Claims
- 1. A vacuum cleaner intake assembly comprising:
- a main vacuum canister having a lower surface and a side surface;
- intake means for ingesting dust and dirt particulate entrained air, said intake means being operably associated with said lower and side surfaces of said main vacuum canister, said intake means forming an intake port within a portion of side surface of said main vacuum canister;
- said intake means including a lowermost tubular end portion protruding outwardly of said lower surface of said main vacuum canister and in communication with said intake port;
- said intake means further including a shroud protruding outwardly of said lower surface of said main vacuum canister;
- pan means for containing a filtering agent in an interior area thereof, said pan means having lower, side and top surfaces and being removably connected to said lower surface of said main vacuum canister, said top surface of said pan means having an opening to receive therethrough said lowermost tubular end portion of said intake means, said lowermost tubular end portion extending to a point near a surface of said filtering agent to thereby enable said dust and dirt entrained air ingested through said intake means to enter said interior area of said pan means.
- 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said shroud includes a plurality of openings for enabling visual access to an interior area defined by said shroud.
- 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said shroud comprises a generally circular skirt portion extending circumferentially about substantially the entire side surface of said main vacuum canister.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said intake means includes a generally circular opening disposed centrally within said intake means for enabling a separating element to protrude into said interior area of said pan means.
- 5. The system of claim 1, wherein said intake means is removably secured to said lower surface of said main vacuum canister.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein pan means includes a handle portion.
- 7. The system of claim 6, wherein said handle portion is pivotally secured to said top surface of said pan means to enable said handle portion to be foldably collapsed into a stowed away position of non-use.
- 8. The system of claim 1, wherein said pan means includes means for filtering debris collected within said liquid filtering agent when said agent is emptied from said pan means.
- 9. The system of claim 8, wherein said filtering means comprises a comb removably secured to a portion of said top surface of said pan means.
- 10. The system of claim 9, wherein said comb is pivotally coupled to said top surface and includes a tab member adapted to be engaged by a finger of a user to thereby help enable said comb to be manually urged into and held in a desired position when said liquid filtering agent is emptied from said pan means, and wherein said pivotal coupling of said comb is offset from a vertical centerline through said comb to enable said comb to hang in a position close to said desired position to further facilitate filtering said debris.
- 11. The system of claim 1, wherein said pan means comprises a six-sided configuration.
- 12. The system of claim 1, wherein said pan means includes a pair of handles pivotally coupled to said top surface for enabling said pan means to be more easily manually articulated.
- 13. An intake assembly for a vacuum cleaner system comprising:
- a main vacuum canister having a lower surface and a generally circular side surface;
- an intake member for ingesting dust and dirt particulate entrained air, said intake member including a curved, downwardly protruding tubular member, said tubular member having a first opening defining an intake port, said intake port being formed within a portion of said side surface of said main vacuum canister, said tubular member further having a second opening defining an exhaust port, a portion of said tubular member protruding outwardly of said lower surface of said main vacuum canister;
- said intake member including an integrally formed, downwardly depending shroud extending outwardly of said lower surface of said main vacuum canister assembly a distance at least equal to a distance at which said curved, downwardly protruding tubular member extends from said lower surface of said main vacuum canister, said skirt portion being operable to rest on a floor and support said main vacuum canister in a stabilized manner to prevent said main vacuum canister from tipping and wobbling relative to said floor; and
- a liquid pan assembly for containing a liquid filtering agent in an interior area thereof, said pan assembly having a lower surface, a generally circular side surface and a top surface adapted to be removably, nestably secured to said lower surface of said main vacuum canister, said top surface of said liquid pan assembly having a generally key-shaped opening for receiving therethrough a substantial portion of a separating element of said vacuum canister assembly and a lowermost tubular end portion of said tubular member of said intake member, said lowermost tubular end portion of said tubular member extending to a point closely adjacent a surface of said filtering agent.
- 14. The assembly of claim 13, wherein said liquid pan assembly includes a comb pivotally and removably secured to a portion of said key-shaped opening, said comb being operable to filter debris from said liquid filtering agent when said agent is emptied from said liquid pan assembly.
- 15. The assembly of claim 13, wherein said top surface of said liquid pan assembly includes an upwardly extending flange; and
- a handle portion pivotally coupled to said flange for facilitating handling of said liquid pan assembly, said handle portion being operable to fold pivotally into nesting engagement with a portion of said flange when said liquid pan assembly is to be secured to said lower surface of said main vacuum canister.
- 16. For a vacuum cleaner system having a main vacuum canister and a tubular intake member extending outwardly of a lower surface of the vacuum canister assembly, a liquid pan assembly comprising:
- a liquid pan having a generally circular side surface and a top surface; and
- said top surface having an opening adapted to receive a portion of said tubular intake member to thereby enable said tubular intake member to be disposed adjacent a lower surface of said pan.
- 17. The liquid pan assembly of claim 16, wherein said top surface of said pan assembly includes a handle portion adapted to facilitate manual handling of said pan to thereby ease the manner in which a liquid filtering agent contained within said pan may be emptied therefrom.
- 18. The liquid pan assembly of claim 16, wherein said upper surface of said pan assembly includes a removable, pivotally secured comb for filtering debris from a liquid cleaning agent contained within said pan when said filtering agent is emptied from said pan.
- 19. For a vacuum cleaner system having a main vacuum canister a tubular intake member extending outwardly of a lower surface of the vacuum canister assembly, a liquid pan assembly comprising:
- a liquid pan having a six-sided side surface and a top surface; and
- said top surface having an opening adapted to receive a portion of said tubular intake member to thereby enable said tubular intake member to be disposed adjacent a lower surface of said pan.
- 20. The liquid pan assembly of claim 19, wherein said top surface of said pan assembly includes a pair of handles adapted to facilitate manual handling and articulation of said liquid pan, said handles being foldable into a stowed away position when said liquid pan assembly is secured to a main vacuum canister.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 467,746, filed Jan. 19, 1990, which issued as U S. Pat. No. 5,022,115, Jun. 11, 1991.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
467746 |
Jan 1990 |
|