FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to handheld vacuum devices, and in particular to such devices with a detachable waste container.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Pets like dogs, cats and rabbits poop and pee just like humans do, and usually pets prefer to poop outside of their living place. For example, dog owners in order to keep their dogs happy and healthy often walk the dog on streets or in parks, where the dog may poop on the ground to mark their territory. The pet owners are responsible for cleaning up after their pets and disposing of the pet waste properly, because not only there may be waste disposal laws in public places, but also the pet waste can be a nuisance to other people and the environment, and may contaminate soil and water sources with harmful bacteria and parasites that can cause diseases in humans and animals. Thus, pet owners should always pick up after the pet and dispose of the waste quickly and properly.
Nowadays, people have conceived different ways to pick up animal litter such as using a plastic bag, newspapers, or a scooper to pick up solid waste and throwing it away in a trash can or a designated bin. However, these traditional ways of dealing with animal litter are time-consuming and not environment-friendly (e.g., when plastic bags are used). In addition, although pet owners try to keep their hands sanitized by using different tools for assisting in picking up, instead of directly contacting the animal litter, in practice the pet owners are still prone to contact with the animal litter since their hands are in close vicinity with the animal litter when picking up or carrying the same, and may accidentally contact the animal litter even when a plastic bag or newspapers is used.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention, in one aspect, is a handheld vacuum device which contains a head portion, an interface for a waste container to detachably connect thereto, and a gripping portion connected to the head portion. The interface is configured on a front end of the head portion. The head portion is configured with a latch device that is adapted to lock the waste container to the head portion, and to unlock and facilitate a drop of the waste container from the head portion by a user's one hand operation on the latch device.
In some embodiments, the latch device further contains a button movably mounted on the head portion. The button is adapted to be operated by the user with a finger to unlock the waste container from the head portion.
In some embodiments, the latch device further contains lever hinged to the head portion between two ends of the lever. One of the two ends is formed as or coupled with the button which is adapted to be pressed by the user. The other one of the two ends is formed as or coupled with a hook member that is adapted to grip a protruded rim of the waste container.
In some embodiments, the interface further contains circumferentially extending sidewall at the front end of the head portion that delimits an opening. The opening faces an insertion direction of the waste container and adapted to receive at least a part of the waste container.
In some embodiments, the latch device further contains a lever that is movable at least partially into the opening to secure the waste container once installed to the handheld vacuum device.
In some embodiments, the handheld vacuum device further includes a worklight installed at the head portion.
In some embodiments, the handheld vacuum device further includes a plurality of battery cells received within the gripping portion. The gripping portion defines a longitudinal direction where the plurality of battery cells is aligned in an end-to-end manner along the longitudinal direction.
In some embodiments, the circumferentially extending sidewall has a length in the range of 2-3 mm in the insertion direction.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a waste container for a vacuum device, which includes a container body, a filter within the container body; and a flap member secured to a first end of the container body. The flap member defines an inlet for air and waste. The container body further contains a second end which is adapted to be connected and locked to an interface of the vacuum device.
In some embodiments, the filter is coupled to the container body at the first end of the container body.
In some embodiments, the first end of the container body has a circular shape. The waste container further contains a first ring member and a second ring member which are adapted to be fastened to the first end of the container body. The first ring member and the second ring member are adapted to clamp a circumferential edge of the flap member and a circumferential edge of the filter.
In some embodiments, the flap member has a disk shape that defines the circumferential edge of the flap member.
In some embodiments, the filter has a shape substantially corresponding to that of the container body. The filter has a protruded rim which defines the circumferential edge of the filter.
In some embodiments, the first ring member and the second ring member are adapted to be fastened to the first end of the container body by frictional fit.
In some embodiments, a first end of the filter is welded to the first end of the container body.
In some embodiments, the container body has a truncated cone shape with an opening on each of the first and second ends. The waste container is stackable on another similar waste container with the truncated cone shape.
In some embodiments, the second end of the container body is formed with a protruded rim by which the waste container is adapted to be connected and locked to the interface of the vacuum device.
In some embodiments, the container body is made of a biodegradable material.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a handheld vacuum device and a waste container as mentioned above.
One can see that the handheld vacuum devices according to various embodiments of the invention provide many advantages over conventional vacuum devices, in particular in the application of animal litter collection. In some preferred embodiments, the user can keep his or her hands completely clean without having to worry about contacting animal feces by accident, because solid waste on the ground can be suctioned into the waste container by the handheld vacuum devices, without any intervention of the user to directly or indirectly contact the waste, such as hand actions in vicinity of the solid waste. To dispose the collected waste the user only needs to use one hand to actuate a button, which in turn releases the waste container that will automatically drop down from the handheld vacuum device into a collection bin for example. In this way, the sanity of the user's hands can be guaranteed.
In addition, the waste container in some embodiments of the invention is made from biodegradable materials such as papers and bagasse. The filter bag in the waste container is also made from biodegradable materials. Thus, when littering the animal waste, the waste container can be disposed altogether and poses no harms to the environment, when the waste container is made from materials that can break down naturally by microorganisms or enzymes.
Other advantages of handheld vacuum devices according to various embodiments of the invention such as lightweight, powerful suction force, easy storage and carrying of the waste containers stack, will be apparent from the detailed descriptions below and the accompanying drawings.
The foregoing summary is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
The foregoing and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of embodiments which are provided by way of example only in connection with the accompanying figures, of which:
FIG. 1a is a perspective view of a handheld vacuum device according to a first embodiment of the invention, with a cup accessory connected to the device.
FIG. 1b is another perspective view of the handheld vacuum device and the cup accessory from another view angle.
FIG. 2a is a perspective view of the handheld vacuum device as shown in FIG. 1a when the cup accessory is detached from the handheld vacuum device.
FIG. 2b is another perspective view of the handheld vacuum device as shown in FIG. 1b when the cup accessory is detached from the handheld vacuum device.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the handheld vacuum device and the cup accessory of FIGS. 1a-1b when the cup accessory is attached to the handheld vacuum device.
FIG. 4a is a side view of the cup accessory in FIGS. 1a-3.
FIG. 4b is a cross-sectional view of the cup accessory along line A-A in FIG. 4a.
FIG. 5 shows another cross-sectional view of the cup accessory in FIGS. 1a-3, and the insert shows a mirrored view of a corner of the cup accessory near the inlet side.
FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the cup accessory in FIGS. 1a-3.
FIG. 7 illustrates the pressing action on a button to unlock and facilitate a drop of the cup accessory from the status shown in FIGS. 1a-1b.
FIG. 8a is a perspective view of a cup accessory according to another embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 8b is another perspective view of the cup accessory in FIG. 8a.
FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the cup accessory in FIGS. 8a-8b.
FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional view of the cup accessory in FIGS. 8a-8b, and the insert shows a mirrored view of a corner of the cup accessory near the inlet side.
FIG. 11a is a perspective view of a handheld vacuum device according to another embodiment of the invention, with a cup accessory shown to be disconnected to the device.
FIG. 11b is another perspective view of the handheld vacuum device and the cup accessory in FIG. 11a from another view angle.
FIG. 12a and FIG. 12b show respectively two steps of installing the cup accessory to the handheld vacuum device of FIGS. 11a-11b.
FIG. 13a is a perspective view of a handheld vacuum device according to another embodiment of the invention, with a sleeve covering an on/off switch, the insert showing a status where the sleeve is separated from the handheld vacuum device.
FIG. 13b is another perspective view of the handheld vacuum device of FIG. 13a from another view angle.
In the drawings, like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several embodiments described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to FIGS. 1a-2b, the first embodiment of the present invention is a handheld vacuum device 20, which can be used as an animal litter vacuum device. The handheld vacuum device 20 as shown in FIGS. 1a-1b is installed with a cup accessory 40 as a waste container, while in FIGS. 2a-2b the cup accessory 40 is shown to be detached from the handheld vacuum device 20. The handheld vacuum device 20 has a substantially elongated shape and defines a general longitudinal direction indicated by arrow 18. The arrow 18 also indicates an air inflow direction into the handheld vacuum device 20. The handheld vacuum device 20 includes a head portion 22 and a gripping portion 24. The head portion 22 is connected to the gripping portion 24, and as it will be shown in FIG. 3, a single housing 35 of the handheld vacuum device 20 receives all essential internal components of the handheld vacuum device 20. As such, different portions of the housing 35 delimit respectively the head portion 22 and the gripping portion 24. The head portion 22 and the gripping portion 24 both have substantially cylindrical shapes, but the gripping portion 24 is formed with a bent along its longitudinal direction as best seen in FIG. 3. The head portion 22 has a diameter larger than that of the gripping portion 24. At the joint of the head portion 22 and the gripping portion 24 there is a smooth transition portion 23 which has a curved contour. Part of the gripping portion 24 after the bent is substantially in a stick shape.
The rear end of the gripping portion 24 is formed with a hole 21 which can be used for hanging the handheld vacuum device 20. At an approximately a middle point of the gripping portion 24 along its longitudinal direction, which is also where the bent is located, there is a power button 26 configured. At the head portion 22, near its front end there is configured a latch device that contains a lever 25. The lever 25 has an elongated plate shape and is hinged at a center thereof so that the lever 25 is subject to pivotal movement when a user uses his/her finger to press one end of the lever 25. This end of the lever 25, which is farther away from the cup accessory 40 as compared to another end of the lever 25, functions a pressing button 25a. The other, free end of the lever 25 is formed with a hook 25b. The lever 25 is spring-loaded (while the spring is not shown), and is biased to a locked status as shown in FIG. 3. Besides the lever 25, the latch device further contains a stop member 22a which is immovable and is located opposite to the hook 25b.
The front end of the head portion 22 is adapted to be connected with a cup accessory such as the one shown in FIGS. 1a-2b. In particular, there is an interface for the connection which (as best shown in FIGS. 2a-3) that includes an opening 27 delimited by a circumferentially extending interior sidewall 28 of the head portion 22. The opening 27 is recessed inwardly along the direction shown by arrow 18 from the front end of the head portion 22, and the circumferentially extending interior sidewall 28 forms a neck portion. In one implementation, the length of the circumferentially extending interior sidewall 28 along the longitudinal direction of the handheld vacuum device 20 is around 2-3 mm. At the center of the opening 27, there is an air inlet 36 configured on the head portion 22 for air to flow into the interior of the handheld vacuum device 20 by a suctioning force generated by a motor 31. However, no solid waste can arrive at the air inlet 36 because of a filter in the cup accessory, as will be described in more details later.
FIG. 3 shows internal components of the handheld vacuum device 20, and one can see that three battery cells 29 are positioned within the gripping portion 24 in an end-to-end manner. As mentioned above the gripping portion 24 defines a longitudinal direction (albeit with a bent) and one can see from FIG. 3 that the battery cells 29 are aligned following the longitudinal direction of the gription portion 24. The power button 26 as an on/off switch of the handheld vacuum device 20 is located on a housing 35 of the handheld vacuum device 20. The housing 35 being a single outer housing of the handheld vacuum device 20 extends from the front end of the head portion 22 to the rear end of the gripping portion 24. Besides the battery cells 29 there are other components which are also received within the housing 35 including the motor 31 located adjacent to the air inlet 36, a fan (not shown) driven by the motor 31, a control PCB (printed circuit board) 30 above and between the motor 31 and the battery cells 29, a charging PCB 34 under the motor 31, and a worklight 32. The motor 31 is a highspeed brushless DC motor. The fan is used to generate a suction force to make air flowing into the handheld vacuum device 20 through the air inlet 36. The worklight 32 is a LED which is used to illuminate the work region of the handheld vacuum device 20 for example the ground when the user uses the handheld vacuum device 20 to pick up animal waste. On the head portion 22 there is also configured a charging port 33 which for example is a USB-C port and faces backward.
As best shown in FIGS. 2a-2b, the opening 27 is suitable for receiving a part of the cup accessory 40, and in particular a larger end of the cup accessory 40 where the cup accessory 40 has a truncated cone shape. The larger end of the cup accessor 40 is adapted to be received in the opening 27 and locked by the latch device. In particular, as best shown in FIG. 3, the cup accessory 40 has a cup body 44, and at a larger end of the cup body 44 there is formed with a protruded rim 44a. The protruded rim 44a creates an angle with the cup body 44, and the hook 25b and the stop member 22a also define an angle respectively. Therefore, when the cup accessory 40 is properly installed on the handheld vacuum device 20, the protruded rim 44a of the cup body 44 is gripped by the hook 25b and the stop member 22a firmly. Both the hook 25b and the stop member 22a grip the protruded rim 44a as shown in FIG. 3, but at opposite sides about a center of the protruded rim 44a. The diameter of the protruded rim 44a is larger than the distance between the hook 25b and the stop member 22a so once the cup accessory 40 is installed the protruded rim 44a cannot pass through a gap formed between the hook 25b and the stop member 22a, unless the user manipulates the lever 25 as mentioned above.
As mentioned above, securing of the cup accessory 40 is achieved by the latch device engaging and locking a protruded rim 44a of a cup body 44 of the cup accessory 40. Various parts of the cup accessory 40 are shown throughout FIGS. 1a-6 including the cup body 44, a flap member 42, a filter bag 46, a front ring 48 as a first ring member, and a middle ring 50 as a second ring member. The cup body 44 is opened at both of its ends, so that air flow can pass through the cup accessory 40 due to the suction force generated by the handheld vacuum device 20. The flap member 42 has a disk shape and is made of a resilient material such as silicone. There are many independent, movable flap pieces 42a formed in the flap member 42 which together close a round gap. The flap member 42 is located at a smaller end of the cup body 44, which is the inlet end of air and waste when the cup accessory 40 is connected to the handheld vacuum device 20. Preferably, the smaller end of the cup body 44 has an inlet with a diameter in the range of 10 mm to 60 mm.
The filter bag 46 has a shape that is generally corresponding to that of the cup body 44 to maximize the capacity of the filter bag 46. The filter bag 46 is made of a material that is preferably biodegradable such as paper, cellulose, PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) resins, wood pulp, etc. The cup body 44 is preferably also made from a biodegradable material such as fiber, bagasse and paper (such as kraft paper, food grade newsprint paper).
In this embodiment, both the flap member 42 and the filter bag 46 are attached to the cup body 44 at a front end thereof. FIG. 5 best shows the structure of how the flap member 42 and the filter bag 46 are fastened. The flap member 42 as mentioned above has a disk shape, and in order to secure it a circumferential edge of the flap member 42 at its perimeter is clamped by the middle ring 50 and the front ring 48. As shown in FIGS. 5-6, the front ring 48 has a planar shape, while the middle ring 50 has both a circumferential sidewall 50a that extend in the direction of the rotational axis of the cup body 44, and a bottom wall 50b in a ring shape which is planar and parallel to the front ring 48. The circumferential edge of the flap member 42 is therefore clamped between the front ring 48 and the bottom wall 50b of the middle ring 50, which overlap with each other in the direction of the rotational axis of the cup body 44. In a similar way, a protruded rim 46a at a smaller end of the filter bag 46 which has a circumferential edge, is also clamped between the front ring 48 and the bottom wall 50b of the middle ring 50. Thus, both the flap member 42 and the filter bag 46 are fixed with respect to the cup body 44. The front ring 48 and the middle ring 50 are fixed in position by frictional fit with an interior wall of the cup body 44.
Now turn to the operation of the handheld vacuum device 20. The user can power on and off the device 20 by pressing on the power button 26 and when the device 20 is powered on, there will be negative pressure generated by the fan within the handheld vacuum device 20 thus creating an air flow. When the cup accessory 40 is installed to the handheld vacuum device 20, air will be suctioned into the device 20 via the front end of the cup accessory 40, i.e., through the flap member 42. Because of the suction force the flap pieces 42a will deflate inward, thus opening a gap (not shown) for air and any waste (e.g., animal litter) to pass through the flap member 42. Using the animal waste as an example, the animal waste as suctioned enters into the interior of cup body 44 and also inside the filter bag 46 through an opening of the filter bag 46. However, while the cup body 44 has both of its ends open, the filter bag 46 is open at one end only, so the animal waste will be trapped in the filter bag 46 and cannot move further into the handheld vacuum device 20, while air can penetrate the filter bag 46 to leave the cup assembly 40 and enters the interior of the head portion 22. Now, when the user switches off the power, and the air flow stops, the animal waste will not fall out of the cup body 44 because the flap member 42 is now closed when the air pressure is removed. The flap pieces 42a cannot be deflated in another direction e.g., because of the weight of the animal waste. As a result, the animal waste is successfully picked up by vacuum power, and received in the waste container, without the user having to use his/her hand to pick up the animal waste.
When the cup assembly 40 is full, the user may want to dispose the cup assembly 40 together with the animal waste therein, and optionally install a new cup assembly. As mentioned before the user can use a single hand to release the cup assembly 40 and this process is shown in FIG. 7, where the user presses the pressing button 25a in a direction shown by the arrow 38, and the hook 25b moves in a reverse direction because of the lever structure. As a result, the hook 25b moves away from the opening 27 outward and upward in FIG. 7, and thus quits the engagement with the protruded rim 44a of the cup body 44. The latch device facilitates a drop of the cup assembly 40 because at this moment, the previous two-points engagement of the cup assembly 40 with the interface was changed to one point only, since the hook 25b does not support the cup assembly 40 anymore. The cup assembly 40 under gravity force will drop down from the handheld vacuum device 20 in a direction as shown by arrow 39. However, because temporarily the protruded rim 44a still engages with the bottom stop member 22a when the user operates the pressing button 25a, the cup assembly 40 does not instantly fall in the vertical direction, but it relatively slowly falls as it is pivoting around the stop member 22a for a short time, and then is completely separated from the handheld vacuum device 20. In this way the user will have a better control of the timing of the drop of the cup assembly 40. As mentioned above, the cup assembly 40 is preferably made from biodegradable material so even if the cup assembly 40 is disposed it will be naturally degraded and cause no harm to the environment.
To install a new cup assembly 40 to the handheld vacuum device 20. The user only needs to insert the new cup assembly 40 partially into the opening 27, and in particular engage a protruded rim 44a of the cup body 44 at one point with the stop member 22a at the bottom. The, the user urges an opposite part of the protruded rim 44a in a pivoting manner for it to engage with the hook 25b at the top. As the lever 25 is spring-loaded, the user's pushing of the protruded rim 44a into contact with the hook 25b will result in a movement of the hook 25b a little bit, but when the user releases his/her hand from the protruded rim 44a the hook 25b returns to its default position because of the spring biasing force, and thus the new cup assembly 40 is firmly connected to the interface and locked by the stop member 22a and the hook 25b.
Turning to FIGS. 8a-10, in another embodiment of the invention there is provided another cup assembly 140. The cup assembly 140 similar to that in FIGS. 1-7 contains a cup body 144 in a truncated cone shape, and a flap member 142, which are similar to counterparts in FIGS. 1-7, and will not be described again herewith for the sake of brevity. Rather, only the differences between the cup assembly 140 as compared to that in FIGS. 1-7 will be described. The cup assembly in FIGS. 1-7 contain two ring members to fasten the flap member and the filter bag, but in the cup assembly 140 there are no such ring members. Instead, the flap member 142 is directly secured to the cup body 144 by frictional fit, and in this regards the flap member 142 has a sidewall 142a besides the planar part 142b. The sidewall 142a has a diameter similar to that of the end of the cup body 144. Thus, by a direct contact the sidewall 142a is in a frictional fit with the cup body 144 and the flap member 142 is secured to the cup body 144. On the other hand, a filter bag 146 within the cup body 144 is welded to the cup body 144 at a region 150 (see FIG. 10) at their sidewalls. The filter bag 146 is therefore fastened to the cup body 144. Because of the welding at the sidewall, the filter bag 146 does not have a protruded rim as that in FIG. 5.
Turning to FIGS. 11a-11b, in another embodiment of the invention a cup accessory 240 has a different structure as compared to cup accessories described above, and can be installed removably to a handheld vacuum device 220. The handheld vacuum device 220 is similar to the one shown in FIGS. 1-3 and will not be described in details again. The cup accessory 240 has protruded rims 244a on a cup body 244, but instead of having a continuous protruded rim along the circumferential direction as shown in FIGS. 2a-2b, on the cup accessory 240 there are two notches 244b on a rim portion that are aligned substantially along a diameter of the rim portion, resulting in the two symmetrical protruded rims 244a. The installation process of the cup accessory 240 to the handheld vacuum device 220 is illustrated in FIGS. 12a-12b. In particular, the user (not shown) moves the cup accessory 240 towards the handheld vacuum device 220 along a general longitudinal direction thereof which is indicated by arrow 218 in FIG. 12a. During this movement, the two notches 244b on the cup accessory 240 must be aligned with a stop member 222a and a free end of a hook 225b at an interface of the handheld vacuum device 220. The stop member 222a and the hook 225b have similar configurations as their counterparts shown in FIG. 2a and described above. Once the cup accessory 240 is moved to a closest position with respect to the handheld vacuum device 220, such that the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 225b moves through a respective notch 225b so that the protruded rims 244a are now behind the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 225b (the front-rear direction is defined as the direction from the interface of the handheld vacuum device 220 to its rear end), then the user could twist the cup accessory 240 relative to the handheld vacuum device 220 in either of the two circular directions as shown by the arrow 219 in FIG. 12b. In this way, the two notches 244b on the cup accessory 240 move away from the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 225b, and the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 25b engage with the protruded rims 244a so that the disengagement of the cup accessory 240 from the handheld vacuum device 220 is prevented by the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 225b. The twisting of the cup accessory 240 in FIG. 12b only needs to be made in a small angular range, e.g. to twist the cup accessory 240 by 90 degrees, and thus the way of twisting is called a half-twist. Such a connection between the cup accessory 240 and the handheld vacuum device 220 is known as a buoyant connection. To release the cup accessory 240 from the handheld vacuum device 220, the user just need to twist the cup accessory 240, so that the notches 244b are aligned with the and the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 225b again, and then the stop member 222a and the free end of the hook 225b could quit from the engagement with the cup accessory 240.
It should be noted that the internal structure of the cup accessory 240 is not limited, and for example it could be the same as that shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 9. It is the coupling method of the cup accessory 240 to the handheld vacuum device 220 that is unique as compared to other embodiments described previously. It should also be noted that the handheld vacuum device 220 as it has a similar structure as that in FIGS. 1-3 is adapted to receive a cup accessory in more than one way, e.g. by the lever-latch mechanism, or by the half-twist mechanism. As such, the flexibility of the handheld vacuum device 220 is greatly expanded and its user will have more freedom in choosing different types of cup accessories for using together with the handheld vacuum device 220.
FIGS. 13a and 13b show a handheld vacuum device 320 according to another embodiment of the invention. Compared to handheld vacuum devices described above in other embodiments, the handheld vacuum device 320 is equipped with a removable sleeve 360 which can be moved to a safety position as shown in FIG. 13a to surround part of a gripping portion 324 of the handheld vacuum device 320 and to cover a power button (not shown) located at that part of the gripping portion 324. The movement of the sleeve 360 is along a longitudinal direction of the gripping portion 324, as indicated by the arrow 362 in FIG. 13a. The diameter of the sleeve 360 is designed to be only slightly larger than that of the part of the gripping portion 324 where the power button is located, and it is ideal that the sleeve 360 once covers the power button will not be able to move further towards a head portion 322 of the handheld vacuum device 320 because the diameter of the gripping portion 324 in front of the power button is gradually increasing towards the head portion 322. The sleeve 360 can be moved into/out of the gripping portion 324 at the rear end thereof. The sleeve 360 at the safety position prevents accidental actuation of the power button, for example during transportation or storage of the handheld vacuum device 320, so that the handheld vacuum device 320 will not power on unexpectedly.
The exemplary embodiments are thus fully described. Although the description referred to particular embodiments, it will be clear to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced with variation of these specific details. Hence this invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
While the embodiments have been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only exemplary embodiments have been shown and described and do not limit the scope of the invention in any manner. It can be appreciated that any of the features described herein may be used with any embodiment. The illustrative embodiments are not exclusive of each other or of other embodiments not recited herein. Accordingly, the invention also provides embodiments that comprise combinations of one or more of the illustrative embodiments described above. Modifications and variations of the invention as herein set forth can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and, therefore, only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated by the appended claims.
For example, in the embodiments described above the power button (for switching on/off) and the pressing button for the latch device are both designed to be pressable by the user's finger. However, those skilled in the art should understand that one or both of these buttons may be of different type(s) such as slidable button, a knob, etc.
The handheld vacuum device described above uses internal battery cells as the power supply for the motor. Those skilled in the art should realize that invention is not limited to as such, but other types of power supply may also be used, such as power cord (AC), and removable battery pack.
It should be noted that because of the truncated cone shape of the cup body of the cup accessories in some embodiments, the cup accessories may be stacked up by receiving a smaller end of a cup accessory at a larger end of another cup accessory. In this way, the cup accessories can be easily stacked up just like batch paper cups that are cascaded on the shelf of supermarkets, which helps storing and carrying the cup accessories.
The waste containers in some preferred embodiments described above have the shapes of paper cups (e.g., truncated cone shape) and are made of biodegradable materials. In another embodiment a plastic dust tank is used instead of a cup accessory, which similarly has a taper shape. However, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the cup-like shape of the waste container, or the biodegradable material or plastic used to build the waste container. In other embodiments, the waste container could have different shapes and/or is made of different materials. For example, in some variations the waste container could be a replicable litter bag. In general, for waste containers according to the invention, one or more, or all of the components could be made from degradable materials, or it could be that none of the components can be naturally decomposed in the environment.
Patent Application
20250098917
