US 5,388,305 AGranted

Vacuum buffer

AssigneeSurtec, Inc.

InventorWilliam A. Fields

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Abstract

A high speed propane power buffer is provided with a dust evacuation system. A peripheral skirt is telescopically depended from a hood overlying the high speed rotating buffer pad. This skirt, at the extremity adjacent the surface to be polished, is supplied with angularly inclined grooves sloped away from the radial disposition with respect to the buffer. These angularly inclined grooves slope from the outside of the skirt to the inside of the skirt in the direction of buffer disc rotation at the disc periphery and are maintained by the telescoping skirt immediately adjacent the surface being polished. Entrained air is drawn at the surface being polished in the direction of buffer disc rotation from the outside of the skirt to the inside of the skirt through the slanting louvers establishing a buffer dust confining boundary at the depending peripheral skirt immediately adjacent the floor. Overlying the rotating buffer disc, the protective hood defines a concavity between the top of the buffer and the underside of the protective hood. This concavity can expand in the direction of buffer rotation from a narrow buffer to hood dimension circumferentially beyond a hood dust collection aperture to a large buffer to hood dimension at the dust collection aperture. When buffer rotation occurs, air is entrained by the upper surface of the rotating buffer disk. This accumulates air and stalls at the large hood volume overlying the top surface of the buffer immediate the dust collection aperture of the protective hood.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A dust evacuation system for a high speed power buffer wherein said buffer includes a chassis mounted for movement along a directed path over a surface to be polished, a motor mounted to said chassis, a high speed polishing buffer depending from said chassis driven by said motor in rotating contact with the floor along a preselected direction of rotation, and a protective hood mounted to said chassis and depending to cover said high speed rotating buffer, the dust evacuation system comprising in combination:

a peripheral skirt depended from said hood immediate the periphery of said buffer;
said skirt, at the extremity adjacent the surface to be polished having grooves, said grooves inclined with respect to the radial direction of rotation of said buffer pad, said grooves inclined to slant from outside of the skirt to the inside of the skirt in the direction of buffer disc rotation at the disc periphery, said grooves as inclined co-acting with said buffer when rotating to entrain air in the direction of buffer disc rotation from the outside of the skirt to the inside of the skirt;
a dust collector aperture adjacent said buffer defined in said hood for the outlet of dust from inside said hood to the exterior of said hood;
a deflector for deflecting air under positive pressure to a dust collector inlet, said deflector protruding into an expanded volume of said protective hood between the bottom of said hood and the top of said rotating disc;
a vacuum pump having an inlet drawing suction on the dust collector inlet deflector and an output for discharging air under positive pressure;
means for collecting said dust communicated to said vacuum pump at said output;
and,
said peripheral skirt depended from said hood immediate the periphery of said buffer is telescopically suspended from said hood for towards and away movement with respect to said floor from said protective hood.

5 more elements

A dust boundary for a high speed power buffer wherein said buffer includes a chassis for movement along a directed path over a surface to be polished, a motor mounted to said chassis, a high speed polishing buffer pad depending from said chassis driven by said motor, a protective hood mounted to said chassis and depending to cover said high speed rotating buffer, and a dust evacuation system communicated through said hood for evacuating dust contaminated air from under said hood overlying said rotating buffer, the improvement comprising:

a peripheral skirt depended from said hood immediate the periphery of said buffer, said skirt mounted for towards and away movement from a surface being polished by said buffer;
said skirt, at the extremity adjacent the surface to be polished having grooves inclined with respect to the radial direction of said buffer pad, said grooves having angularly inclined grooves slanting from outside the skirt with respect to the radial direction to the inside of the skirt in the direction of buffer disc rotation at the disc periphery, said grooves as inclined co-acting with said buffer when rotating to entrain air in the direction of buffer disc rotation from the outside of the skirt to the inside of the skirt to establish a dust boundary is established at said skirt between said buffer under said protective hood and the exterior of said skirt;
and,
said peripheral skirt depended from said hood immediate the periphery of said buffer is telescopically suspended from said hood for towards and away movement with respect to said floor from said protective hood.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.