Rotary screen cleaner   

Abstract: The present invention is to provide a rotary screen cleaner which includes a housing, a rotating element, a cloth supporting block and a cleaning cloth. The housing defines a receiving space therein and is formed with an opening on one side. The rotating element is pivotally provided in the housing and has one end outside the housing for being turned by a user. The cloth supporting block is made of an elastic material and is fixed in the receiving space, and has one end passing through the opening and extending out of the housing. The cleaning cloth is made of an elastic material and wrapped around the rotating shaft and the cloth supporting block. Thus, the user is able to use the cleaning cloth partially exposed outside the opening to clean a screen, without causing the screen to be scratched by the cleaner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to provide a screen cleaner, more particularly to a rotary screen cleaner having a rotating element pivotally disposed in a housing and a cloth supporting block disposed adjacent to an opening on one side of the housing, so as to enable a user to use a cleaning cloth made of an elastic material and wrapped around the rotating shaft and the cloth supporting block to clean a screen, but without scratching the screen accordingly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

After a screen (e.g., an LCD screen) is used for a while, the screen surface is usually attached with dust particles or is soiled with grease or sweat due to the user\'s touch; consequently, the images displayed on the screen cannot be clearly viewed. To solve this problem, the user must clean the screen whenever needed, so as to remove the dust and dirt from the screen.

Conventionally, a screen is cleaned by first wetting a cleaning cloth with a cleaning fluid and then wiping the screen surface with the cleaning cloth. However, this cleaning method has several disadvantages. For example, the sheet-shaped cleaning cloth is difficult to use for cleaning. Moreover, when wiping the screen with the cleaning cloth, the irregular surface of the user\'s hand tends to cause uneven application of force, so the cleaning effect is incomplete. The user has to spend a lot of time wiping the screen repeatedly to achieve the expected cleaning effect, which is very inconvenient.

To overcome the aforesaid drawbacks of the wiping cloth, screen cleaners have been developed to facilitate the cleaning of screens and thereby save users\' time. FIG. 1 shows a screen cleaner 1 common on the market, wherein the screen cleaner 1, also known as a roller-type cleaner, includes a housing 10, a front roller 11, a rear roller (not shown), a turning wheel 12, and a cleaning cloth 13. The housing 10, which is generally made of a rigid plastic material, defines a receiving space therein and is formed with an opening 100 on one side. The front roller 11 is also made of a rigid plastic material and is pivotally mounted on the housing 10, or more specifically at the opening 100 of the housing 10, such that a portion of the front roller 11 protrudes from the housing 10. The rear roller, on the other hand, is pivotally provided in the housing 10 and has one end extending out of the housing 10 to connect with the turning wheel 12. As shown in FIG. 1, the turning wheel 12 is located outside the housing 10 and is configured mainly to be turned by the user. The cleaning cloth 13 has an annular shape and is wrapped around the front roller 11 and the rear roller. When the turning wheel 12 is turned, the rear roller is driven to rotate, thereby driving the cleaning cloth 13 to roll. Once the portion of the cleaning cloth 13 that is exposed outside the housing 10 is soiled after long-term use, the user can turn the turning wheel 12 to expose a clean portion of the cleaning cloth 13 from the housing 10, so that the cleaner 1 is good again for cleaning screens.

The process of using the screen cleaner 1 to remove dust and dirt from a screen is generally carried out in the following manner. To begin with, the screen is sprayed with a cleaning liquid. Then, the cleaner 1, held in such a way that the cleaning cloth 13 wrapped around the front roller 11 keeps in contact with the screen surface, is moved back and forth over the screen surface to remove the dust and dirt thereon until the screen surface is clean. While the cleaner 1 is more convenient than the conventional hand-held cleaning cloth, the cleaner 1 may scrape the screen and leave scratches on the screen surface if the rigid edges of the front roller 11 (e.g., the left edge of the front roller 11 shown in FIG. 1) are accidentally pressed against the screen surface during the wiping action. Should it happen, the screen surface which is supposed to be cleaned will be damaged instead in the cleaning process, which is highly undesirable. If, in order to remove tough stains on the screen, the cleaner 1 is pressed on the screen with a relatively large force and moved back and forth over the screen surface, the rigid plastic of the front roller 11 will damage the screen surface even more seriously.

Therefore, the main issue to be addressed by the present invention is to improve the conventional screen cleaners so that a screen being cleaned by such a cleaner will not be scratched or be damaged by pressing too hard on the screen during the cleaning process. It is also desired that the conventional screen cleaners be improved in terms of operational convenience.

SUMMARY

In view of, the aforesaid drawbacks of the conventional screen cleaners, the inventor of the present invention put sustained effort into research and experiment and finally succeeded in developing a rotary screen cleaner as disclosed herein. The rotary screen cleaner not only features high cleaning efficiency and operational convenience, but also will not scratch the screens being cleaned as will the conventional cleaners.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rotary screen cleaner which includes a housing, a rotating element, a cloth supporting block, and a cleaning cloth. The housing defines a receiving space therein and is formed with an opening on one side. The rotating element includes a rotating shaft and a turning wheel. The rotating shaft is pivotally provided in the housing and has one end connected to the turning wheel such that the turning wheel is outside the housing and can be turned by a user. The cloth supporting block is made of an elastic material and is fixed in the receiving space. The cloth supporting block has one end passing through the opening and extending out of the housing. The cleaning cloth has an annular shape and is wrapped around the rotating shaft and the cloth supporting block in such a way that the cleaning cloth is partially exposed outside the opening. As the cloth supporting block is made of an elastic material, it deforms elastically when subjected to external force. Therefore, the cloth supporting block can comply with but will not scratch the screen being cleaned. In addition, the structural features of the present invention significantly increase the assembly speed of the cleaner and effectively reduce the number and complexity of its components (taking the components of the conventional front roller for comparison, for example).

It is another object of the present invention to provide the foregoing rotary screen cleaner, wherein the housing is composed of a first housing member and a second housing member. The first housing member has one side concavely formed with a first receiving space. The first housing member also has one side which is adjacent to the first receiving space and formed with a first opening. The second housing member has one side concavely formed with a second receiving space and another side corresponding in position to the first opening and formed with a second opening. The first and the second openings are connected to form the opening of the housing through which one end of the cloth supporting block passes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide the foregoing rotary screen cleaner, wherein the first housing member has another side which is adjacent to the first opening and formed with a first groove, and the second housing member is provided with a second groove corresponding in position to the first groove. Once the second housing member and the first housing member are connected as a whole, the rotating element and the cloth supporting block are clamped between the first housing member and the second housing member such that one end of the rotating shaft passes through the first and the second grooves and extends out of the housing to connect with the turning wheel.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide the foregoing rotary screen cleaner, wherein the housing is provided therein with at least one stopper adjacent to the opening. In addition, the cloth supporting block has two sides partially located inside the housing, wherein each of the two sides partially located inside the housing is protrudingly provided with an engaging block pressed against the corresponding stopper to secure the cloth supporting block in the receiving space.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide the foregoing rotary screen cleaner, wherein the rotary screen cleaner further includes a pressing element. The pressing element has one end fixed to an inner side of the housing and an opposite end pressing against and thereby applying a force to the cleaning cloth, such that the cleaning cloth is wrapped tightly around the cloth supporting block.

The structure as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects, and advantages of the present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional screen cleaner;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor of the present invention has long been engaged in the research and development and sales of cleaning devices and thus found that the conventional screen cleaners tend to scratch the screens being cleaned. Although some manufacturers have endeavored to find solutions to this problem, the results so far leave much to be desired. Hence, the inventor of the present invention contemplated replacing the front roller of the prior art devices with an elastic block and, after repeated trials, finally obtained the disclosed screen cleaner, which will not scratch the screens being cleaned and can be made without incurring high production costs.

Referring to FIG. 2 for a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a rotary screen cleaner 2 includes a housing 20, a rotating element 21 (see FIG. 3), a cloth supporting block 22, and a cleaning cloth 23. The housing 20 is composed of a first housing member 200 and a second housing member 201. As shown in FIG. 3, the first housing member 200 has one side concavely provided with a first receiving space 200a. The first housing member 200 also has one side which is adjacent to the first receiving space 200a and formed with a first opening 200b. In addition, the first housing member 200 has one side which is adjacent to the first opening 200b and formed with a first groove 200c. The first housing member 200 further has an inner side provided with a pivot seat 200d at a position corresponding to the first groove 200c. Besides, the inner side of the first housing member 200 is provided with two stoppers 200e adjacent to the first opening 200b. Similarly, the second housing member 201 has one side concavely formed with a second receiving space 201a. The second housing member 201 also has one side corresponding in position to the first opening 200b and formed with a second opening 201b. In addition, the second housing member 201 is provided with a second groove 201c corresponding in position to the first groove 200c. It should be pointed out that the second housing member 201 may also be provided with stoppers 201e (see FIG. 4) at positions corresponding to the stoppers 200e of the first housing member 200. When the first and the second housing members 200, 201 are connected, the first receiving space 200a and the second receiving space 201a are connected and jointly form a receiving space of the housing 20 (see FIG. 2). Meanwhile, the first opening 200b and the second opening 201b are connected and jointly form an opening 20b of the housing 20 (see FIG. 2).

In this preferred embodiment, referring to FIG. 3, the rotating element 21 includes a rotating shaft 210 and a turning wheel 211. The rotating shaft 210 is connected to the turning wheel 211 at one end and is provided with a supporting wheel 212 at the other end, wherein the axis of the rotating shaft 210 passes through the centers of the turning wheel 211 and the supporting wheel 212. The supporting wheel 212 is pivotally provided at the pivot seat 200d and has one side provided with a ratchet wheel 213. A claw 200f is provided in the pivot seat 200d and corresponds in position to the ratchet wheel 213 such that the ratchet wheel 213 (and hence the rotating element 21) can only be rotated in one direction. Thus, a soiled portion of the cleaning cloth 23, once rolled into the housing 20 (see FIG. 2), is prevented from being rolled out of the housing 20 inadvertently in the opposite direction. The portion of the rotating shaft 210 that is adjacent to the turning wheel 211 is pivotally provided in the first and the second grooves 200c, 201c, thus allowing the turning wheel 211 to stay outside the housing 20 (see FIG. 2) and be turned by a user. The cloth supporting block 22 is made of an elastic material. A manufacturer may make the cloth supporting block 22 out of rubber or silicone according to practical needs or cost considerations. However, the present invention is not limited to such materials. All changes which are based on the present invention and easily conceivable by a person skilled in the art should fall within the scope of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 2, the cloth supporting block 22 is fixed in the receiving space of the housing 20 and has one end passing through the opening 20b and extending out of the housing 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the cloth supporting block 22 has two sides which are partially located in the housing 20 (i.e., the first housing member 200 and the second housing member 201), and the two sides partially located in the housing 20 are each protrudingly provided with an engaging block 220. The engaging blocks 220 are pressed respectively against the stoppers 200e (and the stoppers 201e as shown in FIG. 4). The cleaning cloth 23 has an annular shape and is wrapped around the rotating shaft 210 of the rotating element 21 and the cloth supporting block 22, such that the cleaning cloth 23 is partially exposed outside the opening 20b (see FIG. 2) for wiping a screen. When the second housing member 201 and the first housing member 200 are connected to form the housing 20, the rotating element 21 and the cloth supporting block 22 are clamped between the first housing member 200 and the second housing member 201.

Referring to FIG. 2, by virtue of the structural features of the preferred embodiment described above, even if the user presses the cleaner 2 on a screen (e.g., an LCD screen) with a relatively large force or inadvertently brings the edges of the cloth supporting block 22 into contact with the screen, the cleaner 2 will not scratch the screen (or damage the screen by pressing the cleaner 2 thereon) during the cleaning process, for the cloth supporting block 22 is made of an elastic material and will deform elastically when subjected to external force. Thus, the user can clean the screen safely with the cleaner 2 without fear that the screen will be damaged. Moreover, the structural features of the present invention substantially increase the assembly speed of the cleaner 2 and effectively reduce the number and complexity of its components.

Besides, in order to wrap the cleaning cloth 23 tightly around the cloth supporting block 22 and prevent the cleaning cloth 23 from sliding during the cleaning process, a pressing element 40 is additionally provided in the housing 20. As shown in FIG. 4, the pressing element 40 has one end fixed to the inner side of the first housing member 200 and the other end bent into a bent portion 400. The bent portion 400 presses against the cleaning cloth 23 and thereby applies a force thereto such that the cleaning cloth 23 is wrapped tightly and compliantly around the cloth supporting block 22. Hence, even if the cleaner 2 is moved back and forth rigorously or rapidly over a screen, the cleaning cloth 23 will not slacken or slide. Consequently, the degree to which the cleaning cloth 23 complies with the screen being cleaned is substantially increased.