Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-10
2001-05-29
Moore, Chris K. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
C015S415100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237189
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vacuum cleaner and, more specifically, to a vacuum cleaner nozzle arrangement.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
It is known in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,418, owned by a common assignee, to provide forward and rearwardly disposed suction ducts that extend along the front and back sides of a suction nozzle to lead suction air to a rearwardly extending fan communicating duct. It is also known from this patent to make an outer covering piece of a communicating duct portion extending between the front and back sides of the suction nozzle removable. It is also known from this patent to make the agitator tunnel an inner structure in its nozzle. It is also generally known to provide a hood structure which either sits on its underbody or obviously overlaps it.
However, the advantageous disposition of the suction nozzle duct cover within the confines of an agitator chamber or the use of an agitator tunnel arrangement easily discemable by the user of the cleaner or a pleasing nozzle outside geometry such as the presentation of a smooth line between the hood and its underbody has not been known to heretofore be contemplated in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved suction nozzle configuration.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a suction nozzle with either front and/or rearward ducting which may be accommodated in a nozzle having as a structural requirement an inboard duct cover.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an abbreviated suction nozzle hood which merges with a necessary suction nozzle under carriage to smoothly form at least a portion of the suction nozzle outer and top peripheral surfaces.
It is a further object of the invention to abbreviate the periphery of the suction nozzle hood so that the outer outlines of the agitator tunnel chamber is viewable to the user so that this structure serves as a portion of the outer, observable, suction nozzle per se.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved suction nozzle structure which includes forward and rearward suction nozzle ducts.
It is an even further object of the invention to provide an improved removable suction nozzle duct cover structure and arrangement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is provided in a suction nozzle which includes rear handle journaling structure, rear wheels and more forwardly disposed intermediate wheels. These last mentioned wheels are carried on a pivot carriage structure on the suction nozzle so that they may pivot inwardly and outwardly of the suction nozzle to thereby adjust its height. All the structure so far related is carried on a main body for the suction nozzle and may be seen firstly in commonly owned U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/824,769, filed on Mar. 21, 1997.
Surmounting this main body, at least in the front portions, is a hood piece formed with an opening near its front which includes, in the embodiment illustrated, an open discontinuity at the hood piece inner side which opens downwardly. The hood piece, aside from this discontinuity, only extends partially backwardly from its front covering position on the main body so that an observable vertical and horizontal parting line is seen generally at about one half the fore to aft depth of the suction nozzle. The main body surface is recessed in at least part of its area mating with the hood so that the surface on each side of the parting is, within manufacturing tolerances, as smooth and coincident as possible to yield a very attractive overall nozzle presentation.
Within the opening formed by the discontinuity in the hood, at its rightward side, is an observable portion of the outside of a cylindrical shell agitator tunnel chamber (looking from the front of the suction nozzle), and the outside of a cross duct communicating with a forward and a rearward suction nozzle duct (to the left of the agitator tunnel chamber). A suction nozzle height adjusting lever and its indexing means is also apparent, situated generally inwardly and behind the agitator chamber tunnel.
A front duct is partly formed on its upper side by an angled face formed just outside the agitator tunnel, proper, on the inner front side of an agitator housing. This face angles upwardly from its outside end to provide a constant carrying velocity attribute to the front duct. This face terminates in a smooth, curvilinear manner adjacent a formed cross duct portion in the agitator tunnel extending across the inside of the agitator tunnel near one of its ends. A short duct face is also formed on an opposite inner side of the cross duct portion and on a rear inner side of the agitator tunnel.
A rear duct face also angles upwardly within the agitator tunnel and extends generally from a hollow, generally semi-cylindrically shaped belt guard, mounted adjacent an opposite end of the agitator housing from the cross duct portion, just outside the agitator tunnel.
The generally semi-cylindrical belt guard is formed integrally with an inner, removable duct cover which is in the shape of a substantially semi-cylindrical shell and extends internally within and generally for the full length and width of the agitator chamber tunnel. The duct cover's radically outer semi-cylindrical surface forms the inside wall of the inner and outer duct. The duct cover is screw mounted to the agitator tunnel and, because it is internal to the agitator tunnel, any leakage into it would, advantageously, tend to impose more suction in the agitator chamber and thereby provide a suction nozzle with more effective cleaning ability.
The front and rear ducts for the suction nozzle are completed by a bottom plate which is screwingly mounted to the agitator tunnel. It includes front and rear inwardly and sidewardly extending lips that form the final bottom sides of the suction nozzle. The front and rear lips also afford the bottom sides of the forward and rearward ducts. These two lips are vertically spaced from the bottom terminations of the duct cover, at their inner terminations to thereby permit the easy slot entrance of suction air, air entrained dirt, and agitator driven dirt into both the forward and rearward ducts. The air and dirt are transported from there to a rearwardly connected suction hose fitting for eventual movement into a motor-fan arrangement (not shown) for the vacuum cleaner of which the suction nozzle is a part.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2475808 (1949-07-01), Storm
patent: 4178653 (1979-12-01), Tschudy
patent: 5513418 (1996-05-01), Weber
patent: 5983449 (1999-11-01), Thomas et al.
Harsh Kurt D.
Maurer Edgar A.
Moine David W.
Symensma Kenneth L.
Wareham Richard A.
Kingsbury Thomas R.
Lowe A. Burgess
Moore Chris K.
The Hoover Company
Watson Bruce P.
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