Upright type vacuum cleaner

Details Upright type vacuum cleaner Upright type vacuum cleaner

2002-05-03

2004-08-31

Till, Terrence R. (Department: 1744)

Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning

Machines

With air blast or suction

C015S353000, C055S337000, C055S429000, C055SDIG003

Reexamination Certificate

active

06782584

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an upright type vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to an upright type vacuum cleaner having a cyclone unit for separating contaminants from contaminant-laden air by a centrifugal force that is formed through a revolving stream of drawn air.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
shows an upright type vacuum cleaner, such as is disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/074,161 filed Feb. 12, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,816, issued May 18, 2004 and hereby incorporated by reference herein. The upright type vacuum cleaner of
FIG. 1
includes a cleaner body
10
, a cyclone unit
20
and a dust receptacle
30
.
Inside body
10
of the cleaner, a vacuum generating apparatus, i.e., a driving motor (not shown) is mounted. Attached to the underside
12
of the cleaner body
10
, a suction brush (not shown) is movably connected. In the front portion of the center of the cleaner body
10
, a cyclone housing portion
13
is formed.
The cyclone unit
20
has an inflow passage
21
formed on an upper side that is interconnected through a pipe
14
with the suction brush
12
. The contaminants, drawn in from the surface to be cleaned by action of the suction brush
12
, flow into the cyclone unit
20
in the air stream via the inflow passage
21
. At this time, the air flows into a whirling current along an inner wall of the cyclone unit
20
.
The cyclone unit
20
has an outflow passage
22
formed on an upper portion of the center of the cyclone unit
20
, interconnected through a pipe
15
with the vacuum generating apparatus. After the contaminants are removed, the air is discharged from the cyclone unit
20
outside the cleaner body
10
through the outflow passage
22
and the vacuum generating apparatus.
The cyclone unit
20
housed in the cyclone housing portion
13
and includes a locking handle
23
for securely mounting the cyclone unit
20
onto the cleaner body
10
. The locking handle
23
is inserted into a handle connection portion
16
of the rear wall of cyclone housing portion
13
and is pivoted by 90° so as to fix the cyclone unit
20
in place.
In this locking operation, the dust receptacle
30
is removably mounted to the lower portion of the cyclone unit
20
, and together these are mounted onto the cyclone housing portion
13
. That is, with the dust receptacle
30
being disposed at the lower portion of the cyclone unit
20
, and by pivoting an operation lever
41
of a locking unit
40
mounted on the lower portion of the cyclone housing portion
13
, a locking disc
42
is transposed in the direction of pivoting, mounting or separating the dust receptacle
30
on/from the lower portion of the cyclone unit
20
.
Accordingly, without having to separate the cyclone unit
20
from the cleaner body
10
, i.e., by separating only the dust receptacle
30
, a user can remove and empty the dust receptacle
30
.
However, a problem occurs when the user inadvertently incorrectly connects the dust receptacle
30
to the cyclone housing portion
13
. That is, the dust receptacle
30
may be incompletely inserted into the cyclone housing portion
13
, causing inaccurate alignment with the lower portion of the cyclone unit
20
. In this case, the user cannot turn the operation lever
41
, and if the user forcefully tries to turn the operation lever
41
, the dust receptacle
30
and/or the operation lever
41
may become deformed or broken. If the cleaner is operated with the dust receptacle
30
being incorrectly mounted, some contaminants may leak through a crack caused by the incompletely or incorrectly connected dust receptacle
30
and the cyclone unit
20
, and the process of collecting into the dust receptacle
30
may contaminate the neighboring area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an upright type vacuum cleaner having an improved structure, which is capable of preventing incorrect mounting of a dust receptacle during the mounting process.
The above object is accomplished by an upright type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention, including a cleaner body having a vacuum generating apparatus disposed therein and a suction brush disposed at a lower side; a cyclone unit for separating contaminants from a contaminant-laden air and discharging a contaminant-free air through an outflow passage interconnected with the vacuum generating apparatus, the contaminant-laden air being drawn in through an inflow passage interconnected with the suction brush; a dust receptacle removably connected to a underside of the cyclone unit for collecting the contaminants separated by the cyclone unit from the air; a locking unit which is longitudinally movable, for connecting to and separating the dust receptacle from a lower portion of the cyclone unit by longitudinally moving the dust receptacle upward and downward; and a means for preventing an incorrect connection of the dust receptacle to the underside of the cyclone unit.
The incorrect connection preventing means includes a position guiding pin protruding from a predetermined location of a lower portion of the dust receptacle; and a guide slit formed at a predetermined position of the locking unit, for either interrupting pivoting of the locking unit, or for guiding the dust receptacle being moved from a pre-mounting state to be separated from the cyclone unit, depending on whether the dust receptacle is correctly pre-mounted in the cyclone unit.
The locking unit includes an operation lever pivotally mounted in the cleaner body; and a locking disc moved upward or downward according to the pivoting of the operation lever to move the dust receptacle upward to engage the cyclone unit or downward to disengage from the cyclone unit.
The incorrect connection preventing means includes: a position guiding pin protruding from a predetermined location of the lower side of the dust receptacle; and a guide slit formed in the operation lever, for either interrupting pivoting of the operation lever, or for guiding the dust receptacle being moved from a pre-mounting state so as to separate from the cyclone unit, depending on whether the dust receptacle is correctly pre-mounted in the cyclone unit.
The guide slit includes a first guide slit formed in an upper surface of the operation lever in a predetermined width, such that the guide pin is passed through the first guide slit during pivoting of the operation lever with the dust receptacle being in a normal position; a second guide slit extending from the first guide slit and crossing the direction of pivoting of the operation lever for guiding the guide pin to separate the dust receptacle from the cyclone unit when the dust receptacle is incorrectly mounted; and an interruption groove formed between the first and second guide slits for interrupting the guide pin during pivoting of the operation lever to thereby interrupt the pivoting when the dust receptacle is in an abnormal position.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4571772 (1986-02-01), Dyson
patent: 5145499 (1992-09-01), Dyson
patent: 6589309 (2003-07-01), Oh et al.
patent: 6732406 (2004-05-01), Oh
patent: 6735816 (2004-05-01), Oh et al.
patent: 2002/0088079 (2002-07-01), Oh
patent: 2002/0092283 (2002-07-01), Oh et al.
patent: 2002/0178535 (2002-12-01), Oh et al.
patent: 2003/0221278 (2003-12-01), Oh
patent: 2003/0221279 (2003-12-01), Oh et al.
patent: 2376175 (2002-12-01), None

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