Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Patent
1981-12-23
1984-08-07
Moore, Chris K.
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
15413, 116112, A47L 919
Patent
active
044634730
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner having an alarm device for audibly alerting users should an excessive suction load on a fan motor occur such as due to clogging of a vacuum cleaner filter.
TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
Prior art vacuum cleaners include a bypass air passage providing communication between a suction side of a fan motor and the atmosphere in bypassing relation to a filter, and a valve device mounted in the bypass air passage and arranged to open only when the filter is clogged or the pressure at the suction side of the fan motor is below a predetermined value when excessive amount of dust is collected.
With such vacuum cleaners, when the load imposed on the fan motor exceeds a certain value, the valve device operates to divert ambient air through the bypass air passage to the fan motor to prevent it from burning out.
Some vacuum cleaners also have a sound producing unit, such as a whistle, disposed in the bypass air passage and actuatable by an air flow to give off an alarm sound when the filter is clogged.
When the vacuum cleaner is used to clean tight places, such as corners of a room or narrow gaps behind pieces of furniture, the vacuum cleaner is equipped with a crevice tool having a constricted suction opening. Since the suction opening is narrower than that of an ordinary floor nozzle, the crevice tool offers a substantial amount of flow resistance to suction air as if the filter were clogged. Therefore, the sound producing unit would be activated to give off an alarm sound during normal cleaning operation. Such alarm sound could be prevented by forcibly closing the bypass air passage while the crevice tool is in use. However, the closed bypass air passage would block air supply to the fan motor which is being driven under full load. This results in overheating burning out of the fan motor.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, only an air passage for an alarm device can be opened or closed without having to close a bypass air passage, so that the alarm device may be energized or de-energized as desired while assuring safety of the fan motor.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings:
The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an upright vacuum cleaner;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the upright vaccum cleaner;
FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken along the line A--A' of FIG. 2, FIG. 3 illustrating the cleaner in the normal position in which the filter is not clogged and FIG. 4 illustrating the cleaner in a position in which the filter is clogged;
FIGS. 5 and 6 are transverse cross-sectional views of an alarm device, FIG. 5 showing the position in which an alarm is produced, FIG. 6 showing a position in which no alarm is generated;
FIG. 7 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the alarm deivce;
FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the alarm device; and
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the upright vacuum cleaner when equipped with a crevice tool.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A main body includes a roller 2 at a bottom thereof and a suction fan motor 3 in a lower portion of the body. A floor nozzle 4 is pivotally mounted on main body 1 at the lower portion, and a handle 5 projects upwardly from the main body. A dust collector case 6 is disposed at a suction side of fan motor 3 and detachably mounted on a front portion of main body 1. Dust-laden air flows through floor nozzle 4 and a flexible hose 7 into dust collector case 6, where dust is filtered. Filtered air is discharged through fan motor 3 out of an air discharge opening 9 located in bottom of main body 1. The dust collected in dust collector case 6 can easily be disposed of by periodically removing the dust collector case from main body 1 removing filter 8, and opening the lower portion of the case.
Floor nozzle 4 is shaped to sandwich the lower portion of main body 1 at both sides thereof. Nozzle 4 is rotatably mounted
REFERENCES:
patent: Re28268 (1974-12-01), Autrand
patent: 3381652 (1968-05-01), Schaefer et al.
Kawakami Hiroshi
Nakada Seiichi
Nishijima Tsuneo
Ohno Hiroshi
Yoshikawa Hiromi
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Moore Chris K.
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