The invention relates generally to surface treatment appliances, and more specifically to appliances which have a body that swivels and pivots relative to an appliance head.
Surface treatment appliances are used in the home, office and other locations to treat floors and other surfaces. Various types of surface treatment appliances are known, including steam mops, vacuum cleaners and floor polishers, for example. Some floor treatment appliances have a body that both pivots and swivels relative to an appliance head to facilitate steering of the appliance.
According to one embodiment, a floor treatment appliance includes an appliance head to treat a floor surface and a body pivotally connected to the appliance head, the body being pivotable between a use position and a locked position in which the body portion is lockable against pivoting. The body includes a swivel joint that allows at least a portion of the body to swivel relative to the appliance head between at least a home swivel position and a non-home swivel position. The body includes a moveable lock-prevention member which prevents the body from becoming pivotally locked in the locked position when the body is in the non-home swivel position, and permits the body to become pivotally locked in the locked position when the body is in the home swivel position, the moveable lock-prevention member being moveable relative to the portion of the body that swivels relative to the appliance head, and the lock prevention member being moveable relative to the appliance head.
In one embodiment, a floor treatment appliance includes an appliance head to treat a floor surface and a body pivotally connected to the appliance head, the body being pivotable between a use position and a locked position in which the body portion is lockable against pivoting. The body portion includes a swivel joint that allows at least a portion of the body to swivel relative to the appliance head between at least a home swivel position and a non-home swivel position and includes a movable lock-prevention member which prevents the body from becoming pivotally locked in the locked position when the body is in the non-home swivel position, and permits the body to become pivotally locked in the locked position when the body is in the home swivel position. When the body is pivoted to the locked position, the lock-prevention member prevents the body from swiveling by moving across the swivel joint to interlock the upper portion of the body to the lower portion.
In still another embodiment, a floor treatment appliance includes an appliance head to treat a floor surface and a body pivotally connected to the appliance head, the body being pivotable between a use position and a pivotally-locked storage position. The body includes a swivel joint that allows an upper portion of the body to swivel relative to a lower portion of the body between at least a home swivel position and a non-home swivel position and includes a moveable swivel-prevention member that prevents swiveling of the upper body portion by interlocking the upper and lower body portions across the swivel joint whenever the body is brought to the pivotally-locked storage position.
In yet another embodiment, a floor treatment appliance includes an appliance head to treat a floor surface, a body pivotally connected to the appliance head, the body being pivotable between a use position and a locked position in which the body is pivotally lockable, the body including a swivel joint that allows a portion of the body to swivel relative to the appliance head between at least a home swivel position and a non-home swivel position, and a sensor component that prompts a stopping of operation of at least a portion of the appliance when the body is brought to the locked position with the body in the home swivel position. The sensor does not prompt a stopping of operation of at least a portion of the appliance when the body is pivoted as far forward as possible with the body in the non-home swivel position.
It should be appreciated that the foregoing concepts, and additional concepts discussed below, may be arranged in any suitable combination, as the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.
The foregoing and other aspects, embodiments, and features of the present teachings can be more fully understood from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In the drawings:
Floor treatment appliances are used to clean and treat floors in the home, office, and other locations. Various types of surface treatment appliances are known, including floor treatment appliances having a body that pivots and swivels relative to an appliance head. This combination of pivoting and swiveling allows a user to steer the appliance along a floor surface by twisting the appliance handle.
The ability to stabilize a floor treatment appliance by locking the forward/backward tilt is helpful for storing the appliance. In some appliances, the locking of forward/backward tilt occurs automatically such that bringing the body of the appliance to an upright or forward position causes a pivot lock to engage. Before being able to use the appliance again, the user disengages the lock to tilt the appliance. The lock may be disengaged with a mechanical trigger such as a foot pedal, or in some cases simply by pulling on the body.
One issue with providing a tilt locking mechanism on a pivoting and swiveling appliance is that when steering the appliance, a lower portion of the body may be pivoted all the way forward while an upper portion of the body is swiveled. If the lower portion of the body locks in this forward position while the upper body is swiveled, steering is interrupted and the user may have to disengage the tilt lock to continue using the appliance.
Another issue associated with a tilt locking mechanism may occur when the user is trying to store the device in an upright position. If the upper body is allowed to be swiveled away from center when locking the tilt of the lower body portion, the body may tip over sideways when the user lets go of the handle. Or the user might be required to make several attempts at centering the swivel of the body when locking the forward/backward tilt, unlocking the tilt lock each time. To address these issues, some embodiments disclosed herein prevent an appliance body from having forward/backward pivoting become locked when the body is swiveled.
Another issue with pivoting and swiveling appliances is preventing the body from swiveling when the tilt of the body is locked in a storage position. The body may fall over or be difficult to store if the swivel is not stabilized. To address this issue, embodiments disclosed herein prevent the body from swiveling when the tilt of the body is locked in a storage position.
Many floor treatment appliances include automatic shut off mechanisms when the appliance is brought to an upright storage position. In some appliances, a portion of the body can be brought to a forward position while another portion of the body is swiveled. It would be undesirable for the appliance to automatically shut off during use in response to the lower body portion being in the forward position, but with the upper body in a swiveled position. Aspects of the disclosure herein prevent the appliance from automatically shutting off while the body is in the swiveled position.
Turning now to the figures,
According to one embodiment, the floor treatment appliance 100 is a reciprocating cleaning appliance. In such an embodiment, the appliance head 102 includes one or more moveable cleaning members 112 to which a surface treatment pad 114 may be attached. The moveable members are powered by an electric motor and move linearly back and forth across the floor. The moveable members may move toward and away from each other in some embodiments, or in the same direction in some embodiments. The appliance head may further include a liquid applicator 116 that sprays or otherwise applies cleaning liquid stored in a liquid reservoir 118. Although the embodiments described herein include a reciprocating cleaning appliance, it should be appreciated that floor treatment appliances incorporating aspects of the present disclosure may include any floor treatment appliances (e.g., vacuum cleaners, steam mops, static mops, dusters, floor polishers, or other appliances).
According to one embodiment, the body 104 may include a handle 106 connected to the body by a body extension 108. The body 104 may further include a swivel joint 110 that allows a portion of the body to swivel relative to the appliance head 102. The swivel joint 110 may include a swivel disk 150, as shown in
The body 104 may have at least two positions: a home swivel position and a non-home swivel position. In the home swivel position, the body may be in a centered position; however, the home position need not be centered, but may be in any position that allows the appliance to be brought to a storage position for convenient storing. In the non-home swivel position, the body 104 may be swiveled any number of degrees in either direction from the home swivel position, or, in some embodiments the body may swivel in one direction from the home swivel position. The swivel disk 150 may include a biasing device to bias the body into a home swivel position. For purposes herein, references to the body being in a “swiveled position” mean that the body 104 is in a position other than the home swivel position.
The combination of the pivotable connection and the swivel joint 110 allows a user to steer the floor treatment appliance by twisting the handle 106. When the body 104 is tilted and the user rotates the handle 106 by twisting his or her wrist, the body axially rotates about its longitudinal axis, causing the appliance head 102 to turn. Other than its rotation about its longitudinal axis, the body 104 may remain substantially stationary while the appliance head 102 turns.
According to one embodiment, the lower portion 122 of the body is yoke-shaped, as shown in
In the embodiment shown, the first locking member 146 is a protrusion on the rounded portion of the appliance head, and the second locking member 148 is a spring-biased catch arranged in the body to pivot with the body over the rounded portion of the appliance head. The protrusion is arranged on the appliance head such that when the body is brought forward toward the upright storage position, the spring-biased catch passes over the protrusion and is pressed downwardly by a spring 149 upon reaching the opposite side of the protrusion, as shown in
According to one embodiment, the body may include a moveable lock-prevention member 160 that prevents pivotal locking of the lower body portion in the storage position when the upper body portion is swiveled, as shown in
When the body is in the home swivel position, the lock-prevention member 160 is allowed to slide rearwardly within the body such that the blocker(s) do not prevent the body from reaching the fully forward position. Accordingly, when the body is in the home swivel position, the body may be brought sufficiently forward for the locking members 146, 148 to engage with one another, thereby pivotally locking the body.
According to one embodiment, the lock-prevention member 160 may be a pin assembly having one or more extending pins 166, as shown in
When the floor treatment appliance is in the storage position, the blockers 162 of the pin assembly are pushed against the protrusion 164 on the appliance head, as shown in
When the body is in the swiveled position, as illustrated in
As mentioned above, the floor treatment appliance may include a moveable swivel-prevention member that prevents the body from swiveling when pivotally locked. In some embodiments, the swivel-prevention member locks the swivel whenever the body is brought to the storage position, and the storage position is when the body is in a fully forward pivot position.
In some embodiments, the swivel prevention member is part of the lock-prevention member 160 described above. When the body is brought to the storage position, the pin assembly contacts a portion of the appliance head which forces the pin 166 (or pins) into an opening in the swivel disk, for example channel extension 172. As shown in
The swivel-prevention member may be biased to move the pin 166 out of the channel extensions 172 when the body 104 is in the use position. In one embodiment, as shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
In one embodiment, the switch may be located on the appliance head or it may be located in the body. In one embodiment, the switch 190 is a normally open, spring-biased switch located on an extension 167 of the lock-prevention member, as shown in
For example,
Instead of a normally open, spring-biased switch, any suitable type of sensor may be used to trigger shut down of the appliance or portion thereof. For example, an optical sensor may be used to sense when a portion of the appliance body is brought to a fully forward position with the body in a non-swiveled position.
In some embodiments, the upright locking mechanism for the swivel may be releasable under loading when the body is in the home and upright locked position to prevent breakage. Such breakage may occur, for example, if the product fails. As shown in
Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of this invention, it is to be appreciated that various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are by way of example only.
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