Hand manipulated pusher apparatus with adjustably spaced teeth for cleaning uneven corrugated surfaces

Abstract

A manually manipulated shovel-like device for cleaning corrugated floors along the bottom of refrigerated containers and trailers having a blade, an elongate handle extending from the proximal end of the blade, and a plurality of elongate cleaning teeth extending perpendicularly from the opposed distal end of the blade, each of the cleaning teeth being individually slidably adjustable in both the lateral and the vertical directions with respect to the distal edge of the blade to enable the device to clean corrugated floors having unequally spaced apart corrugations of varying depth, joints between sections of corrugated panels, and uncorrugated sections near walls of the container, each of said teeth additionally being individually removable and replaceable from the blade so that teeth of various geometrical configurations and functional features may be used, including teeth tapered to a narrower distal tip, teeth of generally uniform width, and teeth having chisel-pointed edges, the blade optionally being curved to have a concave front side, the blade further optionally having frontwardly extending sidewalls.

1 . A hand manipulable apparatus for cleaning a corrugated surface of the type having essentially straight and parallel channels and ridges wherein the channels and ridges may be unevenly spaced apart across the corrugated surface, said device comprising: 
 a generally planar blade having a distal working edge, a proximal edge opposed thereto, and a pair of opposed side edges interconnecting between said distal edge and said proximal edge, said blade additionally having a front side and a rear side;    an elongate handle;    means for attaching said handle to extend outwardly from near the proximal edge of said blade in a generally coplanar relationship therewith;    a plurality of elongate tooth-like cleaning members each having a generally centrally disposed rectangular receiving means therethrough adapted for mounting each of said cleaning members to said blade;    one or more generally rectangular slots disposed near the distal edge of said blade and parallel thereto, said slots extending through said blade from the front side to the rear side thereof;    a plurality of means for non-rotatably attaching each of said cleaning members to extend outwardly from the distal edge of said blade in a generally coplanar relationship therewith, each of said cleaning member attaching means being captured in said receiving means of one of said cleaning members and further being captured in one of said rectangular slots of said blade, each of said cleaning member attaching means being adapted to be repeatedly loosened and tightened to enable each said cleaning member to be individually slidably repositioned along one of said rectangular slots in said blade parallel to the distal edge thereof, each said cleaning member being independently repositionable to an unlimited number of positions laterally along the distal edge of said blade and to be individually slidably repositioned along the rectangular receiving means thereof perpendicular to the distal edge of said blade to an unlimited number of extended positions relative to the distal edge of said blade, and,    each said cleaning member being fully retractable so that said cleaning member does not extend beyond the distal edge of said blade, enabling said device to clean a section of a surface having recessed channels or troughs of varying depths or a section of a surface having no such channels or troughs.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said blade is curved to increase retention of debris during use to push the debris from a corrugated surface, whereby the front side of said blade is concave and the rear side of said blade is convex.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said blade further comprising an opposed pair of generally planar sidewalls extending frontwardly from approximately the side edges thereof and spanning from approximately the proximal edge to approximately the distal edge thereof, and disposed perpendicularly thereto.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said cleaning members includes symmetrically tapered sides transitioning from a relatively wider proximal base to a relatively narrower distal tip, enabling said device to clean corrugated surfaces having channels or troughs that taper from relatively wider tops to relatively narrower bottoms.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said cleaning members has a generally rectangular shape with a proximal base and a distal tip of relatively the same proportions, enabling said device to clean corrugated surfaces having generally straight-sided channels.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said cleaning members includes chisel-pointed sides and a chisel-pointed tip to enable said device to clean ice from a corrugated surface.  
   
   
       7 . A shovel-like apparatus for cleaning a corrugated surface having essentially parallel channels and ridges, said channels and ridges may be non-uniformly spaced across the corrugated surface and of varying depth, and may include sections without channels, comprising: 
 a generally planar blade having a distal working edge, a proximal edge opposed thereto, and a pair of opposed side edges interconnecting between said distal edge and said proximal edge, said blade optionally being curved to have a convex front side and a concave rear side, said blade further optionally having an opposed pair of generally planar sidewalls extending frontwardly from approximately the side edges thereof, spanning from approximately the proximal edge to approximately the distal edge thereof, and disposed perpendicularly thereto;    an elongate handle;    means for attaching said handle to extend outwardly from near the proximal edge of said blade in a generally coplanar relationship therewith;    a plurality of elongate tooth-like cleaning members each having a generally centrally disposed longitudinally slotted receiving means therethrough adapted for mounting each of said cleaning members to said blade;    one or more generally rectangular slots disposed near the distal edge of said blade and parallel thereto, said slots extending through said blade from the front side to the rear side thereof;    a plurality of means for non-rotatably attaching each of said cleaning members to extend outwardly from the distal edge of said blade in a generally coplanar relationship therewith, each of said cleaning member attaching means being captured in said slotted receiving means of one of said cleaning members and further being captured in one of said rectangular slots of said blade, each of said cleaning member attaching means being adapted to be repeatedly loosened and tightened to enable each said cleaning member to be individually slidably repositioned along one of said rectangular slots in said blade parallel to the distal edge of said blade, the loosening and tightening of said cleaning member attaching means additionally enabling each said cleaning member to be individually slidably repositioned along the longitudinally slotted receiving means thereof perpendicular to the distal edge of said blade, each said cleaning member being independently repositionable to an unlimited number of positions along and relative to the distal edge of said blade including a fully retracted position such that said cleaning member does not extend beyond the distal edge of said blade.    
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of said cleaning members includes symmetrically tapered sides transitioning from a relatively wider proximal base to a relatively narrower distal tip, enabling said device to clean corrugated surfaces having channels or troughs that taper from relatively wider tops to relatively narrower bottoms.  
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of said cleaning members has a generally rectangular shape with a proximal base and a distal tip of relatively the same proportions, enabling said device to clean corrugated surfaces having generally straight-sided channels or troughs.  
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of said cleaning members includes chisel-pointed sides and a chisel-pointed tip to enable said device to clean ice from a corrugated surface.