Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-04
2004-02-03
Till, Terrence R. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
C015S351000, C015SDIG001, C015SDIG001
Reexamination Certificate
active
06684451
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner used in a general household.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A vacuum cleaner was hitherto constructed as shown in FIG.
54
. This construction is described below.
As shown in
FIG. 54
, a blower
501
is disposed inside a cleaner main body
502
, and a dust collector
504
incorporating a dust bag
503
is provided above the blower
501
. The dust collector
504
and a suction unit
505
are connected through a hose
506
. As indicated by the arrow in
FIG. 54
, dust is sucked together with air from the bottom
507
of the suction unit
505
by virtue of the blower
501
, climbs up inside of the hose
506
by overcoming gravity, and is filtered by the dust bag
503
and captured inside the dust bag
503
. The sucked air passes through the dust bag
503
, runs through the inside of the blower
501
, and is released from an exhaust port
508
.
A vacuum cleaner incorporating a rechargeable secondary battery, and having a charging stand serving also as a supporting stand is constructed as shown in
FIG. 55. A
cleaner main body
509
accommodates a secondary battery and a blower (neither shown), and a suction tool
510
is tiltably provided at the lower part of the cleaner main body
509
. A charging stand
511
is to charge the secondary battery contained in the cleaner main body
509
, and this charging stand
511
has a mounting portion
512
for mounting the suction tool
510
, and also has a box portion
513
having a charging power transformer and a charging terminal (neither shown).
When the suction tool
510
is put on the mounting portion
512
of the charging stand
511
, the terminal of the cleaner main body
509
and the terminal of the charging stand
511
are electrically connected, so that the secondary battery is charged.
Also as shown in
FIG. 56
, by setting a cleaner main body
514
incorporating a secondary battery in a charger
515
, the circuit connected to a blower
516
in the cleaner main body
514
is cut off by force, thereby changing over to the charging circuit.
When the cleaner main body
514
is set in the charger
515
, a charging terminal
517
a
contacts with a deforming terminal
518
a,
and is deformed at the same time, so that the deforming terminal
518
a
is separated from a fixed terminal
518
c.
By this action, the blower
516
is put in closed circuit whether a switch
519
is on or off, and a charging circuit is established. That is, if attempted to charge while the switch
519
is turned on, the power consumption in the blower
516
exceeds the charging capacity of the charger
515
, and thus it is not charged substantially, and is discharged completely when trying to use it the next time. This is to avoid such a problem, and by changing over the circuits, it is intended to charge securely regardless of the state of the switch
519
.
However, in the conventional vacuum cleaner as shown in
FIG. 54
, since the blower
501
and the dust collector
504
are disposed above the suction unit
505
, when moving the dust on the floor into the dust bag
503
in the dust collector
504
, it is necessary to lift the dust upwardly by overcoming gravity, and the moving distance of the dust is long and a large pressure loss occurs, and therefore, the blower
501
is required to have sufficient suction power. Accordingly, a blower
501
exhibiting a large power consumption is required, and if the battery is used as the power source for the blower
501
, sufficient suction power cannot be assured in relation to the battery capacity, size or other condition.
Therefore, using not only the suction power of the blower
501
but also the exhaust of the blower
501
, a reflux type cleaner for enhancing the dust collecting performance must be designed in order to increase the dust collecting performance utilizing small power consumption. Many types of such reflux type cleaners have been proposed so far. Such proposals have many problems to be solved for practical use.
Besides, since the blower
501
is disposed in the cleaner main body
502
, the weight and volume of the cleaner main body
502
are large, and the weight applied on handle
118
during use is great, whereby controllability of the vacuum cleaner is not favorable.
When turning the cleaner main body
502
backward by keeping the cleaner main body
502
nearly in a vertical state relative to the floor, since there is no obstacle behind the cleaner main body
502
, the cleaner main body
502
is easy to turn, but when turning the cleaner main body
502
forward, the lower part of the cleaner main body
502
and the upper part of the suction unit
505
interfere with each other, and turning of the cleaner main body
502
is restricted. Accordingly, the reciprocating distance traveled by the cleaner main body
502
when holding the handle
118
is limited, and thus the floor area covered by the cleaner main body
502
is limited, whereby the number of times a reciprocating motion must be performed is increased, and thus it takes a longer time to clean the floor.
In the case of the vacuum cleaner using a battery as the power source for the blower, in the construction as shown in
FIG. 55
, the charging stand
511
for charging the battery is often put at a corner of a room or corridor, which is part of the cleaning area, and thus the large charging stand
511
is an obstacle when cleaning this area.
Or, when charging the battery incorporated in the vacuum cleaner in the construction shown in
FIG. 56
, the structure is complicated around the terminal for changing over the charging circuit, the number of terminals and wiring points is great, and there is a high possibility of the occurrence of defective charging and defective operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is hence a first object of the invention to blow an exhaust against a floor to lift dust from the floor to enhance the dust collecting efficiency of a vacuum cleaner, and to decrease the temperature rise of a motor used for driving a dust scraper that is rotatably incorporated in a suction unit, whereby durability of the vacuum cleaner is enhanced.
It is a second object to improve the ease of handling the vacuum cleaner, by extending the distance that the cleaner main body may be reciprocated when holding the handle.
It is a third object to reduce the size of a charger for charging a secondary battery incorporated in the cleaner main body, so that the charger will not interfere with the cleaning of the area around the charger, thereby enhancing the ease of handling the vacuum cleaner, while also decreasing the material cost to present the vacuum cleaner at low price.
It is a fourth object to connect the cleaner main body and the charger only when the switch is cut off mechanically, and simplify the circuit construction, so as to charge the battery securely and enhance the ease of use of the vacuum cleaner at a low cost.
In the invention, in order to achieve the first object, a dust scraper that is rotatably driven by a motor is disposed in a suction unit, and dust is sucked in from the suction unit by the blower while exhaust of the blower is sent into the suction unit through an exhaust passage. The exhaust of the blower is blown to the motor, and also the exhaust is blown against the floor to lift the dust from the floor, and thus the dust collecting efficiency is enhanced by the synergistic action of scraping by rotation of the dust scraper and blowing of the exhaust. Moreover, the temperature rise of the motor can be decreased so that durability of the vacuum cleaner may be enhanced.
To achieve the second object, in a cleaner main body having a suction port for sucking dust at a front side thereof and at least one of the dust collection chamber and blower at a rear side thereof, a handle arm is formed to rotate or oscillate over at least part of an outer circumference of the cleaner main body. Therefore when reciprocating the cleaner main body by holding a handle formed in the handle arm during a cleaning operation, the reciprocal moving distance is longer, and thus the
Hayakawa Hiroshi
Hayashi Seizo
Ito Koichi
Kato Tomonori
Nishikori Tamaki
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Till Terrence R.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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