Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-07
2004-11-16
Till, Terrence R. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
C015S345000, C015SDIG001, C055S429000, C055SDIG003
Reexamination Certificate
active
06817059
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly to a vacuum cleaner being repaired easily and capable of informing a user of a collected dust level.
BACKGROUND ART
A conventional vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 9-192056 has a configuration as shown in FIG.
34
and FIG.
35
. Referring to the drawings, the configuration will be explained below.
As shown in the drawings, the vacuum cleaner includes a working element, i.e., a blower
201
, a dust collection box unit
202
having a dust collection box
212
and a filter unit
213
, and a rotary brush
203
. The cleaner also includes a nozzle section
204
which accommodating the above parts and a handle
205
coupled to the nozzle section
204
. A case of the nozzle section
204
, being composed of an upper unit
206
and a lower unit
207
, supports or holds the working element of the blower
201
, the dust collection box unit
202
, and the rotary brush
203
. In this configuration, for being repaired or maintained, the inside of the cleaner cannot be checked unless all screws tightening the upper unit
206
and lower unit
207
of the nozzle section
204
are removed. Recently, moreover, in order to give a one-body impression of the design of the nozzle section
204
and upper unit
206
, a division line between the units tends to be hidden.
A dust suction port
209
linking to the dust collection box unit
202
is provided at the center of the nozzle section
204
, and dust particles are swept out from a floor with the rotary brush
203
and are sucked into the dust collecting box unit
202
. A suction passage
210
from the blower
201
is provided at a belt side nearly from the center in the dust collection box unit
202
. The dust particles swept out from the floor with the rotary brush
203
pass through the dust suction port
209
, and get into the dust collection box unit
202
. In this case, since a positional deviation between an exhaust port
211
and the dust suction port
209
of the dust collection box unit
202
is slight, the dust particles are collected at the center, and are hardly collected at the corners of the dust collection box unit
202
. As a result, even if the dust collection box unit
202
is not filled with the dust particles, power of suction may be dropped.
A switch
214
is attached to the lower unit of the nozzle section
204
, and is turned on and off with a pedal
215
. The switch
214
is connected with a wire to a charger connection part
220
which connects the blower
201
, a second motor
216
for driving the rotary brush
203
, and a battery
218
to a charger.
The battery
218
and blower
201
are located at one side from the center in the nozzle section
204
.
Exhaust from the blower
201
is released from an exhaust port
222
provided in the upper unit
206
of the nozzle section
204
. The exhaust port
222
is provided with an exhaust filter
223
for removing dust particles from the exhaust.
In this configuration, however, if there occurs a trouble in the nozzle section
204
, the inside of the nozzle section cannot be checked unless all screws tightening the nozzle section
204
are removed. And it hence takes much time and labor to check the inside through disassembling it. Moreover, in an assembling process, since the switch
214
and the charger connection part
220
are far from each other, a lead wire
221
needs to be long, thus making the cleaner be hardly assembled.
Besides, since the blower
201
and battery
218
are placed upper and lower at the same position, the center of gravity of the nozzle section
204
is shifted to one side of the section, and the cleaner is hardly carried and used.
Further, since this cleaner has no mechanism for locking the nozzle section
204
with the handle
205
when being carried, upon the cleaner having the handle
205
lifted, the nozzle section
204
droops down. Therefore, when carrying the cleaner, a user must lift the nozzle section
204
with holding a portion of the depth of the section, with not holding a slight portion, and thus, can hardly carry the cleaner. To the contrary, if the cleaner is designed to have the nozzle section
204
and handle
205
locked, it is necessary to unlock by stepping on the nozzle section
204
although the holding force of lock is sufficient, and the cleaner can thus hardly be used.
Further, exhaust is not released to outside of the vacuum cleaner recently, but in this configuration, the exhaust is discharged outside, and is not good for environments.
The configuration of the dust collection box unit
202
installed in a central recess of the nozzle section
204
, from the aspect of design, requires the handle of the dust collection box unit
202
formed in the center This sacrifices a dust collection capacity of the dust collection box unit
202
. And further, the upward opening makes a portion around the opening hollow and weak structurally.
The cleaner is packaged as a completed product with the handle
205
attached, but tends to be packaged smaller and lighter recently, and the package size is thus required to reduce. When repairing the cleaner, since the handle
205
is not locked, an operator must lower his/her waist for putting the product horizontally, and can hardly work.
The switch
214
can be turned on and off by stepping on the pedal
215
, but may be hardly used with the foot or stepped by a lefty.
Since the second motor
216
is used for rotating the rotary brush
203
, the cleaner has an increased weight, and this is out of a recent trend of a small size and light weight.
Dust is collected only at the suction path by the blower
201
in the dust collection box unit
202
which is exposed to suction by the blower
201
, and dust does not gather in the end portion of the unit.
For being installed in a recess
224
of the nozzle section
204
, the dust collection box unit
202
is not prevented sufficiently from being inserted in wrong direction.
The dust suction port
209
, which is provided in the center of the nozzle section
204
has bristles of which direction does not match to the rotation direction of the rotary brush
203
. This decreases a dust collection performance.
Since an intake port
225
of the dust collection box unit
202
is made of soft material, when being installed in the recess
224
of the nozzle section
204
, the dust collection box unit
202
receives an excessive fitting stress and may thus deform in order to be fit tightly.
The dust collection box unit
202
is held and fixed at a ratchet holder
226
provided at a side of the bottom of the recess
224
of the nozzle section
204
. In this case, dust may leak from the dust collection box unit
202
and may be collected in the ratchet holder
226
, and may make the holder
226
fail to function.
Since the dust collection box unit
202
is inserted into the recess
224
of the nozzle section
204
from above, a detaching handle
227
of the dust collection box unit
202
must be provided in the center of the dust collection box unit
202
. This decreases the dust collection capacity and makes the appearance poor.
The dust collection box unit
202
installed in the central recess of the nozzle section
204
requires the opening made upward and makes the strength weaker.
Another conventional vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No.10-302461 has a configuration as shown in
FIG. 36
to FIG.
38
. The configuration will be explained below while referring to the drawings.
As shown in
FIG. 36
to
FIG. 38
, a battery
233
and a blower
234
driven by it are accommodated in a cleaner main body
231
. Behind the cleaner main body
231
, a dust collector
231
b
is provided at a suction side of the blower
234
. Ahead of the cleaner main body
231
, a suction unit
231
a
is provided, and a lower side of the suction unit
231
a
has a suction port for leading dust from a cleaning surface into the suction unit
231
a
. The suction unit
231
a
and the dust collector
231
b
are communicated through a communicating path. At a low
Kajikawa Saburo
Kato Tomonori
Mori Hiroshi
Okubo Hideo
Tsuchiya Norihiro
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Till Terrence R.
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