Roller for a washbucket

Abstract

A roller for squeezing a liquid from a sponge board into a bucket has a hollow roller body with a raised surface profile and a multitude of passage openings for the liquid. The roller spans the width of the bucket and rotates on an axle that is seated in bearings connected to the rim of the bucket. The passage openings are surrounded by raised ridges and arranged at staggered positions relative to each other.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A roller for removing a liquid from a sponge board, comprising a hollow roller body with an outside circumference carrying a raised profile and a multitude of passage openings, and further comprising an axle, wherein: 
 said roller is adapted to be arranged over a wash bucket, to span a width of the wash bucket, and to rotate on said axle in support bearings connected to the wash bucket,    the passage openings are arranged in at least partially staggered positions relative to each other, and    the passage openings are surrounded at least partially by raised ridges.    
     
     
         2 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings comprise substantially angular geometric shapes.  
     
     
         3 . The roller of  claim 2 , wherein the angular geometric shapes are selected from the group consisting essentially of polygonal shapes and star-like shapes.  
     
     
         4 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings have substantially round ed shapes.  
     
     
         5 . The roller of  claim 4 , wherein the rounded shapes are selected from the group consisting essentially of circles and ovals.  
     
     
         6 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings comprise substantially elongated holes.  
     
     
         7 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings are substantially surrounded by the raised ridges.  
     
     
         8 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings are arranged in rows, and wherein the passage openings in each of the rows are staggered in relation to the passage openings of adjacent rows.  
     
     
         9 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the roller is assembled from half-shells.  
     
     
         10 . The roller of  claim 9 , wherein the half-shells are joined by connector elements selected from press-fitting and snap-fitting elements.  
     
     
         11 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the body includes a middle and two ends, wherein the roller has a diameter that widens with a conical taper from the middle to each of the two ends.  
     
     
         12 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings make up at least 5% of the outside circumference.  
     
     
         13 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the passage openings make up at least 10% of the outside circumference.  
     
     
         14 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the body includes two ends with a raised barrier running in a circle around each of the two ends.  
     
     
         15 . The roller of  claim 14 , wherein the raised barrier comprises one of a step, a conical slant, and a ring-shaped bulge.  
     
     
         16 . The roller of  claim 1 , wherein the axle comprises one of a single metallic axle and two separate metallic axle stubs.  
     
     
         17 . The roller of  claim 16 , wherein the axle has outward-facing stub-like ends coated with a polymer material.  
     
     
         18 . The roller of  claim 9 , wherein the axle comprises two separate metallic axle stubs, wherein said half-shells have integrally molded stub-like extensions with recesses to receive the metallic axle stubs, and wherein the recesses are closed off from an interior space of the roller by molded webs.  
     
     
         19 . The roller of  claim 18 , wherein the recesses are open at outward-facing ends of the integrally molded extensions and the metallic axle stubs are pushed into the recesses.  
     
     
         20 . A wash bucket comprising at least two rollers configured in accordance with  claim 1  and arranged substantially parallel to each other.  
     
     
         21 . A wash bucket comprising at least one roller configured in accordance with  claim 1  and at least one other roller arranged substantially parallel to said at least one roller.