Grinding pad apparatus
AssigneeHusqvarna Construction Products North America, Inc.
InventorTchavdar V. Tchakarov
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A workpiece abrading pad apparatus is provided. In one aspect, a grinding pad apparatus employs a flexible pad, a flexible metallic reinforcement layer or ring, and multiple floor-grinding disks. In another aspect, a metallic reinforcement ring includes a central hole through which a fiber or foam pad is accessible. Another aspect employs a spring steel reinforcement ring to which multiple diamond-based abrasive disks or dots are attached. In yet another aspect, at least one floor-contacting disk attached to a reinforcement ring includes sintered powdered metal with diamond particles mixed therein. A further aspect employs abrasive, floor-contacting disks or dots including posts extending from backsides thereof for attachment to a reinforcing ring or layer.
Claims21
A pad apparatus comprising:
- (a) a rotatable flexible pad including a floor-facing surface;
- (b) a reinforcement layer attached to the floor-facing surface of the pad, the reinforcement layer including a flexible metallic material;
- (c) abrasive grinding tools attached to a floor-facing surface of the reinforcement layer;
- (d) the pad being thicker than a combined thickness of the reinforcement layer and a thickest one of the tools as viewed from a peripheral side of the pad;
- (e) the floor-facing surface at a rotational centerline of the pad being exposed through a central opening in the reinforcement layer;
- (f) the floor-facing surface of the pad being substantially flat;
- and
- (g) the tools covering only a minority of the floor-facing surface of the reinforcement layer.
A pad apparatus comprising:
- (a) a pad assembly comprising a flexible and fibrous pad;
- (b) the pad assembly further comprising a reinforcement ring attached to the pad, the ring comprising spring steel;
- (c) the pad assembly further comprising abrasive grinding tools attached to the ring, the tools comprising powdered metal and diamond particles;
- (d) a walk-behind or riding powered machine including a rotatable hub adapted to rotate the pad to grind a concrete, stone or terrazzo floor;
- (e) fasteners removably fastening the pad to the hub;
- (f) the ring being adapted to torsionally flex for allowing all of the tools to contact against the floor even when uneven floor conditions are encountered;
- (g) the ring including an opening through which a portion of the pad but not the hub is exposed;
- (h) the tools covering only a minority of a floor-facing surface of the ring;
- (i) an entire floor-facing surface of the pad being flat including at a central portion of the pad, and with fibrous material continuously extending across the entire floor-facing surface including at the central portion;
- (j) the powered machine rotating multiple pad assemblies;
- and
- (k) the pad being thicker than a combined thickness of the reinforcement ring and one of the tools as viewed from a peripheral side of the pad.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.