Patent Grant
8671508
This application claims the entire benefit of Japanese Patent Application Number 2009-262133 filed on Nov. 17, 2009, 2010-3152 filed on Jan. 8, 2010, and 2010-121778 filed on May 27, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference.
This invention relates to a dust collector which can also be used as a blower.
A dust collector, for example, as disclosed in JP 2004-160235 A (corresponding US Patent Application published under US 2004/0088817 A1) comprises a main body in which a motor and a rotary fan to be driven by the motor are included. At the main body of the dust collector, an intake port, a filter and an exhaust port are provided. Outside air is sucked through a hose attached to the intake port, and released through the exhaust port, so that dust or the like sucked together with the outside air can be caught and thus collected by the filter. In the dust collector, a battery as a source of electric power is incorporated and a handle and a belt fastening part are provided at a housing of the dust collector so as to render the dust collector convenient to carry.
Among various dust collectors known in the art is a dust collector of a specific type which can be carried with a hose or a nozzle, etc. attached to the exhaust port and thus can be used as a blower.
However, the aforementioned dust collector configured to have a filter included therein and collect dust within the housing should inevitably be large in size and heavy in weight as a whole. This would impair the handleability of the dust collector being carried and operated by an operator, impose a heavy burden on the operator particularly when it is used for a long time, and thus lower the work efficiency.
Thus, there is a need to provide a dust collector which can be used as a stationary dust collector to be operated in place and as a blower to be operated while being carried by an operator, and particularly which can be carried and operated by the operator with improved work efficiency.
The present invention has been made in an attempt to eliminate the above disadvantages, and illustrative, non-limiting embodiments of the present invention may overcome the above disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above.
(1) In one aspect of the present invention, a dust collector is provided which comprises:
(2) In the configuration described above in (1), the main body may include a housing that is an assembly composed of at least two divisional housings, across which the battery pack attached to the receptacle unit is located.
(3) In the configurations described above in (1) and (2), the dust collector may be configured such that the handle is provided at an upper portion of the main body, and the exhaust port and the receptacle unit are provided at opposite sides of the main body whereby the battery pack attached to the receptacle unit and the dust bag attached to the exhaust port are located oppositely to laterally sandwich the main body as viewed from a front side of the main body.
(4) In the configuration described above in (3), the handle may be configured to extend laterally as viewed from the front side of the main body in a direction along which the dust bag attached to the exhaust port and the battery pack attached to the receptacle unit are arranged.
(5) In the configurations described above in (1)-(4), the receptacle unit may be configured to allow the battery pack to be slid therealong from above the main body and thereby combined with the receptacle unit.
(6) In the configurations described above in (1)-(5), the exhaust port may be configured to orient downward.
(7) In the configurations described above in (1)-(6), the dust collector may be configured such that a center of gravity of the battery pack attached to the receptacle unit is in a position lower than that of a center of gravity of the main body having no battery pack attached to the receptacle unit.
(8) In the configuration described above in (7), the receptacle unit may be disposed at the underside of the main body to allow the battery pack to be attached to the underside of the main body.
The following advantageous effects may be expected by implementing the present invention in such a way as described above.
According to the configuration as described in (1), two modes of operation which an operator may select become available, which includes a portable use mode in which the main body is carried using a handle or a belt, and a stationary use mode in which the main body is set in place on a floor or the like. In particular, since the dust bag is provided externally without the need to provide a dust-collecting space within the main body, the main body can be designed to be compact in size and light in weight with an improved handleability during operation in the portable use mode, which thus increases the work efficiency.
According to the additional feature as described in (2), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (1); that is, the battery pack can be attached with a proper balance attained, and thus, improvements in stability can be expected and the terminals can be connected with increased ease.
According to the additional feature as described in (3), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (1) or (2); that is, since the dust bag and the battery pack is separately arranged laterally with respect to the main body, a proper balance can be attained during operation in the portable use mode, and thus the handleability can be improved.
According to the additional feature as described in (4), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (3); that is, for example, when an operator grasps the handle at his/her body side, the dust collector naturally becomes oriented with the dust bag and the battery pack arranged in the front-rear direction, and thus the operation in the portable use mode can probably be performed without being interfered with by the dust bag and the battery pack.
According to the additional feature as described in (5), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (1), (2), (3) or (4); that is, combining the battery pack with the receptacle unit from above the main body by sliding the battery pack along the receptacle unit makes it easy to attach and detach the battery pack to and from the receptacle unit before and after the operation in the stationary use mode, and the risk of accidental drop of the battery pack from the receptacle unit can be avoided.
According to the additional feature as described in (6), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (1), (2), (3), (4) or (5); that is, the downward-orienting exhaust port configuration serves to prevent the backflow of dust or the like within the exhaust port, and thus ensures that the dust or the like will be collected into the dust bag without fail. Moreover, the boss for a screw which may be provided above the exhaust port may be formed without protruding upward, and thus an uncalled-for protrusion from the main body can be reduced or removed so that the usability of the dust collector can be improved. Furthermore, when the dust collector is used as a blower, air blown therefrom is naturally oriented downward, and thus the usability of the dust collector as a blower can be improved.
According to the additional feature as described in (7), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) or (6); that is, with this specific configuration of the position of the center of gravity of the battery pack attached, the stability of the dust collector can be improved furthermore.
According to the additional feature as described in (8), further advantage may be obtained in addition to that of (7); that is, the position of the center of gravity of the dust collector with the battery pack attached is lower and thus the stability can be improved. Moreover, the dust collector may be designed to have the battery pack without protruding to the front, rear, left and right, thus can be compact in shape as viewed from above. This may make the operation of the dust collector in the portable use mode and the carrying of the dust collector easy and convenient.
The above aspect, other advantages and further features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail illustrative, non-limiting embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
General Setup of Dust Collector
Referring now to
As shown also in
The handle 9 is formed such that a thickness is smaller than a width, where the thickness is a dimension in the upward-downward direction and the width is a dimension in the front-rear direction. With this configuration, a hand grasping the handle 9 can afford an extra object, for example, a hose connected to the intake port 3 so that the both of the hose and the handle 9 can be grasped together at the same time by the single hand.
The reason that the underside of each cap 10 is formed spherically is that the housing of the main body 2 in this embodiment is composed of two divisional housings as will be described later which are separable to the front and to the rear, and each divisional housing may have a draft-derived taper, even in which case, the supporting surface should be able to be placed on a floor or the ground without rattling.
Specific Structures in Dust Collector
In the main body 2, as shown in
As shown also in
The fan cover 20 is fixed to the fan housing 18 by screws 23b, and further securely tightened by long screws 23c which are applied from the front side through the fan cover 20 and the fan housing 18 to the motor housing 16.
The intake port 3 is provided in, and integrally formed with, the fan cover 20 coaxially with the output shaft 12 of the motor 11 and a shaft of the fan 14. The exhaust port 4 is formed of a separately formed tubular part held between the combined sides of the fan housing 18 and the fan cover 20. This exhaust port 4 is disposed coaxially with and connected to a conduit 28 which are formed to extend from an upper side of the scroll chamber 21 in a lateral and tangential direction. Denoted by 29 are a pair of L-shaped slots formed at an open end of the exhaust port 4. A sealing material 30 is held between the combined sides of the fan housing 18 and the fan cover 20, along the circumference of the scroll chamber 21 and the edge of the opening of the exhaust port 4.
As shown in
In the fan cover 20, a plurality of ribs 36-38 are formed at an inside of the intake port 3. These ribs 36-38 include a pair of upper ribs 36 protruding downward from an upper side of an open inner surface of the intake port 3, a pair of lower ribs 37 protruding upward from a lower side of the open inner surface of the intake port 3, and a pair of slanting ribs 38 protruding obliquely from positions leftward and rightward adjacent to the upper and lower rib pairs 36 and 37, respectively, in a direction opposite to each other along a direction of a radius crossing through an axis of the intake port 3 as viewed from the front. Among these ribs 36-38, the upper rib pair 36 and the lower rib pair 37 extend downwardly and upwardly, respectively, up to positions proximity to each other and both short of the vertically middle position within the intake port 3, and are shifted to the right and to the left, respectively, so as to be in a mutually staggered arrangement. The slanting ribs 38 extend radially for a distance shorter than the upper and lower ribs 36 and 37. These ribs 36-38 extend in the direction of the axis of the intake port 3 from an outer end of the opening to a position substantially half a distance short of an inner end of the opening, and inwardly protruded ends of these ribs 36-38 slope in such a manner that the closer to the outer end of the opening, the smaller the amount of protrusion of each rib 36-38 becomes.
A front cover 39 is attached to a front side of the fan cover 20. The front cover 39 is fastened by screws 23d applied from the front of the fan cover 20, and configured to generally entirely cover a front side of the fan cover 20 over the scroll chamber 21 and the conduit 28. A connecting tube 40 disposed outside of and coaxially with the intake port 3 is provided at the center of the front cover 39. The connecting tube 40 is, as shown in
At an inside of the front cover 39, as shown in
Denoted by 49 is a grounding pin made of metal which is disposed to extend in the front-rear direction through the fan cover 20 and the fan housing 18 in a tongue portion 21a (see
The end portion 5a of the hose 5 and the coupling tube 32 of the dust bag 6 are formed, for example, of a conductive resin such as a carbon-containing polypropylene. When the hose 5 is connected to the connecting tube 40, the end portion 5a comes in contact with the front end portion 45 of the first grounding plate 43. When the dust bag 6 is connected to the exhaust port 4, the coupling tube 32 comes in contact with the right end portion 48 of the second grounding plate 44.
On the other hand, the receptacle unit 8 of the battery pack 7 includes a pair of terminal plates 52 disposed in parallel and protruding vertically within a ridge 51 protruding along a U-shaped line from the left side of the main body 2. When an engageable portion 7a provided on an upper side of the battery pack 7 is placed from above into the ridge 51 of the main body 2, and slid downward until a stopper 7b provided at the engageable portion 7a comes in contact with an upper end of the ridge 51, the engageable portion 7a is coupled with the ridge 51 and the terminals 7c are electrically connected with the terminal plates 52 as shown in
Denoted by 53 is a switch unit provided at a left end of the handle 9. A switch plate 54 configured to be operable to expose an ON/OFF operation part through an upper surface of the handle 9 is provided at an upper portion of the switch unit 53. The switch unit 53 is electrically connected to the terminal plate 52 of the receptacle unit 8 and to a controller 55 disposed within the main body 2.
As shown in
Rubber covers 66, 67 are attached to the front and rear portions of the casing 60, respectively. The front portion of the casing 60 covered by the front rubber cover 66 extends frontward, from a position frontward of the middle windows 62. A central portion of a front side of the rubber cover 66 is configured to protrude frontward farther than the front side of the casing 60, to form a holding ring 68 which holds the ball bearings 19. This holding ring 68 is, as shown also in
In a front-end surface of the holding ring 68, an annular groove 69 is formed coaxially to form a thin seal portion 70 at an outer circumferential edge of the front end. An outer peripheral surface of the holding ring 68 which includes the seal portion 70 is located in proximity to the inner peripheral surface of the inner retaining wall 18a, and a space between the outer peripheral surface of the holding ring 68 and the inner peripheral surface of the inner retaining wall 18a provide a passage through which the motor chamber 17a and the scroll chamber 21 communicate with each other.
In addition, a front flange 71 is provided circumferentially at a midsection (near the front end of the casing 60) of the rubber cover 66. The front flange 71 has an outer peripheral surface in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the holding tube 17. At a rearward section (located rearwardly from the front flange 71) of the outer peripheral surface of the rubber cover 66, a plurality of axially extending ridges 72 each protruding radially outwardly to the same height as that of the front flange 71 are provided in positions spaced around the circumference of the rubber cover 66. Denoted by 73 is an opening provided frontwardly of the front flange 71 in the holding ring 68 to provide a passage through which the front window 63 communicates with the outside.
On the other hand, the rear rubber cover 67 is shaped like a sleeve configured to cover a rear portion (except the terminals 64 and the rear window 65) of the casing 60. The rear portion covered by the rear rubber cover 67 extends rearward, from a position rearward of the middle windows 62. A rear flange 74 is provided circumferentially at a front end of the rubber cover 67. The rear flange 74 has an outer peripheral surface in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the holding tube 17. At a rearward section (located rearwardly from the rear flange 74) of the outer peripheral surface of the rubber cover 67 as well, a plurality of axially extending ridges 75 each protruding radially outwardly to the same height as that of the rear flange 74 are provided in positions spaced around the circumference of the rubber cover 67 and phase-matched with the ridges 72.
Accordingly, in the motor chamber 17a, a middle space 76 in communication with the middle window 62, a front space 77 in communication with the front window 63, and a rear space 78 in communication with the rear window 65 are formed by partitioning with the front and rear flanges 71, 74 provided on the rubber covers 66, 67, respectively.
In this embodiment, the rubber covers 66, 67 are made of a chloroprene or CR rubber, and the front rubber cover 66 (located in a position closer to the output shaft 12 of the motor 11) has a hardness of 40 Hs (JIS-A) while the rear rubber cover 67 (located in a position farther from the output shaft 12 of the motor 11) has a hardness of 30 Hs (JIS-A). In this way, the hardness of the rear rubber cover 67 is set to be lower than that of the front rubber cover 66. The reason why the hardness of the front rubber cover 66 is set to be 40 Hs is that the hardness lower than 40 Hs would disadvantageously cause the motor 11 to rattle at its front side when the motor 11 is driven, and cause the fan 14 to interfere with the fan housing 18 or other parts within the scroll chamber 21. Thus, the above value (40 Hs) of the hardness of the front rubber cover 66 has been selected and set because it is the value of hardness with which the rattling can be prevented and the required vibration-insulating effects can be achieved. On the other hand, the hardness of the rear rubber cover 67 has been selected and set as mentioned above (30 Hs) because it is an adequate value that is the lowest value possible of the hardness of the CR rubber realized without incurring additional costs.
In the motor housing 16, as shown in
Operation of Dust Collector
The dust collector 1 configured as described above operates as follows. As shown in
On the other hand, when the hose 5 is removed from the intake port 3 and a nozzle (not shown) is connected to the exhaust port 4, the dust collector 1 can be used as a blower. In this operation, the dust collector 1 can be carried by grasping the handle 9, or carried with a belt fastened to the boss 25 and the pin 27 and looped over an operator's shoulder. The use of the dust collector 1 as a blower may be made without carrying the dust collector 1. For example, if a hose is connected to the exhaust port 4, the hose may be manipulated to direct air in a desired direction with the main body 2 placed stationarily on the ground or the like.
In the main body 2, when the motor 11 is driven to spin the cooling fan 61, first, outside air at a rear side of the motor 11 is sucked from an air inlet 83 into the motor chamber 17a, and directed through the rear window 65 into the casing 60. The air passing forward through the casing 60 is discharged through the middle window 62 into a middle space 76, and released from an air outlet 81 through the opening 22 to the outside of the main body 2.
Air at a front side of the motor 11 is sucked from the opening 22 through a cutaway portion 79, passes through a front space 77 and an opening 73, and is directed through the front window 63 into the casing 60. The air passing rearward through the casing 60 is discharged through the middle window 62 into the space 76, and released from the air outlet 81 through the opening 22. These air passages serve to cool the motor 11.
The middle space 76 into which air after cooling the motor 11 is discharged, is partitioned by front and rear flanges 71, 74 from the front and rear spaces 77, 78 through which air before cooling the motor 11 passes. Therefore, the air after cooling the motor 11 would never be sucked again into the casing 60 for recirculation within the motor chamber 17a. As a result, fresh air can always be used to cool the motor 11.
Moreover, in this embodiment, the motor 11 is fixed through front and rear rubber covers 66, 67 inside the holding tube 17, and thus vibrations associated with the operation of the motor 11 is not likely to be transmitted to the main body 2. In particular, the hardness of the rear rubber cover 67 is set to be lower, and thus even if vibrations around the axis of the output shaft 12 occur, the rear portion of the motor 11 may be turned about the axis of the output shaft 12 so that the vibrations can be absorbed effectively.
On the other hand, when dust is stored and accumulated in the dust bag 6 and an exhaust resistance increases, the pressure in the scroll chamber 21 increases, and the pressure in a communication portion 18b which is in communication with the scroll chamber 21 also increases. Then, as shown in
Since the ribs 36-38 are provided in the intake port 3, a filtering function is exerted such that large chips or dust can be blocked thereat, and would never be sucked into the scroll chamber 21.
Furthermore, when the dust-collecting operation is performed, if the dust sucked from the intake port 3 is made of material which tends to be negatively charged such as chips or the like, negatively charged static electricity is produced by friction with the end portion 5a and the intake port 3, and the end portion 5a and the intake port 3 becomes positively charged. Thereafter, when the charged dust passes through the scroll chamber 21 and is discharged from the exhaust port 4, the dust comes in contact with the exhaust port 4 and the coupling tube 32, and the negative charges are transferred to the exhaust port 4 and the coupling tube 32. Since the end portion 5a of the hose 5 and the coupling tube 32 are electrically connected to each other via the first and second grounding plates 43, 44, the positive charge at the intake side and the negative charge at the exhaust side are coupled through the first and second grounding plates 43, 44 and vanished. Similarly, even if the fan 14 is positively charged by friction with the dust, the positive charges are coupled with the negative charges transferred through the grounding pin 49 to the motor 11, and vanished.
Advantageous Effects of Dust Collector
According to the dust collector 1 configured as described above, in which the receptacle unit 8 configured to allow the battery pack 7 to be attached thereto, the handle 9 capable of being grasped, and the boss 25 and the pin 27 configured to allow a belt to be fastened thereto are provided, while the supporting surface 2a configured to allow the dust collector 1 with the dust bag 6 and the battery pack 7 attached thereto to be placed thereon are provided at the underside of the main body 2, two modes of operation which an operator may select become available: a portable use mode and a stationary use mode. The portable use mode is the mode in which the main body 2 is carried using a handle 9 or a belt; the stationary use mode is the mode in which the main body 2 is set in place stationarily on a floor or the like. In particular, since the dust bag 6 is provided externally without the need to provide a dust-collecting space within the main body 2, the main body 2 can be designed to be compact in size and light in weight with an improved handleability during operation in the portable use mode as a blower, which thus increases the work efficiency.
On the other hand, since the main body 2 includes a housing that is an assembly composed of at least two divisional housings (including the motor housing 16 and the fan housing 18), across which the battery pack 7 attached to the receptacle unit 8 is located, the battery pack 7 can be attached with a proper balance attained, and thus, improvements in stability can be expected and the terminals 52 can be connected with increased ease.
Since the handle 9 is provided at an upper portion of the main body 2, and the exhaust port 4 and the receptacle unit 8 are provided at opposite sides of the main body 2, at the right side and at the left side, respectively, whereby the battery pack 7 attached to the receptacle unit 8 and the dust bag 6 attached to the exhaust port 4 are located oppositely to laterally sandwich the main body 2 as viewed from a front side of the main body 2, a proper balance can be attained during operation in the portable use mode, and thus the handleability can be improved.
Since the handle 9 is configured to extend laterally as viewed from the front side of the main body 2 in a direction along which the dust bag 6 attached to the exhaust port 4 and the battery pack 7 attached to the receptacle unit 8 are arranged, for example, when an operator grasps the handle 9 at his/her body side, the dust collector 1 naturally becomes oriented with the dust bag 6 and the battery pack 7 arranged in the front-rear direction, and thus the operation in the portable use mode can probably be performed without being interfered with by the dust bag 6 and the battery pack 7. Since the receptacle unit 8 is configured to allow the battery pack 7 to be slid therealong from above the main body 2 and thereby combined with the receptacle unit 8, the attachment and detachment of the battery pack 7 to and from the receptacle unit 8 before and after the operation in the stationary use mode can be performed with increased ease, and the risk of accidental drop of the battery pack 7 from the receptacle unit 8 can be avoided.
Since the center of gravity of the battery pack 7 attached to the receptacle unit 8 is in a position lower than that of the center of gravity of the main body 2 having no battery pack 7 attached to the receptacle unit 8, the stability of the dust collector 1 can be improved furthermore.
Since the motor 11 is accommodated in the holding tube 17 through the rubber covers 66, 67, vibration-insulating effects on the main body 2 and shock-absorbing effects on the motor 11 can be achieved.
Furthermore, since the rubber covers 66, 67 have a divided structure composed of the front cover 66 (disposed in a position closer to the output shaft 12) and the rear cover 67 (disposed in a position farther from the output shaft 12), and the hardness of the rear rubber cover 67 is set to be lower than that of the front rubber cover 66, vibrations around the axis of the output shaft 12 of the motor 11 can be absorbed effectively.
Modified Embodiments of Dust Collector
The dust collector consistent with the present invention is not limited to the above-described illustrative embodiment, but any modifications in design can be made where appropriate; for example, the exhaust port and the receptacle unit may be arranged reversely, i.e., at the left and at the right, respectively, of the main body; the battery pack may be configured to be combined with the main body by sliding the battery pack from the front or from the rear along the receptacle unit; the battery pack may be configured to be combined with the main body by inserting (instead of sliding) the battery pack into the receptacle unit; and/or the orientation of the handle may be designed differently.
Moreover, the exhaust port 4 of the main body 2 may be configured to orient downward, like a dust collector la as illustrated in
Moreover, the dust bag 6 may be configured to include a belt loop 57 at an upper end on a main-body side of the dust bag 6 attached to the exhaust port 4, so that a belt 58 at the pin 27 side may be passed through this belt loop 57, like a dust collector 1b as illustrated in
The position of the receptacle unit for the battery pack to be attached thereto in the main body may not be limited to a position at the side of the main body, but may be a position at an underside of the main body; to be more specific, for example, the battery pack 7 may be installed at the underside of the main body 2, like a dust collector 1c as illustrated in
Denoted by 84 are legs provided at four corners of the supporting surface 2a, and a space in which the battery pack 7 can be installed is formed under the main body 2 with these legs 84.
Denoted by 85 is a ring which is loosely inserted around the boss 25 at the left side. The end portion of the belt may be fastened to the ring 85, and thus the belt passes along the side of the handle 9 so that the belt will become unlikely to interfere with the handle 9, and the handle 9 will be located in a position appropriate for an operator to grasp the handle 9 when the dust collector 1c is operated in the portable use mode.
With this configuration in which the battery pack 7 is attached to the underside of the main body 2 as described above, the position of the center of gravity of the dust collector 1c with the battery pack 7 attached becomes lower and thus the stability can be improved. Moreover, the dust collector 1c is designed to have the battery pack 7 provided without protruding to the front, rear, left and right, thus is compact in shape as viewed from above. This advantageously makes the operation of the dust collector 1c in the portable use mode and the carrying of the dust collector 1c easy and convenient.
It is explicitly stated that all features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original disclosure as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed invention independent of the composition of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. It is explicitly stated that all value ranges or indications of groups of entities disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original disclosure as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed invention, in particular as limits of value ranges.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-262133 | Nov 2009 | JP | national |
| 2010-003152 | Jan 2010 | JP | national |
| 2010-121778 | May 2010 | JP | national |
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| 20030233730 | Sanders et al. | Dec 2003 | A1 |
| 20040088817 | Cochran et al. | May 2004 | A1 |
| 20080148513 | Shaffer | Jun 2008 | A1 |
| 20090241285 | Hinklin et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| A-62-290428 | Dec 1987 | JP |
| A-63-230132 | Sep 1988 | JP |
| A-10-127534 | May 1998 | JP |
| A-2002-011662 | Jan 2002 | JP |
| A-2004-160235 | Jun 2004 | JP |
| A-2005-034175 | Feb 2005 | JP |
| A-2009-091719 | Apr 2009 | JP |
| WO 2009114867 | Sep 2009 | WO |
| Entry |
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| European Search Report dated Feb. 18, 2011 in corresponding European Patent Application No. 10191020.6. |
| Nov. 22, 2012 Office Action issued in Chinese Patent Application No. 201010549728.1. |
| Sep. 3, 2103 Office Action issued in Japanese Application No. 2010-003152 (with English translation). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110113587 A1 | May 2011 | US |
