of ordinary skill in the art could readily make a nigh-infinite number of insubstantial changes and modifications to the above-described embodiments and that it would be impractical to attempt to describe all such embodiment variations in the present specification. Accordingly, it is understood that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected.