Automatic Vehicle Washing Plant (Patent No: 682386)

Inventor: Auto-Magic Industries Ltd.

Location: Edmonton

Comments: N/A

Description:

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An automatic vehicle cleansing station comprising a moveable carrier supporting cleansing means, drive means for repeatedly reciprocating said carrier back and forth between fixed limit positions, an interval timer, a drive control means and a cleansing control means each operable on actuation of said timer respectively to energize said drive means to move said carrier and to operate a sequence of cleansing operations by said cleansing means, said cleansing control means being responsive to termination of said interval to stop said cleansing operations, a drive stop control means responsive to passage of said carrier over a parking position intermediate said limit positions to stop said drive means, and means to hold said stop control means inoperative during the whole of said interval.

2. A station as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said drive means is operative to traverse said carrier a pre determined number of times from one limit position to the other during said interval so that said stop control means stops said carrier while it is moving in the same direction as when it started.

3. A station as claimed in Claim 1 having an electrical supply and electrically powered drive means, and wherein said drive control means comprise a first circuit, a first electromagnetic relay energizeable from said supply on actuation of said timer and effective to connect said supply with said first circuit, a second circuit, a second electromagnetic relay energizeable from said first circuit and effective to connect said supply with said second circuit to energize said drive means, said drive stop control means comprising a third circuit connected with said second circuit for holding said second electromagnetic relay self energized, and comprising a normally closed biased switch connected in series in said third circuit, and switch actuating means arranged to open said normally closed switch whenever said carrier passes over said parking position, said stop control means being ineffective to de-energize said second electromagnetic relay and to stop said drive except when said first electromagnetic relay has been de-energized by said timer upon termination of said interval to disconnect said supply from said first circuit.

4. In an automatic programmed washing station, the combination with a moveable arch structure having a plurality of hydraulic nozzles for jetting liquids under pressure, of an interval timer, programming means to control a sequence of liquid jetting operations each having a predetermined duration, said sequence commencing upon actuation of said timer and terminating coextensive with said interval, drive programming means to control the movement of said arch to perform a predetermined number of traversals between spaced apart limit positions at substantially constant speed commencing with the start of said interval and continuing independently of said drive programming means after the termination of said interval and stop means responsive to traversal of said carrier over a predetermined parking position intermediate said limit positions effective to stop said carrier at said parking position after the termination of said interval.

5. A station as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said arch moves a distance corresponding to an even number of traversals before coming to a stop at said parking position.


6. In a vehicle washing station, the combination of a floor-supported wheeled frame guided for movement over and along a vehicle stationing area, drive means for reciprocably moving the frame between fixed limit positions at opposite ends of said area, a plurality of hydraulic nozzles carried on the frame arranged to jet streams of liquid therefrom upon a portion of said vehicle stationing area, a supply of cleansing liquid and a supply of water, means to select either water alone or a mixture of water and said cleansing liquid, pump means for jetting a selected liquid under pressure as streams from said nozzles, an interval timer, a programming unit actuated on commencement of said interval effective to energize said drive means and to selectably jet liquids according to a predetermined sequence during said interval, and drive stop control means including stop means fixed on said floor and responsive to passage of said frame over said stop means to stop said drive means, and means to hold said drive stop control means inoperative during the duration of said interval.


7. A station as claimed in Claim 6 wherein said drive means are electrically powered and reversing stop means are fixed on said floor at opposite ends of said area and a single pole two-position switch on said frame is actuated in turn by said reversing stop means to reverse the direction of applied drive, and wherein said drive stop control means comprise an electromagnetic relay having its winding energized coextensively with said interval to






energize said drive means~ and said relay is also energized by a self-holding circuit which includes a normally closed switch arranged to be opened whenever said frame is passing over said stop means, whereby to cause de-energization of said drive means provided that said interval has expired.