Gas separation – With separate flow line access means or filter media passage... – Access means is clamping or coupling means for unit filter...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-12
2003-09-30
Smith, Duane (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
With separate flow line access means or filter media passage...
Access means is clamping or coupling means for unit filter...
C055S508000, C055SDIG003, C096S423000, C015S347000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06626973
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter mounting device for a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a filter mounting device constructed such that only after a filter for after first collecting foreign materials to be sucked in a cyclone mode and then collecting fine dusts has been mounted within a dust collecting casing, the dust collecting casing can be mounted within a main body of the vacuum cleaner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1
shows the constitution of a general vacuum cleaner. As shown in the figure, the vacuum cleaner comprises a main body
1
with a suction device for sucking indoor air installed therein and a suction portion
2
into which the air is introduced from a floor of a room by suction force generated from the main body.
The main body
1
includes a lower body
5
for installing the suction device therein, and an upper body
6
which is engaged with an upper portion of the lower body
5
and in which a control portion (not shown) for controlling the vacuum cleaner is mounted. A plurality of wheels
8
are installed at a lower side of the main body
1
for allowing the main body
1
to smoothly move on the floor. A discharging portion
8
a
is formed in each of the wheels
8
for discharging air, from which foreign materials are removed after the air has been introduced through the suction portion
2
, from the main body
1
.
Between the main body
1
and the suction portion
2
, a suction hose
3
b
made of flexible material, an operation portion
4
connected to an end of the suction hose
3
b
for allowing a user to operate the cleaner, and an extension pipe
3
a
for interconnecting the operation portion
4
and the suction portion
2
are sequentially installed.
When electricity is applied to the vacuum cleaner via a wire
9
electrically connected to the suction device contained within the main body
1
, the vacuum cleaner is in a standby state. At this time, when the user adjusts suction steps by using buttons on the operation portion
4
, the suction device contained within the main body generates suction force corresponding to each suction step. The suction force generated from the suction device is exerted on the suction portion
2
via the suction hose
3
b
and the extension pipe
3
a
. By means of the suction force exerted on the suction portion
2
, the air containing foreign materials such as dusts are introduced, and the foreign materials in the introduced air are filtered out by a dust collecting unit A. The air from which the foreign materials are filtered out is discharged to the outside of the main body
1
through the discharging portion
8
a.
Thus, cleaning is performed while going through the above processes.
As described above, the dust collecting unit A is a major component for filtering out the foreign materials contained within the air introduced through the suction portion
2
. The dust collecting unit A is also mounted in a receiving space formed between the lower body
5
and the upper body
6
.
FIG. 2
is an exploded perspective view of the dust collecting unit, illustrating in detail the dust collecting unit A which has been explained briefly with reference to FIG.
1
. As shown in the figure, the dust collecting unit A includes a casing
7
with a top portion thereof opened, a cover
11
for opening and closing the top portion of the casing
7
, and a filter
12
mounted below the cover
11
.
The filter
12
is constructed such that a top surface
12
a
formed on the top of the filter can be fitted into or detached from a coupling portion
11
a
formed on a bottom surface of the cover
11
. The cover
11
for mounting the filter
12
opens and closes the open top portion of the dust collecting casing
7
.
A handle
7
b
is constructed to be formed on a rear surface of the casing
7
so that the user can grip the dust collecting casing
7
. A frame portion
7
f
with an operation hole
7
g
included therein is formed above the handle
7
b.
An operation member
7
i
is installed in an inner space of the frame portion
7
f
, and an operation button
7
a
of the operation member
7
i
is installed to protrude through the operation hole
7
g.
An elastic body
7
s
is installed below the operation button
7
a.
Accordingly, the operation button
7
a
is always elastically supported within the frame portion
7
f
in an upward direction by the elastic body
7
s.
A catching protrusion
7
c
is formed on the operation member
7
i
and is elastically engaged with an inlet projection
6
t
of the main body
1
of the cleaner.
In order to prevent the operation member
7
i
from coming off from the interior of the frame portion
7
f
, a cover
7
d
is fixed to an upper portion of the frame portion
7
f.
In order to mount the dust collecting unit A constructed as such into the main body
1
of the cleaner, the operation button
7
a
above the handle
7
b
formed at the rear surface of the casing
7
is pushed into the receiving space in a state where it is pressed down. Then, if the operation button
7
a
is set free, the catching protrusion
7
c
is caught into the inlet projection
6
t
of the upper body
6
. Thus, the dust collecting unit A is kept to be coupled to the main body
1
.
Here, it can be seen that the dust collecting unit A can be mounted to the main body
1
of the cleaner regardless of whether the filter
12
has been mounted to the cover
11
. That is, according to a conventional filter mounting structure, the cover
11
can be mounted on the casing
7
, even though the filter
12
has not been mounted to the cover
11
. Thus, even though the filter
12
has not been mounted on the cover due to the user's error, the dust collecting unit A may be inadvertently engaged with the main body of the vacuum cleaner.
The dust collecting unit A performs a primary dust collecting function in a cyclone mode that large foreign materials drop down while air introduced through an inlet
11
c
is formed into a swirl flow within the casing
7
, and a secondary dust collecting function that fine dusts are filtered out through the filter
12
after relatively large foreign materials have been filtered out.
As described above, if the filter
12
is not mounted to the cover, large dusts in the air introduced through the inlet
11
c
drop down by their own gravity from the swirl flow and are deposited onto a separation plate
7
m.
However, the fine dusts are introduced through an outlet
11
b
into the main body
1
without being filtered out. Accordingly, it may causes a problem related to cleaning efficiency in that the fine dusts and the like are substantially not filtered out. Further, inner parts may get out of order since the fine dusts flow into the main body of the cleaner.
Furthermore, according to the conventional structure of the vacuum cleaner, even though the vacuum cleaner is operated in a state where the filter
12
is not mounted to the cover as described above, there are no devices for informing the user of this state.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is contemplated to solve the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a filter mounting device for allowing a user to confirm as to whether a filter for filtering out fine dusts is mounted to a cover of a dust collecting unit.
According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, there is provided a filter mounting device for a vacuum cleaner including a casing having an open top portion and performing a primary dust collection in a cyclone mode, a cover for covering the open top portion of the casing, and a cylindrical filter engaged below the cover for performing a secondary dust collection by collecting fine dusts after the primary dust collection, comprising: a top surface of a filter which is detachably installed to a bottom surface of the cover, which is constructed to be rotatable by a predetermined angle in a mounted state, and which includes an engagement piece formed on one side of the periphery of the top surface such that a r
Fleshner & Kim LLP
Lawrence Frank M.
Smith Duane
LandOfFree
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