Hand-held cleaning apparatus

Abstract

Hand-held cleaning apparatus suitable for smooth and continuous surfaces comprises a base fitted with a handle that can be joined to a cloth. The base is composed of at least a first and a second half-frame hinged together that can together form one configuration that is flat, wherein the half-frames are held aligned by a retaining device. A second angled configuration can release or engage a cloth that has pockets.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A hand-held cleaning apparatus comprising a base fitted with a handle that can be joined to a cloth, characterized by the fact that said base is composed of at least a first and a second half-frame hinged together that can together form one configuration that is flat, where said half-frames are held aligned by a retaining device, and a second angled configuration that can release/engage a cloth that has pockets. 
     
     
         2 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 1  characterized by the fact that said handle is joined to the main half-frame. 
     
     
         3 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 1  characterized by the fact that said retaining device, hinged to said second half-frame, has a cut out piece in the form of a groove that can engage a protrusion in the form of a notch on said main half-frame. 
     
     
         4 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 1  characterized by the fact that said retaining device has a lever for disengaging said protrusion of said main half-frame, where said lever is near said handle and can be worked while the handle is gripped. 
     
     
         5 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 1  characterized by the fact that said retaining device has a flexible plate underneath said main half-frame. 
     
     
         6 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 5  characterized by the fact that said flexible plate has a configuration that is pre-loaded by the main half-frame during the coupling of said retaining device to said main half-frame. 
     
     
         7 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 6  characterized by the fact that said flexible plate maintains a residual preload also when the alignment between the two half-frames takes place. 
     
     
         8 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 7  characterized by the fact that with the flat configuration of the base the coupling between the retaining device and said main half-frame is kept taut by part of said residual preload of the flexible plate. 
     
     
         9 . The hand-held cleaning apparatus according to  claim 1  characterized by the fact that the two half-frames when in an angled position their respective ends are at a distance that is slightly less than the distance between the entrances of the pockets in the cloth that is engaged on the respective base.