Spray Mop

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/505,689, filed on Nov. 9, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/487,594, filed on Sep. 28, 2021, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,844,478, issued Dec. 19, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/543,969, filed Aug. 19, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,147,429, issued Oct. 19, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/600,465, filed May 19, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,383,502, issued Aug. 20, 2019, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

While mops, and spray mops, are known in the art, heretofore such spray mops have required the use of particular spray canisters specifically designed and sold to fit particular mops. As such, when one purchased a spray mop, the spray mop typically came with an initial canister, loaded with the appropriate cleaning solution, and when the solution in that canister was depleted, the canister had to be either refilled or replaced. Accordingly, retailers selling such mops had to stock several different items in addition to the initial mop (or mop kit), e.g., filled replacement canisters, as well as bottles of solution for refilling the canisters. In fact, at least one manufacturer supplies refills in various sized bottles and flexible bags having a refill spigot.

The presence of numerous items-mop kits, filled replacement canisters, refill bottles of solution in various sizes and configurations, as well as the existence of the very same cleaning solutions in various sized spray bottles-meant that retailers of such spray mops had to maintain a relatively large number of “stock keeping units” (“SKUs”), as each item, e.g., the initial mop kit, the canisters, the refills, and the various filled spray bottles, each had their own SKU. Maintaining a large number of diverse SKUs for what was, essentially, the same product (e.g., the cleaning fluid within the initial spray mop kit, the replacement canisters, the refills, and the standalone spray bottles, possibly of different sizes) meant that retailers had to deal with stocking, ordering, and shelf space issues.

The present invention pertains to a spray mop that is adapted to use the standard spray bottle of cleaning solution that is sold to those who do not have, or choose to use, a spray mop.

In particular, the present invention includes a mop with a handle that extends from a mop head at its distal end, typically having a cloth or other wipe attached thereto, up to its proximal head that typically includes a “trigger” lever that can be depressed by the user to cause a cleaning solution to be sprayed from a spray nozzle on the lower portion of the mop handle. Above the spray nozzle there is a receiver having a size and shape adapted to receive a standard retail container of the cleaning solution, wherein the standard retail container is typically sold with an attached sprayer.

In accordance with the present invention the sprayer affixed to the retail container can be unscrewed and removed by the user and replaced by a screw-on “mop adapter” that allows the retail container to be inverted and inserted into the receiver on the spray mop. The mop adapter includes a valve and an air vent, whereby when the retail container has been inserted into the receiver, cleaning solution is dispensed through the spray nozzle on the lower portion of the mop when the user depresses the trigger at the proximal end of the mop's handle, thereby directing a spray of the cleaning solution ahead of the mop.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the receiver further includes a spring-loaded retainer that is adapted to allow multiple sized retail containers to be inserted and retained therein.

Referring to, the spray mopof the present invention that is adapted to use standard retail spray bottle product, rather than canisters of cleaning solution, is shown. The spray mopincludes a handlehaving a mop headat its distal end and a handgrip, at its proximal end. As shown the handgripincludes a lever, or trigger, that a user can depress to cause cleaning solution to be sprayed from a nozzlethat is mounted beneath a receiver.

As shown in, the receiverhas a shape and configuration adapted to receive an inverted retail containerof cleaning solution. As will be explained hereinafter, the receiverfurther includes a spring-loaded retainer (See) that permits the receiverto hold various sizes of retail containersof cleaning solution.

As is common, the mopfurther includes a swivelthat allows the handleto be raised and lowered relative to the mop head. Also, those skilled in the art will recognize that the mop headis designed to hold a cleaning pad, such as a microfiber pad, with the microfiber pad being held in place by any suitable means, such as clamping or by using hook-and-loop (e.g., Velcro) fasteners on the underside of the head.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, various elements of the inventive mop, such as the mop head, and the internal mechanisms that allow and cause the cleaning solution to be dispensed are known in the art. However, the unique and inventive aspect of the present mopis that the receiverhas a shape and configuration specifically adapted to hold and retain standard retail containers of cleaning solution, as shown in.

Referring to, in order to use the mopof the present invention with a standard retail container of cleaning solution of the type typically sold with a sprayer top, the sprayer top is unscrewed from the retail container (i.e., the “spray bottle”), and it is replaced by a simple adapterhaving a centrally positioned valvealong with an offset air ventattached to a vent tube. The adapterincludes internal threadssized to fit the container of cleaning product, whereby the adaptercan be screwed onto the bottlewhen the top (which is often a sprayer) is removed. The adapteralso includes a seal, such as a resilient washer or a rubber O-ringto prevent leakage when the mopis assembled with a bottlein the receiver.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, when a retail bottle (or container) of spray solution is sold, with an attached sprayer, a “supply” tube extends down into the container so that when the sprayer is activated (by hand pumping or otherwise) cleaning solution is drawn from the bottom of the spray bottle. A vent hole in the sprayer top allows air to enter the spray bottle as cleaning solution is sprayed, whereby there will be no interruption of the spraying due to reduced pressure within the spray bottle.

When a standard spray bottleis used with the present mop, the retail containermust be inverted, as shown in. Thus, when used with the mop, the former top of the containeris inserted into the receiver, so the cleaning solution does not travel up a tube to the sprayer. However, air must still be introduced into the containerwhen it is used with the mop, whereby the vent tubeprovides a way for air to enter the containerabove the level of the cleaning solution therein so as to prevent decreased pressure from interrupting the flow of cleaning solution from the containerwhen it is used in the mopwhile also preventing cleaning solution from dripping from the container. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, when the leveris squeezed a rod within the handlepushes down and opens the valveand pumping cleaning solution from the containerto be sprayed from the nozzle.

Another feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in, which shows that the receiverholds a spring-loaded retainer(See) designed to securely hold various sized retail containers of cleaning solutions. By way of example, a particular retailer may sell retail spray bottles containing either 32 ounces or 40 ounces of cleaning solution. The spring-loaded retainerallows either the 32-ounce size, or the 40-ounce size, of the spray bottleto be held in the retainer. In addition, the spring-loaded retaineris configured to securely retains the bottleso that it does not fall out or leak in the event that the mopis dropped or inverted (e.g., to be hung up for storage) by a user.

A great advantage of the present invention is that particular cleaning product suppliers often package their cleaning products in identically shaped bottles. For example, For Life Products, LLC sells a number of floor cleaning products (e.g., hardwood floor cleaner, marble cleaner, vinyl floor cleaner, shine refresher, tile cleaner, and stone cleaner) under their Rejuvenate® trademark. In order for a retailer to carry each of those six cleaners in canisters for the spray mops heretofore known, an additional six SKUs would be required for that single supplier, and if canister refills (bottles and/or bags) are added, then even more SKUs would be required, and that is for only a single supplier. With the present invention, only a single new SKU is required for a mophaving a receiverwith an internal shape (“female”) that conforms to the manufacturer's bottle's shape (“male”). Further, by using the spring-loaded retainerit is possible for the mopof the present invention to be used with different sized containers.

In addition, the use of the mopof the present invention with the simple screw-on adapter() means that no reservoir has to be refilled, as on some of the spray mops previously known, as such refilling is not only messy, but may also require retail outlets to add additional SKUs for the refills.

Finally, as should be obvious to one skilled in the art, while each version of the mopof the present invention is specifically configured to have a receiverthat is specifically designed to act with a particular product container configuration, whereby each mopwould be specific to a particular manufacturer's containers, the design of a new mop, for a different manufacturer's containers can be readily accomplished by using the new container to mold a new receiverconfigured to fit that container.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.