Sprayless surface cleaner

A bar jet assembly, comprising:

• a substantially flat base plate having spaced apart substantially parallel and planar input and output surfaces interconnected by a substantially planar peripheral edge surface oriented crosswise to the input and output surfaces and an elongated cleaning fluid discharge chamber in communication with both the input and output surfaces, the discharge chamber having a relatively long and wide opening in communication with the fluid input surface and terminating adjacent to one side of the chamber in a relatively shorter and narrower discharge slot that is in communication with the fluid output surface;
• a leading cover plate having spaced apart and substantially parallel planar mounting and operating surfaces that are interconnected along a first edge by a substantially planar cleaning fluid retrieval slot surface that is oriented crosswise to both the mounting and operating surfaces and along an opposite second edge by a substantially planar discharge slot leading surface, the mounting surface of the leading cover plate being securely fixed to the output surface of the base plate with the discharge slot leading surface being adjacent to and substantially contiguous with an edge of the base plate discharge slot opposite from the discharge chamber of the base plate, and the retrieval slot surface being adjacent to and substantially contiguous with the crosswise peripheral edge surface of the base plate;
• and
• a following cover plate having spaced apart and substantially parallel planar mounting and skid surfaces that are interconnected along a first edge by a substantially planar discharge slot following surface, the mounting surface of the following cover plate being securely fixed to the output surface of the base plate with the discharge slot following surface adjacent to and substantially contiguous with an edge of the base plate discharge slot opposite from the leading cover plate and spaced away from the discharge slot leading surface of the leading cover plate.

A cleaning head, comprising:

• a bar jet assembly, comprising:
• i) a base plate having opposing cleaning fluid input and output surfaces and a cleaning fluid discharge chamber communicating therebetween,
• ii) one or more cover plates coupled to the fluid output surface of the base plate,
• iii) a cleaning fluid discharge orifice formed by the one or more cover plates and communicating with the base plate discharge slot,
• iv) a cleaning head operating surface formed opposite from the base plate and adjacent to the cleaning fluid discharge orifice, and
• v) a cleaning fluid retrieval slot surface spaced apart from the cleaning fluid discharge orifice by the cleaning head operating surface;
• and
• a nozzle that is structured for coupling the cleaning fluid discharge chamber of the bar jet assembly base plate to a supply of pressurized cleaning fluid, and that is structured for coupling the waste cleaning fluid retrieval slot surface to a vacuum source for retrieving a quantity of soiled cleaning fluid under vacuum.

A cleaning head, comprising:

• a bar jet assembly, comprising:
• i) a base plate having spaced apart input and output surfaces interconnected by a peripheral edge surface oriented crosswise to the input and output surfaces and an elongated cleaning fluid discharge chamber in communication with the input surface and terminating in an elongated base plate discharge slot communicating with the fluid output surface, and
• ii) one or more relatively thin cover plates secured to the fluid output surface of the base plate and forming a cleaning fluid discharge orifice in communication with the cleaning fluid discharge chamber through the base plate discharge slot, the one or more cover plates having a cleaning fluid retrieval slot surface spaced apart from the cleaning fluid discharge orifice by a substantially planar cleaning head operating surface;
• and
• a nozzle coupled to the bar jet assembly, the cleaning head being structured for coupling a source of pressurized cleaning fluid to the bar jet assembly cleaning fluid discharge chamber, and being further structured for coupling a vacuum source in communication with the bar jet assembly cleaning fluid retrieval slot surface.

A cleaning head, comprising:

• a bar jet assembly, comprising:
• i) a substantially flat base plate having spaced apart substantially parallel and planar input and output surfaces interconnected by a substantially planar peripheral edge surface oriented crosswise to the input and output surfaces and an elongated cleaning fluid discharge chamber in communication with both the input and output surfaces, the discharge chamber having a relatively long and wide opening in communication with the fluid input surface and terminating adjacent to one side of the chamber in a relatively shorter and narrower discharge slot that is in communication with the fluid output surface;
• ii) a leading cover plate having spaced apart and substantially parallel planar mounting and operating surfaces that are interconnected along a first edge by a substantially planar cleaning fluid retrieval slot surface that is oriented crosswise to both the mounting and operating surfaces and along an opposite second edge by a substantially planar discharge slot leading surface, the mounting surface of the leading cover plate being securely fixed to the output surface of the base plate with the discharge slot leading surface being adjacent to and substantially contiguous with an edge of the base plate discharge slot opposite from the discharge chamber of the base plate, and the retrieval slot surface being adjacent to and substantially contiguous with the crosswise peripheral edge surface of the base plate;
• and
• iii) a following cover plate having spaced apart and substantially parallel planar mounting and skid surfaces that are interconnected along a first edge by a substantially planar discharge slot following surface, the mounting surface of the following cover plate being securely fixed to the output surface of the base plate with the discharge slot following surface adjacent to and substantially contiguous with an edge of the base plate discharge slot opposite from the leading cover plate and spaced away from the discharge slot leading surface of the leading cover plate;
• and
• a rotary cleaning plate having a cleaning fluid and soil retrieval slot machined therethrough and being structured for being coupled to a vacuum source, and a corresponding cleaning fluid delivery slot machined therethrough and being structured for being coupled to a source of pressurized cleaning fluid;
• and
• wherein the input surface of the bar jet assembly base plate is coupled to the rotary cleaning plate with the cleaning fluid discharge chamber being in communication with the cleaning fluid delivery slot and the crosswise-oriented peripheral edge surface being in communication with the corresponding cleaning fluid and soil retrieval slot.

A method for cleaning a surface, the method comprising:

• placing a cleaning head operating surface area in contact with a surface to be cleaned;
• applying a cleaning liquid to the surface to be cleaned by flowing the cleaning liquid out of a cleaning fluid discharge chamber formed in a base plate and communicating with a fluid output surface thereof, through a cleaning fluid discharge orifice communicating with the base plate discharge chamber and formed by one or more cover plates coupled to the fluid output surface of the base plate, and in substantially continuous film over a portion of the cleaning head operating surface area formed opposite from the base plate and adjacent to the cleaning fluid discharge orifice;
• and
• retrieving the cleaning liquid via a vacuum retrieval slot formed by the one or more cover plates and being spaced apart from the cleaning fluid discharge orifice by the cleaning head operating surface.