Patent Application
20050193506
This application relates to a device for cleaning a carpet. More specifically, the application relates to a device for vacuum cleaning and shampooing a carpet.
A carpet cleaning device includes a base unit, a vacuuming head and a shampooing head. The vacuuming head can be removably attached to the base unit. The base unit with the vacuuming head attached can be used to vacuum clean a carpet. Similarly, the shampooing head can be removably attached to the base unit. The base unit with the shampooing head attached can be used to shampoo the carpet.
A carpet cleaning apparatus comprises a housing and wheels rotatably connected to the housing for moving the housing over a carpet. A brushroll, supported by the housing, is rotatable about a first axis. A pulley, supported by the housing, is rotatable about a second axis parallel to the first axis. A drive wheel, supported by the housing, is rotatable about a third axis parallel to the first axis. A belt has inner and outer surfaces. The inner surface extends about and engages the brushroll and the pulley. The outer surface engages the drive wheel. The belt is pulled by the pulley downward against the drive wheel for the drive wheel to drive the brushroll through the belt.
Preferably, the belt is pulled by both the pulley and the brushroll downward against the drive wheel. Alternatively, the apparatus comprises a second pulley located in the housing and rotatable about a fourth axis parallel to the first axis, and the belt is pulled by both the first and second pulleys downward against the drive wheel. The apparatus preferably further comprises a base portion and a separate cleaning head portion removably attachable to the base portion, with the wheels and the drive wheel supported by the base portion, and the brushroll and the pulley supported by the head portion.
A cleaning head is for use with a base for cleaning a floor. The base has a base housing with a front opening. The base further has a drive wheel that is located in the base housing and rotatable about a drive axis. The cleaning head comprises a housing and a brushroll supported by the housing and rotatable about a brushroll axis. A pulley, supported by the housing, is rotatable about a pulley axis parallel to the brushroll axis. A belt extends about the brushroll and the pulley. The head has an installed position in which the head is removably attached to the base such that the head extends through the opening, with the pulley located in the base, the brushroll located outside the base, and the brushroll axis parallel to the drive axis. Movement of the head into the installed position can bring the belt into engagement with the drive wheel for the drive wheel to drive the brushroll through the belt.
A carpet shampooing apparatus comprises a first brushroll supported for rotation about a first axis. The first brushroll includes a first dowel and first bristles. The first bristles extend a first distance radially outward from the first dowel. A second brushroll is supported for rotation about a second axis parallel to the first axis and includes a second dowel and second bristles. The second bristles extend a second distance radially outward from the second dowel. A distance between the dowels is less than or equal to the sum of the first and second distances. A scraper blade contacts the second brushroll. The first brushroll can brush shampoo into a carpet. The second brushroll can lift the shampoo from the carpet toward the scraper blade. The scraper blade can scrape the shampoo off of the second brushroll.
Preferably, a dispenser is oriented to dispense shampoo directly onto the first brushroll, whereby the first brushroll can apply the shampoo to the carpet as the first brushroll rotates. A shampoo collection container is connected to the scraper blade and is configured to collect the shampoo from the scraper blade. A drive mechanism is configured to rotate the brushrolls in opposite directions, with the first and second bristles moving upward between the dowels.
Overview
The apparatus 1 shown in
The apparatus 1 is used for cleaning a carpet 6 that is lying flat on a floor. It includes a base unit 10, a vacuuming head 12 and a shampooing head 14. The vacuuming head 12 can be removably attached to the base unit 10 in an installed position. The base unit 10 and the vacuuming head 12 together comprise a vacuum cleaner for vacuuming the carpet 6. Alternatively, the shampooing head can be removably attached to the base unit 10 in an installed position. The base unit 10 and the shampooing head together comprise a shampooer for shampooing the carpet 6.
Base Unit
The base unit 10 comprises a base 20, a handle 22 extending upward from the base 20, and a filter bag 24 supported by the handle 22.
As shown in
A motor 50 within the base housing 30 has an output shaft 52 that drives the fan 40. The output shaft 52 extends through the fan 40 into the vacuum chamber 35 to drive a base belt 54 that is permanently located within the chamber 35. The belt 54, in turn, drives a drive shaft 56 centered on a rotational axis 57. The drive shaft 56 is rotatably fixed to the base housing 30 by a shaft mounting structure 58. A drive wheel 60, in this case a drive gear, is attached to the drive shaft 56 and rotatable about the axis 57. The drive wheel 60 is located in the vacuum chamber 35, behind the front opening 33. The drive wheel 60 provides power to the vacuuming head 12 or the shampooing head 14 when either of those heads 12 or 14 is in the installed position.
Two front wheels 70 and two rear wheels 72 enable the base 20 to be moved over the carpet 6. The front and rear wheels 70 and 72 are rotatable about respective parallel axes 73 and 75. The front wheels 70 are rotatably connected to the base housing 30 by a height-adjust mechanism 76 represented schematically in
Two arms 80 extend forward from the front face 32. They support a perch pin 82 in a horizontal orientation parallel to the front face 32. The perch pin 82 is configured to support either head 12 or 14 in the installed position.
A latch 90 is used for latching the respective head 12 or 14 in the installed position. Parts of the latch 90 include a flexible stem 92 and a wedge-shaped latch head 94. The stem 92 is fastened at its rear end to a top wall 96 of the base 20 and is joined at its front end to the latch head 94. A front surface 98 of the latch head 94 is inclined forward and upward. A vertical rear surface 99 of the latch head 94 faces, and is spaced slightly forward from, the front face 32 of the base 20.
Vacuuming Head
The vacuuming head 12 is shown in
The brushroll 130 has an axially-extending dowel 136 and bristles 140 extending radially outward from the dowel 136. The bristles 140 are grouped in clusters called tufts 142. The tufts 142 are arranged in two axially-extending rows 144 and 146 located at radially-opposite sides of the dowel 136. In this example, the axially-extending rows 144 and 146 are straight. Each row 144 and 146 is interrupted by a poly-V pulley surface 148 axially centered on the dowel 136.
A vacuuming head belt 150 extends permanently about the idler pulleys 120 and 122 and the brushroll 130. In the uninstalled position of the head 12 shown in
A top cover 160 is attached to the bracket 110. It has an upwardly extending latch plate 164 configured to be captured by the latch 90 (
The vacuuming head 12 can be installed on the base 20 as follows. A first step is illustrated in
A second step is indicated by an arrow 181 in
A third step is indicated by an arrow 183 in
A fourth step is indicated by an arrow 187 in
With the head 12 in the installed position shown in
Further, in the installed position, the outer surface 154 of the belt 150 engages the drive wheel 60. The inner surface 152 of the belt 150 extends about and engages the brushroll 130 and the pulleys 120 and 122. Both the brushroll 130 and the lower pulley 122 pull the belt 150 downward against the drive wheel 60. The brushroll axis 131 is forward of the drive wheel axis 61, and the lower pulley axis 127 is rearward of the drive wheel axis 61. The upper pulley 120 keeps an upper portion 190 of the belt 150 spaced upward from a lower portion 192 of the belt 150 to prevent the portions 190 and 192 from scraping against each other.
Referring to
The base unit 10 and the head 12, attached together, comprise a vacuum cleaner for vacuum cleaning carpet 6. The vacuum cleaner has a vacuum cleaner housing comprising the base housing 30 and the head housing 170. The vacuum cleaning process can be performed by turning on the motor 50 and moving the vacuum cleaner over the carpet 6. In this process, the motor 50 drives the fan 40. It also drives the drive wheel 60 through the base belt 54. As shown in
After the vacuuming cleaning is completed, the head 12 can be removed from the base 20 by first engaging a thumb against the front surface 98 of the latch head 94. The thumb pushes the latch head 94 upward until the latch plate 164 is released. The vacuuming head 12 can then be withdrawn from the chamber 35 and pulled forward and away from the base 20.
Shampooing Head
The shampooing head 14 is shown in
As shown in
The bristles 240 and 241 of the brushrolls 230 and 231 are arranged in tufts 242. The tufts 242 of each brushroll 230 and 231 are arranged in two axially-extending rows 244 and 246 located at radially-opposite sides of the dowel 238 and 239. The rows 244 and 246 of the front brushroll 230 are interrupted by a poly-V pulley surface 248 axially centered on the front dowel 238. The rows 244 and 246 of the rear brushroll 231 are interrupted by a gear-toothed surface 249 axially centered on the rear dowel 239.
A shampooing head belt 250 extends permanently about the idler pulleys 220, 222 and 224 and the front brushroll 230. The belt 250 has a poly-V inner surface 252 and a gear-toothed outer surface 254. The poly-V inner surface 252 engages the pulleys 220, 222 and 224 and the poly-V pulley surface 248 of the front brushroll 230. The toothed outer surface 255 engages the toothed surface 249 of the rear brushroll 231. To take up any slack in the belt 250, the upper pulley 220 is attached to the bracket 210 by a lever 256. The lever 256 is spring loaded to pull the upper pulley 220 upward. This keeps the shampooing head belt 250 taut even in the uninstalled position of the shampooing head 14 shown in
A top cover 260, shown in
The latch plate 264 extends upward from the wall 262. It is configured to be captured by the latch 90 (
The shampoo container 266 is shown in
The conduit 270 extends forward along the wall 262 from the outlet opening 275 of the container 266 to the discharge outlet 268. The discharge outlet 268 has a discharge opening 282. This opening 282 is located directly above the front brushroll 230 in order to discharge the shampoo directly onto the bristles 240 of the front brushroll 230. Preferably, the discharge opening 282 is totally located directly above the dowel 238 of the front brushroll 230. The opening 282 is elongated. It extends, lengthwise, parallel with the brushroll 230 along almost the full length of the brushroll 230.
A shampoo collection container 290, in this example a tray, is shown in
The top cover 260 and the bracket 210, joined together as in
The shampooing head 14 can be installed on the base 20 in a manner similar to that explained above for the vacuuming head 12. In a first step illustrated in
A second step is indicated by an arrow 321 in
A third step is indicated by an arrow 323 in
A fourth step is indicated by an arrow 327 in
With the head 14 in the installed position shown in
Further, in the installed position, the outer surface 254 of the belt 250 engages the drive wheel 60 and the rear brushroll 131. The inner surface 252 of the belt 250 extends about and engages the front brushroll 130 and the three idler pulleys 220, 222 and 224. The two lower pulleys 222 and 224 pull the belt 250, under tension, downward against and about the drive wheel 60. This is enabled by the axes 227 and 229 of the front and rear lower pulleys 222 and 224 being located at opposite sides of the drive wheel axis 61. For example, as in
The rotational axes 61, 73, 75, 225, 227, 229, 233 and 234 (
The motor 50 (
The base unit 10 (
The discharge outlet 268 dispenses the shampoo directly onto the bristles 240 of the front brushroll 230. Upon receiving the shampoo, the front brushroll bristles 240 initially carry the shampoo forward and away from the rear brushroll 231 and downward toward the carpet 6. The front brushroll bristles 240 then contact the carpet 6 to apply the shampoo to carpet 6, and thereafter move upward in-between the dowels 238 and 239.
The bristles 240 and 241 of both brushrolls 230 and 231 brush the shampoo into the carpet 6. This enables the shampoo to entrain dirt from the carpet 6. Since the brushrolls 230 and 231 rotate in opposite directions, each tuft of the carpet 6 is brushed at two opposite sides of the tuft. This promotes impregnation of the shampoo into the carpet 6. It also promotes dislodging of dirt from the tufts. A layer of shampoo 244 accumulates on top of and within the carpet 6 as the shampooer moves over the carpet 6.
Concurrently, the rear brushroll bristles 241 remove a portion of the dirt-entrained shampoo from the carpet 6 and lift the shampoo upward between the dowels 238 and 239 toward the scraper blade 296. The shampoo, along with entrained dirt, is scraped off the rear brushroll bristles 241 by the scraper blade 296 and flows into the collection tray 290.
The front brushroll 230 can also remove shampoo from the carpet 6. If the brushrolls 230 and 231 are configured such that, in-between the dowels 238 and 239, the front brushroll bristles 240 come sufficiently near to the rear brushroll bristles 241, the shampoo lifted from the carpet 6 by the front brushroll bristles 240 can be transferred to the rear brushroll bristles 241. The rear brushroll 231 can then transport the shampoo to the scraper blade 296 for collection in the tray 290.
The front brushroll 230 improves the efficiency with which the rear brushroll 231 removes shampoo from the carpet 6. This is explained as follows. As each row 244 and 246 of rear brushroll bristles 241 contacts a section of the carpet 6 and then disengages from that section, it lifts a portion of the shampoo from that section upward to the collection tray 290. However, some of the shampoo from that section does not adhere to the rear brushroll bristles 241 and is thus not successfully lifted. Instead, it is swept by the rear brushroll 231 toward the front brushroll 230. The front brushroll 230 then sweeps the unlifted shampoo back toward the rear brushroll 231. This provides a second chance for the rear brushroll 231 to lift the shampoo to the tray 290, thereby improving the shampoo removal efficiency of the rear brushroll 231. The unlifted shampoo continues to be swept back and forth between the brushrolls 130 and 131 until it is finally successfully lifted by the rear brushroll 231 to the tray 290. This process is made possible by there being two brushrolls 230 and 231 that are adjacent each other and each rotating so as to sweep shampoo toward the other.
Periodically during the shampooing process, the shampoo collection tray 290 can be removed from the shampoo head housing 310 and emptied. After the shampooing process is completed, the shampooing head 14 can be removed from the base 20 in a manner similar to that described above for the vacuuming head 12. Briefly, the latch head 94 is moved upward, preferably by a thumb, until it releases the latch plate 264 and thus the shampooing head 14. The head 14 is then withdrawn from the vacuum chamber 35 and pulled forward away from the base 20.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
