Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Patent
1996-01-22
1997-06-17
Moore, Chris K.
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
15344, 15350, 15393, A47L 528
Patent
active
056385722
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electric broom for household use.
PRIOR ART
Electrical apparatuses commonly denominated electric brooms which are in practice vacuum cleaners with a particular sucking head designed for sucking dust from the floor are known. For example, apparatuses of this kind are described by EP-A-0192624, EP-A-0611544, FR-A-2213758, U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,638 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,892. Said sucking head normally comprises a boxed body provided with a sucking mouth surrounded by brushes of various shapes and is connected in a jointed manner to an elongated handle. In use the head is passed over the floor so as to permit the suction mouth to suck in the dirt spread on the floor. The jointed connected allows that the sucking head remains horizontal on the floor, irrespective of the inclination of the handle, thereby ensuring the desired suction effect. The actual vacuum cleaner unit can be housed in a separate truck connected at the head by a suction tube constituting the above mentioned elongated handle or it can be mounted directly on the handle and optionally on the sucking head itself.
These apparatuses serve certainly for cleaning the floor but despite their name of electric broom they are not used for sweeping. None of them is capable of performing the typical action of a broom which is to collect, move and accumulate the dirt on the floor. Consequently the manner of using said apparatuses is significantly different from the manner of using a broom.
Summing up, the availability of one of the apparatuses commonly called electric brooms does not allow doing without a conventional broom.
In the following, the term "broom" will be used in strict sense, i.e., only for devices or apparatuses that include a stick handle fixed to a body provided with cleaning means such as bristles or the like, all these elements being arranged in such a manner as to allow that the broom is used for sweeping.
The only known electric broom in this sense is described in EP-A-0605280. It has a handle rigidly fixed to a broom body provided with cleaning bristles. An electric vacuum cleaner unit, housed in the broom body, is provided with a suction mouth open in an upper corner region of the broom body. Operation of this electric broom is split into two phases: in the first phase, the broom is used to sweep as a normal broom to gather dust on a floor; in the second phase, the electric vacuum cleaner is activated, while the broom body is inclined and used as a normal vacuum cleaner to such the gathered dust from the floor. It is impossible to have a suction action while sweeping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The idea underlying the present invention is to conceive an apparatus permitting both sweeping in the conventional manner and collection of the dirt by vacuum successively or simultaneously at choice.
On the basis of said idea the present invention relates to a broom comprising a handle in the form of an elongated stick, a broom body rigidly fixed below to the handle and cleaning means born by the broom body and designed to collect dirt on a floor after dragging the broom body over said floor, and a vacuum cleaner unit housed in the broom body and provided with a suction mouth open below in a position adjacent to the cleaning means.
An apparatus of this type is clearly a broom and as such can be used for collecting the dirt on the floor without operation of the vacuum cleaner unit. Dirt collected by the broom operated when the vacuum cleaner is turned off can always be removed in the conventional manner (with a dust pan) or it can be sucked up by operating the vacuum cleaner unit, only for the time strictly necessary. In addition to the obvious energy saving there is secured a drastic reduction in acoustic pollution. However, if preferred, the vacuum cleaner can be kept on while sweeping, thus allowing immediate and continuous suction of the dirt.
In general the brushing means can be of different types either with bristles or with elastic material. Preferably however the cleaning me
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Brain Wave S.R.L.
Moore Chris K.
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