AUTOMATIC-CLEANING TABLE

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention has been made by the members of MIMURA Seminar, College of Law, Nihon Univ., as a team. The invention relates to a table, and more particularly to a table configured to automatically clean a tabletop thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, tables in public areas, such as food courts have been cleaned manually by with cloths or paper towels. Such manual cleaning incurs significant labor costs, and therefore, tables capable of automatic-cleaning table using machinery rather than human labor, has been desired.

To meet this demand, automatic-cleaning table s employing lift-type or brush-type mechanisms have been developed, in countries, such as China. However, each type of conventional automatic-cleaning tables has faced in term of operability, durability, and continuous usability. Furthermore, robots equipped with artificial intelligence and configured to individually clean tables have also been proposed, but such robots are generally unsatisfactory in terms of cost efficiency and completeness of cleaning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic-cleaning table including a surface automatic renewal mechanism that solves the above-described problems.

To achieve this object, the automatic-cleaning table according to the present invention includes a table body; a loop-shaped tabletop engaged with the table body, the tabletop having water-repellent and oil-repellent surface treatments applied thereto; a pair of rollers disposed within the table body and configured to rotationally drive the tabletop; a cleaning unit disposed in the table body, through which the tabletop passes, wherein the cleaning unit includes a first rotating mop and a second rotating mop that are in contact with the tabletop and rotate in opposite directions, and wherein the first rotating mop is a wet mop and the second rotating mop is a dry mop; and a waste receiving tray disposed at an end portion of the table body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This invention will be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic-cleaning table, according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the automatic-cleaning table, according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an automatic-cleaning table, according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each drawing, the same reference numbers indicate the same or similar components passing through all the embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic-cleaning table 100 includes a table body 1, a loop-shaped tabletop 2, a pair of rollers 3 (shown in FIG. 2), a cleaning unit 4, a power cord 5, a control switch 6, a waste receiving tray 7, and a pair of rotating mops 9A and 9B (shown in FIG. 2) disposed within the cleaning unit 4. The tabletop 2 constitutes an upper surface of the table and is formed of a flexible sheet material in a continuous loop shape. The tabletop 2 has water-repellent and oil-repellent surface treatments applied thereto and is rotatably supported on an upper portion of the table body 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pair of rollers 3 are disposed within the table body 1, and are arranged at both ends of the table body 1 so as to contact a rear surface of the tabletop 2. Each roller 3 is formed of a material having a high coefficient of friction sufficient to transmit a rotational driving force to the tabletop 2, thereby causing circulation of the tabletop 2.

As also shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning unit 4 includes a first rotating mop 9A and a second rotating mop 9B. The first rotating mop 9A is a wet mop configured to contain moisture, and the second rotating mop 9B is a dry mop configured to absorb moisture. Each of the rotating mops 9A and 9B has a generally cylindrical in shape, and includes pile yarns capable of absorbing moisture on a surface thereof. Axial lengths of the first mop 9A and the second mop 9B are the same as the width of the tabletop 2 and both are arranged to contact the tabletop 2. The cleaning unit 4 has an openable and closable structure, and the first and second rotating mops 9A and 9B incorporated therein are detachably attached so as to be easily replaceable by a user.

The automatic-cleaning table 100 configured as described above operates as follows. First, the automatic-cleaning table 100 is brought into a drivable state by a power cord 5. When the control switch 6 is operated by a user, the pair of the rollers 3 are rotationally driven, and the tabletop 2 starts to move in the direction toward a waste receiving tray 7 (the arrow direction shown in the drawing). Due to the rotational motion of the rollers 3, crumbs and debris 8 on the tabletop 2 are conveyed toward an end portion of the table body 1, and fall into the waste receiving tray 7 by gravity. However, while some solid crumbs and debris 8 can be disposed of as described above, stains adhering to the surface of the tabletop 2 still remain on the tabletop 2 in this state.

Thereafter, when the driving of the automatic-cleaning table 100 is continued, that is, when the tabletop 2 continues to rotate further, the portion of the tabletop 2 to which stains are adhering passes through the cleaning unit 4. The first rotating mop (wet mop) 9A in the cleaning unit 4 is already rotating in a direction opposite to a movement direction of the tabletop 2 when the control switch 6 is pressed, and the portion of the tabletop 2 to which stains are adhering is effectively cleaned by the wet mop 9A. Subsequently, the second rotating mop (dry mop) 9B, disposed downstream rotates in a direction opposite to that of the mop 9A, wipes off residual moisture on the surface of the tabletop 2 after wet cleaning, and promotes drying.

After performing the cleaning as described above, the rotation of the tabletop 2 is continued. As a result, a cleaned portion of the tabletop 2 is exposed on the upper surface of the table body 1. With such a fully automatic-cleaning table, conventional manual cleaning becomes unnecessary.

While the invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Thus, shapes, size and physical relationship of each component are roughly illustrated so the scope of the invention should not be construed to be limited to them. Further, to clarify the components of the invention, hatching is partially omitted in the cross-sectional views.

Various other modifications of the illustrated embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art in reference to this description. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall within the true scope of the invention.