Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-27
2003-02-18
Snider, Theresa T. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
C015S331000, C015S399000, C015S411000, C015S414000, C285S007000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06519810
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to a vacuum cleaner designed to effectively clean limited or narrow areas in addition to large and open areas, and to be easily handled and steered at its cleaning tool while cleaning a desired area, thus being convenient to users.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1
is a perspective view, showing the construction of a conventional canister vacuum cleaner. As shown in the drawing, the conventional vacuum cleaner comprises a body
10
, provided with a motorized suction means, with a suction nozzle unit
20
connected to the body
10
by a connection unit and sucking dust-laden air from a surface into the body
10
using suction force generated from the suction means.
The connection unit, which connects the suction nozzle unit
20
to the body
10
and guides dust-laden air from the nozzle unit
20
to said body
10
, comprises a flexible hose
11
connected to the air inlet opening of the body
10
, a handle
12
mounted to the outside end of hose
11
, and an extension pipe
13
connecting the handle
12
to the nozzle unit
20
. The nozzle unit
20
thus communicates with the body
10
through the connection unit, and so the suction force of the body
10
acts within the nozzle unit
20
, thus sucking dust-laden air from a surface into the nozzle unit
20
and forcibly guiding the sucked air from the nozzle unit
20
into the body
10
.
The construction of the nozzle unit
20
in addition to the connection structure for connecting the nozzle unit
20
to the extension pipe
13
will be described in detail with reference to
FIGS. 2
to
4
. As shown in the drawings, the nozzle unit
20
has a suction pipe
23
, which is hinged to the rear part of a nozzle casing
21
at its front end and is coupled to a connection pipe
24
at its rear end. The above suction pipe
23
is connected to the extension pipe
13
through the connection pipe
24
while communicating with the extension pipe
13
.
A suction nozzle
22
is formed at the bottom surface of the nozzle casing
23
at a front portion, and sucks dust-laden air from a surface into the casing
23
. The sucked air under pressure from the nozzle casing
21
passes through the suction pipe
23
, the connection pipe
24
and the above-mentioned connection unit so as to be finally introduced into the body
10
.
In such a nozzle unit
20
, the hinged suction pipe
23
is rotatable relative to the nozzle casing
21
so as to be tilted up or down. That is, the suction pipe
23
is hinged to the rear part of the nozzle casing
21
at its hinge shaft
23
a
as shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, thus being rotatable relative to the casing
21
so as to be tilted up or down. Therefore, it is possible to freely adjust the tilted position of the nozzle casing
21
relative to the suction pipe
23
so as to allow the bottom surface of the casing
21
having the suction nozzle
22
to come into contact with a target surface, thus being convenient to a user while cleaning the surface.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the connection pipe
24
, connected to the rear end of the suction pipe
23
, is bent at its middle portion at an obtuse angle. This connection pipe
24
is rotatable relative to the suction pipe
23
. This means that the suction pipe
23
is rotatable to the left or right relative to the connection pipe
24
.
Therefore, the suction nozzle unit
20
is adjustable in its position relative to the extension pipe
13
in a vertical direction and in a horizontal direction. Since the position of the nozzle unit
20
relative to the extension pipe
13
is adjustable in the vertical and horizontal directions as described above, it is possible to easily carry out desired cleaning work using the vacuum cleaner on a desired area.
However, the above-mentioned conventional vacuum cleaner is problematic as follows:
That is, the nozzle unit
20
of the cleaner regrettably has limitations in its area of application, because the unit
20
has a fixed size and sometimes cannot reach narrow areas, such as crevices and narrow corners. It is thus impossible to clean such narrow areas using the nozzle unit
20
.
Therefore, when it is desired to clean such narrow areas, the nozzle unit
20
has to be removed from the connection pipe
24
prior to attaching a proper cleaning tool, such as a crevice tool, a rug brush or a dusting brush, to the connection pipe
24
. The conventional vacuum cleaner is thus problematic in that it is necessary to repeatedly remove an existing cleaning tool from the connection pipe
24
prior to attaching a proper cleaning tool to the pipe
24
while cleaning a room having a variety of narrow areas. Such conventional vacuum cleaners thus force manufacturers to separately produce such cleaning tools while increasing production cost, and cause users inconvenience due to repeated removal and attachment of a variety of cleaning tools relative to the connection pipe while cleaning a room.
Another problem experienced in such conventional vacuum cleaners resides in that the nozzle unit
20
is designed to only suck dust-laden air from a surface into the body
10
so as to allow the air to be filtered by a dust bag within the body
10
. That is, when it is desired to clean, for example, a rug or a carpet, the nozzle unit
20
cannot accomplish a desired cleaning effect expected from a dusting brush or a rug brush, and so the nozzle unit
20
regrettably has limitations in its cleaning function.
In addition, the nozzle unit
20
of the conventional vacuum cleaner is designed to be tiltable upward or downward by the hinged structure of the suction pipe
23
, and tiltable to the left or right by the rotatable connection structure of the suction and connection pipes
23
and
24
as described above. However, such a tiltable structure of the nozzle unit
20
allowed by both the hinged structure of the suction pipe
23
and the rotatable connection structure of the two pipes
23
and
24
regrettably results in inconvenience to users while using the cleaner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum cleaner, which is designed to effectively clean limited or narrow areas in addition to large and open surfaces, such as rugs or carpets, without forcing a user to change an existing cleaning tool with another tool, thus being convenient to users.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum cleaner, which is designed to be easily handled and steered at its cleaning tool while cleaning a desired area, thus allowing users to easily and conveniently use the cleaner.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner, comprising a body provided with a motorized suction means, a suction nozzle unit for sucking dust-laden air using suction force generated from the suction means, and an extension pipe connecting the suction nozzle unit to the body and directing the dust-laden air under pressure from the suction nozzle unit into the body, wherein the suction nozzle unit comprises: a nozzle casing provided with a suction nozzle for sucking the dust-laden air into the casing, the casing also having a mounting unit provided with a fitting bore communicating with the suction nozzle; a hollow suction pipe removably fitted into the fitting bore, with a dusting brush part formed along a lower edge thereof; a locking means for removably locking the suction pipe to the mounting unit of the nozzle casing; and a connection means for connecting the suction pipe to the extension pipe while allowing the suction pipe to be tiltable upward and downward and horizontally rotatable relative to the extension pipe.
In the above vacuum cleaner, the locking means comprises: a locking hole formed on the sidewall of the hollow suction pipe; a locking bolt removably inserted into the locking hole of the suction pipe so as to lock the suction pipe to the mounti
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Snider Theresa T.
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