FLOOR CARE APPARATUS WITH A THREE SECTION WAND ASSEMBLY

Abstract

A floor care apparatus includes a housing having a nozzle assembly and a canister assembly. A suction inlet is provided on the nozzle assembly. A dirt collection vessel, a suction generator and a wand receiver are carried on the housing. The cleaning wand assembly includes a telescoping subassembly, including two telescoping wand sections, and a handle subassembly including a third wand section.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain certain principles of the invention. In the drawings:

FIGS. 1 a and 1b are respective front and rear perspective views of a floor care apparatus, in this instance an upright vacuum cleaner, constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the cleaning wand assembly, the rear shell of the canister assembly and the latch mechanism that secures the wand assembly to the canister assembly;

FIG. 3 is a detailed cross-sectional view illustrating the cleaning wand assembly fully seated and locked into the wand receiver on the canister assembly;

FIG. 4 a is a detailed cross sectional view illustrating the cleaning wand assembly received in the wand receiver and fully seated on the actuator;

FIG. 4 b is a cross sectional view illustrating the position of the valve body in the first air pathway when the cleaning wand assembly is in the first position as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4a;

FIG. 5 a is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 4a but illustrating the wand cleaning assembly withdrawn from the fully seated position in the wand receiver;

FIG. 5 b is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 4b but illustrating the position of the valve body in the first air flow pathway when the cleaning wand assembly is in the second position withdrawn from the wand receiver as illustrated in FIG. 5a;

FIG. 6 is a schematical representation of a dirt cup providing for cyclonic airflow:

FIG. 7 is a schematical air flow diagram for the vacuum cleaner of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a partially exploded, perspective view illustrating the latch mechanism for holding the cleaning wand assembly in the fully seated position on the canister assembly;

FIGS. 9 a and 9b are detailed perspective views illustrating, respectively, the sleeve of the handle assembly in the first position covering the second latch mechanism and the second position exposing the second latch mechanism.

FIG. 10 is a detailed perspective view of the flow control valve; and

FIG. 11 is a detailed rear elevational view illustrating how the flow control valve and casing spring are mounted in the canister assembly.

Claims

1. A floor cleaning apparatus, comprising: a housing including a nozzle assembly with a suction inlet and a canister assembly;a suction generator carried on said housing;a dirt collection vessel carried on said housing; anda cleaning wand assembly including a telescoping subassembly and a handle subassembly;said telescoping subassembly including a first wand section, a second wand section telescopingly received in said first wand section, an inlet end, an outlet end and a first latch mechanism securing said first and second wand section together; andsaid handle subassembly including a hand grip and a third wand section releasably secured to said outlet end of said telescoping subassembly; anda second latch mechanism securing said handle subassembly to said telescoping subassembly.

2. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 further including a flexible hose connecting said handle subassembly to said housing.

3. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 2, wherein said handle subassembly includes a hose fitting connecting said third wand section to said flexible hose.

4. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 3, further including an actuator switch carried on said handle subassembly.

5. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1, further including a third latch mechanism securing said cleaning wand assembly to said housing.

6. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 5, wherein said third latch mechanism includes a latching element carried on said housing that engages a locking slot carried on said handle subassembly.

7. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 6, wherein said handle subassembly includes a connector housing that carries said second latch mechanism.

8. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 7, further including a cover sleeve mounted on said connector housing so as to allow free sliding movement relative to said connector housing, said cover sleeve being displaceable between a first position covering said second latch mechanism and a second position exposing said second latch mechanism.

9. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 8, wherein said connector housing includes a guide track and said cover sleeve includes a cooperating guide received in said guide track.

10. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 9, wherein said guide track comprises two opposed guide channels and said guide comprises two opposed guide ribs received in said guide channels.

11. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 10, wherein said second latch mechanism includes a spring loaded detent carried on said third wand section and an actuator button carried on said connector housing.

12. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein said dirt collection vessel is a filter bag.

13. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein said dirt collection vessel is a dirt cup.

14. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 13, wherein said dirt cup includes a cylindrical dirt collection chamber, a tangentially directed inlet and an axially directed outlet.

15. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 14, further including a primary filter received in said dirt cup.

16. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 15, further including a secondary filter provided between said dirt cup and said suction generator.

17. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 16, further including a final filter downstream from said suction generator.

18. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein said canister assembly is pivotally connected to said nozzle assembly.

19. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1, further including at least one rotary agitator carried on said nozzle assembly.