Apparatus for the cleaning of vehicle wheels

Claim 1

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; a rotating brush carried by said arm and engageable with a vehicle wheel upon movement of said arm toward said vehicle; entrainment means for jointly displacing said brush with said vehicle at least along a limited portion of the relative movement of said vehicle and said support means; and elevated pivoT means swingably connecting said arm to said support means for movement toward and away from said vehicle.

Claim 2

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; a rotating brush carried by said arm and engageable with a vehicle wheel upon movement of said arm toward said vehicle; entrainment means for jointly displacing said brush with said vehicle at least along a limited portion of the relative movement of said vehicle and said support means; and elevated pivoT means swingably connecting said arm to said support means for movement toward and away from said vehicle.

Claim 7

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; a brush on said arm rotatable about an axis parallel to the direction of relative movement of the vehicle and said support means, said brush being engageable with a vehicle wheel upon movement of said arm toward said vehicle and being provided with generally radial bristles of undulating profile substantially complementary to that of a wheel engaged thereby; and entrainment means for jointly displacing said brush with said vehicle at least along a limited portion of the relative movement of said vehicle and said support means.

Claim 8

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; a brush on said arm rotatable about an axis parallel to the direction of relative movement of the vehicle and said support means, said brush being engageable with a vehicle wheel upon movement of said arm toward said vehicle and being provided with generally radial bristles of undulating profile substantially complementary to that of a wheel engaged thereby; and entrainment means for jointly displacing said brush with said vehicle at least along a limited portion of the relative movement of said vehicle and said support means.

Claim 9

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; a rotating brush carried by said arm and engageable with a vehicle wheel upon movement of said arm toward said vehicle; entrainment for jointly displacing said brush with said vehicle at least along a limited portion of the relative movement of said vehicle and said support means; and a parallelogrammatic linkage coupling said brush with said arm for movement of said brush parallel to itself toward and away from said vehicle.

Claim 10

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; a rotating brush carried by said arm and engageable with a vehicle wheel upon movement of said arm toward said vehicle; entrainment for jointly displacing said brush with said vehicle at least along a limited portion of the relative movement of said vehicle and said support means; and a parallelogrammatic linkage coupling said brush with said arm for movement of said brush parallel to itself toward and away from said vehicle.

Claim 12

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; an arm pivotally mounted on said support means for swinging laterally toward and away from said vehicle; link means articulated to a free end of said arm; a rotating brush carried by said link means on said free end for contact with a vehicle wheel upon a swinging of said arm toward the vehicle; first fluid-operable actuating means for swinging said arm inwardly toward the vehicle; entrainment means on said link means engageable with a wheel approached by said brush for maintaining the latter in contact with said wheel during relative displacement of said support means and the vehicle thereby displacing said link means relatively to said arm; valve means operable in a terminal position of entrainment for reversing said first actuating means to swing said arm outwardly into a withdrawn position with disengagement of said entrainment means from said wheel; and second fluid-opeRably actuating means coupling said arm with said link means for exerting upon the latter a force resisting relative displacement thereof by said entrainment means, said second actuating means being effective upon disengagement of said entrainment means from said wheel to restore said link means to a normal position relative to said arm.

Claim 13

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; an arm pivotally mounted on said support means for swinging laterally toward and away from said vehicle; link means articulated to a free end of said arm; a rotating brush carried by said link means on said free end for contact with a vehicle wheel upon a swinging of said arm toward the vehicle; first fluid-operable actuating means for swinging said arm inwardly toward the vehicle; entrainment means on said link means engageable with a wheel approached by said brush for maintaining the latter in contact with said wheel during relative displacement of said support means and the vehicle thereby displacing said link means relatively to said arm; valve means operable in a terminal position of entrainment for reversing said first actuating means to swing said arm outwardly into a withdrawn position with disengagement of said entrainment means from said wheel; and second fluid-opeRably actuating means coupling said arm with said link means for exerting upon the latter a force resisting relative displacement thereof by said entrainment means, said second actuating means being effective upon disengagement of said entrainment means from said wheel to restore said link means to a normal position relative to said arm.

Claim 14

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; actuating means for moving said arm inwardly toward said vehicle from an outwardly withdrawn normal position; a rotating brush at the level of the wheels of said vehicle; suspension means including said arm carrying said brush on said support means for lateral inward and outward movement with freedom of limited displacement in a direction parallel to the relative motion of said support means and said vehicle; switch means trippable by said vehicle in a predetermined relative position of said support means and a vehicle wheel for operating said actuating means to move said arm inwardly into a working position of said brush next to said wheel; and entrainment means on said free end effective in said working position for engaging said wheel and maintaining said brush in contact with said wheel over its range of said limited displacement.

Claim 15

An apparatus for the cleaning of the wheels of an automotive vehicle, comprising support means alongside a vehicle station, said support means and a vehicle at said station being relatively shiftable longitudinally of the vehicle; at least one arm movably mounted on said support means and displaceable toward and away from said vehicle; actuating means for moving said arm inwardly toward said vehicle from an outwardly withdrawn normal position; a rotating brush at the level of the wheels of said vehicle; suspension means including said arm carrying said brush on said support means for lateral inward and outward movement with freedom of limited displacement in a direction parallel to the relative motion of said support means and said vehicle; switch means trippable by said vehicle in a predetermined relative position of said support means and a vehicle wheel for operating said actuating means to move said arm inwardly into a working position of said brush next to said wheel; and entrainment means on said free end effective in said working position for engaging said wheel and maintaining said brush in contact with said wheel over its range of said limited displacement.