Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-16
2003-01-28
Moore, Chris K. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
active
06510582
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to a vacuum cleaner provided with a detachable tool caddy unit designed to be detachably mounted to the cleaner body and to properly hold a variety of accessory tools and spare supplies on the cleaner body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, vacuum cleaners are electric appliances, which generate suction force by using drive means, such as a motor, and clean carpets, floors, etc., through a suction process and a filtering process. Of such conventional vacuum cleaners, a vacuum cleaner of the upright type is designed to stand on a horizontal surface while moving on the surface during a cleaning process. Particularly, such an upright-type vacuum cleaner is effectively used for cleaning a carpet laid on a horizontal surface.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional upright-type vacuum cleaner. As shown in the drawing, the conventional upright-type vacuum cleaner comprises a cleaner body
10
, which is designed to stand on a horizontal surface while moving on the surface during a cleaning process. A suction unit
20
is mounted to the lower portion of the body
10
, and sucks air laden with dust and impurities from a target surface by suction force at its suction nozzle. Provided at the upper end of the cleaner body
10
is a handle
30
, which is gripped by a user's hand while operating and moving the cleaner.
In the above vacuum cleaner, a flexible hose
40
extends from the body
10
to the suction unit
20
, thus normally connecting the suction unit
20
to the cleaner body
10
. In such a case, the connection structure between the suction unit
20
and the outside end of the flexible hose
40
comprises a detachable connection structure, and so it is possible for a user to selectively connect the outside end of the flexible hose
40
to either the suction unit
20
or an accessory tool, which will be described later herein, as desired.
FIGS. 2 and 3
are sectional views of the above-mentioned vacuum cleaner taken along the lines I—I and II—II of FIG.
1
. As shown in the drawings, the conventional upright-type vacuum cleaner has the following construction.
That is, both a suction fan
11
and a fan motor
12
are set within the cleaner body
10
, and generate desired suction force for the cleaner. In addition, a dust bag
13
is removably installed at a predetermined position of the upper portion within the body
10
. The dust bag
13
is used for filtering sucked air to remove dust and impurities from the air prior to discharging the air from the body
10
into the atmosphere.
A brush roller
21
is mounted at the front end of the suction unit
20
at a position around the suction nozzle of the unit
20
. This brush roller
21
is connected to the fan motor
12
through a power transmission belt
14
made of rubber, thus being rotatable by the rotating force of the fan motor
12
during a cleaning process. The above brush roller
21
actively brushes up dust and impurities from a carpet during a cleaning process of the carpet.
When the vacuum cleaner starts to clean a desired planar area, dust-laden air is sucked from the area into the suction unit
20
through the suction nozzle, provided at the front end portion of the bottom of the unit
20
, by suction force formed by the fan
11
provided at the lower portion of the body
10
. Thereafter, the sucked dust-laden air passes through the flexible hose
40
to reach the interior of the dust bag
13
installed within the body
10
. The dust bag
13
thus filters the dust-laden air to remove dust and impurities from the air. In such a case, the filtered dust and impurities are collected within the dust bag
13
. After the filtering process, air passes through the fan
11
prior to being discharged from the body
10
into the atmosphere. In such a case, the discharged air passes through an air discharging port, provided on the cleaner body
10
.
As described above, the outside end of the flexible hose
40
is detachably connected to the suction unit
20
, and so the cleaner is able to effectively clean a specific area, such as a crevice, which the suction nozzle of the fixed suction unit
20
cannot reach. That is, when it is desired to clean such a specific area using the cleaner, the outside end of the flexible hose
40
is removed from the suction unit
20
prior to an attachment of a desired accessory tool, such as a crevice nozzle
51
or a brush nozzle
52
. When the crevice nozzle
51
or the brush nozzle
52
is attached to the outside end of the flexible hose
40
as described above, it is possible to effectively clean a specific area, such as a crevice, which the suction nozzle of the fixed suction unit
20
cannot reach.
The accessory tools, such as the crevice nozzle
51
and the brush nozzle
52
, are given to a user along with the cleaner when the user purchases the cleaner. Such accessory tools are typically stored at an unfixed place separate from the cleaner body of the cleaner, and so they are inconvenient to the user since it is necessary for the user to take a desired accessory tool from such an unfixed place prior to mounting the tool to the outside end of the flexible hose
40
. In practice, such accessory tools have to be often and intermittently used during a cleaning process, and the tools therefore cause an inconvenience to the user while taking them from an unfixed place during the cleaning process.
In an effort to overcome the above-mentioned problem, a vacuum cleaner, of which the body
10
has a desired number of tool holding recesses
10
a
having shapes and sizes capable of detachably holding the original accessory tools, such as the nozzles
51
and
52
on the body
10
, has been proposed and used.
However, the vacuum cleaner having such specific holding recesses
10
a
is problematic in that the shapes and sizes of the recesses
10
a
are fixed even though the cleaner may be used with additional accessory tools having sizes and shapes different from those of the original accessory tools
51
and
52
. That is, when an additional accessory tool, which is not included in the original accessory tools of the cleaner, is purchased and used, the additional accessory tool cannot be held on the specific holding recesses
10
a
of the body
10
, but has to be stored at an unfixed place. In such a case, the vacuum cleaner causes an inconvenience to the user due to the additional accessory tool in the same manner as that described above.
In addition, the specific holding recesses
10
a
, necessarily formed on the body
10
of the vacuum cleaner, also cause a limitation in designing the body
10
. That is, it is impossible to freely design the rear wall of the body
10
due to the holding recesses
10
a
. Such a limitation in the design of the body
10
regrettably reduces the market competitiveness of the cleaner.
Another problem experienced in the vacuum cleaner having such specific holding recesses
10
a
resides in that it does not have any means for holding desired spare supplies, such as spare dust bags, on the body
10
and forces a user to store the spare supplies at an unfixed place separate from the body
10
. When a vacuum cleaner is designed to store desired spare supplies, such as spare dust bags, on its body
10
, the cleaner is very convenient to the user while using the cleaner.
In addition, the power transmission belt
14
, used for connecting the brush roller
21
to the fan motor
12
, has to be replaced with a new one at the expiry of an expected life span of the belt
14
. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary for the user to store one or more spare transmission belts. However, the body
10
of the convention vacuum cleaner is not provided with any means for storing such spare transmission belts, and so the spare belts create for the user an inconvenience in the storage of them at an unfixed place separate from the body
10
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above prob
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Moore Chris K.
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