1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an upright type vacuum cleaner, and particularly, to an upright type vacuum cleaner capable of performing water cleaning besides dry cleaning.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, an upright type vacuum cleaner allows a user to clean a carpet or a floor with a cleaner main body inclined at a certain angle with respect to a head portion, without user's bending over for the cleaning process.
As shown in
The head portion 11 receives dust from a surface to be cleaned in contact therewith, and has at its bottom, an air intake hole (not shown) for receiving dust.
The body portion 12 includes a cylindrical case frame 13, a collecting container 14 detachably installed at the case frame 13 and having a filter 15 for filtering only dust from a mixture of air and dust introduced through the intake hose 17, a fan motor (not shown) generating an intake force, and a discharge hole 16 through which the air having been filtered through the filter 15 is discharged.
A user holds the handle portion 18 and performs a cleaning process, repetitively pulling and pushing the upright type vacuum cleaner in a standing posture. Here, dust on a surface to be cleaned is introduced to the intake hose 17 through the air intake hole (not shown) of the head portion 11, is filtered by the filter 15 of the container 14, and then is collected.
If the surface to be cleaned is a textile such as a carpet or a curved surface, water cleaning that water is spread onto the surface to be cleaned and cleans the surface is more effective than the dry cleaning that dust on the surface to be cleaned is simply drawn in.
However, a special water cleaning device, such as an extractor, is required to perform the water cleaning. Thusly, an addition expense occurs for the extractor, and securing of an additional space is required to keep the extractor.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an upright type vacuum cleaner capable of performing water cleaning without a special water cleaning device such as an extractor.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided an upright type vacuum cleaner having a water cleaning function, the vacuum cleaner comprising: a head portion having an air intake hole through which dust on a surface to be cleaned is received; a body portion rotatably installed at an upper side of the head portion and including a fan motor generating an intake force for receiving dust from the surface to be cleaned and a water pump generating a spreading force for spreading water onto the surface to be cleaned; a water cleaning unit including a washing water container storing water to be supplied to the water pump, a nozzle portion spreading water, which is stored within the washing water container, onto the surface to be cleaned with a spreading force of the water pump, a polluted water intake portion receiving polluted water on the surface to be cleaned by an intake force of the fan motor, a polluted water container storing the received polluted water, and a polluted water intake hose connecting the polluted water intake portion with the polluted water container; and a flow-path changing hose selectively supplying an intake force of the fan motor to the head portion and the water cleaning unit.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a unit of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
The head portion 21 receives dust on a surface (P) to be cleaned in contact with the surface to be cleaned. To this end, an air intake hole 21a through which dust is received is formed at a lower side of the head portion 21. A brush 23 that can hit, scratch and separate the dust from the surface to be cleaned is rotatably installed at the air intake hole 21a.
The body portion 22 is rotatably installed at an upper side of the head portion 21. A handle 28 that the user holds to push and pull the cleaner is installed at an upper side of the body portion 22. The body portion 22 has therein a fan motor (not shown) generating an intake force for receiving dust on a surface to be cleaned, a water pump 60 (refer to
The water cleaning unit 30 includes a frame 39, a polluted water container 31, a washing water container 32, a nozzle portion 34, a polluted water intake portion 35 and a polluted water intake hose 33.
Referring to
A frame connector 70 protrudes downwardly from the frame step 39a.
A body connector 61 (refer to
Also, a sealing member 71 for making coupling of the frame connector 70 and the body connector 61 firmer is installed at an outer circumferential surface of the frame connector 70.
If the frame step 39a is hung on the body step 24, the washing water container 32 and the nozzle portion 34 are connected to the water pump 60 by the frame connector 70 and the body connector 61. Thusly, a flow path allowing water in the washing water container 32 to be spread outside through a nozzle portion 34 via the water pump 60 is completed.
As described above, because the water cleaning unit 30 is mounted to the body portion 22 and the flow path is completed only by the operation of putting down the frame on the body portion 22 and inserting the frame connector 70 to the body connector 61, the user can easily mount the water cleaning unit 30 to the body portion 22 (refer to
With reference to
The polluted water container 31 is detachably fixed to the left side of the frame, and stores water polluted by being mixed with dust and introduced via the polluted water intake portion 35 and the polluted water intake hose 33 (hereinafter, such water is referred to as polluted water).
An air discharge hole 53 selectively connected to a flow-path changing hose 40 is formed at one side of the polluted water container 31, and a polluted water inlet hole 54 connected to the polluted water intake hose 33 is formed at the other side.
A partition plate 51 having a certain length is installed inside the polluted water container 31 and suspended downwardly from a ceiling of the polluted water container 31 so as to prevent polluted water introduced through the polluted water inlet hole 54 from being directly discharged to the air discharge hole 53.
A float switch 52 for preventing back flow of the polluted air to the polluted water inlet hole 54 and the air discharge hole 53 is installed inside the polluted water container 31. The float switch 52 stops the cleaner by sending a signal thereto when a level of the polluted water exceeds a certain level.
The washing water container 32 is detachably fixed to the right side of the frame 39 and stores water to be supplied to the water pump 60. An inlet pipe 37 extending to the bottom of the washing water container 32 is installed inside the washing water container 32 so as to send stored water to the water pump 60.
The nozzle portion 34 spreads water stored within the washing water container 32 onto the surface to be cleaned, by using a spreading force of the water pump 60. To this end, the nozzle portion 34 includes a water supply hose 34a and a nozzle 34b mounted to an end of the water supply hose 34a.
The polluted water intake portion 35 is detachably installed at an upper side of the head portion 21, and draws in the polluted water by using an intake force of the fan motor (not shown) of the body portion 22. To this end, a polluted water intake hole 35a is formed at a lower side of the polluted water intake portion 35.
Referring to
With reference to
To this end, in the dry cleaning, as shown in
Meanwhile, in the water cleaning, as shown in
Referring to
First, the operation of the upright type vacuum cleaner in the dry cleaning will now be described.
Referring to
The operation of the upright type vacuum cleaner in the water cleaning using water will now be described.
Referring to
Water filled in the washing water container 32 passes through the inlet pipe 37 and the water pump 60 and is spread to a surface to be cleaned through the water supply hose 34a and the nozzle 34b by a spreading force of the water pump 60.
Here, the polluted water is stored in the polluted water container 31 via the polluted water intake hole 35a and the polluted water intake hose 33 by an intake force of the fan motor (not shown). The air received together therewith passes the filth collecting chamber (not shown) of the body portion 22 (refer to
As described so far, the upright type vacuum cleaner having a water cleaning function in accordance with the present invention can selectively perform the dry cleaning and the water cleaning even without a special washing device because it integrally includes the water cleaning unit 30. Accordingly, a special water cleaning device for water cleaning, such as an extractor, is not required, which reduces a cost. Also, conveniently, securing of an additional space for keeping the extractor is not required.
Also, the water cleaning unit 30 is mounted to the body portion 22 and a flow path through which water flows is completed only by putting down the frame 39 on the body portion 22. Accordingly, a user can easily mount the water cleaning unit 30 to the body portion 22 and complete the flow path without making unnecessary postures such as bending over to mount the water cleaning unit 30 to the body portion 22.
As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2005-0041338 | May 2005 | KR | national |
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