TECHNICAL FIELD
This technology relates to a vacuum cleaner.
BACKGROUND
A vacuum cleaning system includes a base. Different cleaning attachments can be removably attached to the base for cleaning different types of surfaces. The cleaning attachments include a vacuuming head for vacuuming a floor surface and an accessory hose for cleaning an above-the-floor surface.
SUMMARY
A cleaning apparatus includes a base having an electric motor. A cleaning head is configured to be removably attached to and fully supported by the base and moved with the head along a surface to clean the surface. The cleaning head has a headlamp for illuminating the surface.
Preferably, the cleaning head receives electricity from the base to power the headlamp. The position of the headlamp is fixed relative to the base when the head is removably attached to the base. The cleaning head is a vacuuming head, and the base includes a fan driven by the motor for driving air from the vacuuming head into a dirt receptacle. A cleaning attachment different from the cleaning head is configured to be removably attached to the base in place of the cleaning head, to clean a household surface. The different cleaning attachment is another cleaning head configured to be fully supported by the base when removably attached to the base. The cleaning heads are a vacuuming head and a shampooing head. A power cord extends from the base for conducting electricity from a wall socket to the base to power the motor. The base has wheels for wheeling the base about a floor for the cleaning head to move along the floor to clean the floor as the headlamp illuminates the floor.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a base and devices that can be removably attached to the base, including an upright handle assembly, a portable handle assembly, a vacuuming head, a power head assembly and an accessory hose;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of both the upright handle assembly and the vacuuming head attached to the base;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the vacuuming head;
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the vacuuming head being attached to the base;
FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the vacuuming head attached to the base;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of both the portable handle assembly and the vacuuming head attached to the base;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of both the upright handle assembly and the power head assembly attached to the base;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a part of the power head assembly; and
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of both the upright handle assembly and the accessory hose attached to the base.
DESCRIPTION
The apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has parts that are examples of the elements recited in the claims. The apparatus 1 thus includes examples of how a person of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the claimed invention. It is described here to meet the requirements of enablement and best mode without imposing limitations that are not recited in the claims.
The apparatus 1 is a vacuum cleaning system used for cleaning household surfaces, such as a carpeted floor 6. The system 1 includes a base 10 and different devices that can be removably attached to the base 10. These devices include an upright handle assembly 12 and a portable handle assembly 14, each having a handle 22 and 24 and a filter bag-type dirt receptacle 26 and 28. The devices further include three cleaning attachments: a vacuuming head 30, a power head assembly 32 and an accessory hose 34.
As shown in FIG. 2, the base 10 has a housing 40 with front and rear ends 44 and 48. Rear wheels 50 are fixed to a common rear axle 52 that is rotatably connected to the housing 10. Front wheels 54 are rotatably connected to the housing 40 by a height-adjust mechanism 56 that enables a user to raise and lower the front end 44 relative to the floor 6.
A fan 60 in the housing 40 has an inlet 62 and an outlet 64 and is driven by an electric motor 66 in the housing 40. A drive pulley 68 at the front 44 of the housing 40 is also driven by the motor 66. The motor 66 can also drive the rear wheels 50 in a direction corresponding to a direction the user is pushing the base 10, to assist the user in propelling the base 10 over the floor 6. A power cord 69, extending from the housing 40, provides wall current to power the motor 66.
At the front 44 of the housing 40, one upper inlet port 70 and two lower inlet ports 72 are connected to the fan inlet 62. An outlet tube 76 connects the fan outlet 64 to whichever handle assembly 12 or 14 (FIG. 1) is attached to the base 10. A latch 80 and two perch pins 82, fixed to the housing 40, are used to attach the cleaning attachments 30, 32 and 34 (FIG. 1) to the base 10. Electrical contacts 91, 92 and 93, fixed to the housing 40, are respectively designated ground, 5 VDC-out and 24 VDC-out. They provide electrical power to the vacuuming head 30 and the power head assembly 32. The 5 VDC and 24 VDC supplies are produced by the base 10 from wall current input through the power cord 69.
The handle assemblies 12 and 14 (FIG. 1) can be removably attached to a handle bracket 94 that is permanently attached to the housing 40. The bracket 94 can pivot rearward relative to the base housing 40 when the upright handle assembly 14 is attached, but not when the portable handle assembly 14 is attached.
FIG. 3 shows an upright vacuum cleaner 100 comprising the upright handle assembly 12 and the vacuuming head 30 removably attached to the base 10. This type of cleaner is configured for a user to move the base 10 over the floor 6 by its handle 22.
The vacuuming head 30 includes a head housing 104 with front and rear ends 106 and 108. A headlamp 110 is permanently fixed to the front end 106. The headlamp 110 is configured to illuminate the floor 6 in front of the head 32. In this example, the headlamp 110 includes a high-intensity white-light LED 114 covered by a lens 116.
As shown in FIG. 4, the head housing 104 defines a nozzle cavity 121 and rotatably supports a brushroll 124 in the cavity 121. A drive coupling assembly 130 is configured to couple the brushroll 124 to the drive pulley 68 (FIG. 2) of the base 10 to enable the drive pulley 68 to rotate the brushroll 124. The drive coupling assembly 130 includes an idler pulley 132 and a belt 134 that extends about both the idler pulley 132 and the brushroll 124. This obviates the need for having a motor in the head 30 to rotate the brushroll 124.
Two electrical contacts 141 and 142 are attached to the rear end 108 of the housing 104. They are configured to respectively contact the ground and 5 VDC-out contacts 91 and 92 (FIG. 2) of the base 10. They are electrically connected to the headlamp 110 (FIG. 3) to power the headlamp 110 with 5 VDC supplied by the base 10. This voltage is higher than what the LED 114 is rated for, but sufficiently low to yield an LED service life of at least 1000 hours. A latch pin 146 and two perch hooks 148 are adjoined to rear end 108 of the housing 104 for attaching the head 30 to the base 10.
FIG. 5 illustrates a procedure for attaching the head 30 to the base 10. First, the perch hooks 148 are hooked onto the perch pins 82 of the base 10. Then, the head 30 is pivoted rearward about the perch pins 82, as indicated by arrow 149, until the latch pin 146 is captured by the latch 80 of the base 10 as shown in FIG. 6. The head 30 is thus removably attached to the base 10 in an installed position. The pivotal movement of the head 30 toward and into the installed position moves the contacts 141 and 142 of the head 30 toward and into electrical contact with the contacts 91 and 92 of the base 10, and also moves the belt 134 toward and into engagement with the drive pulley 68. To detach the head 30 from the base 10, a latch release button 150 on the base 10 is pressed to release the latch pin 146. The head 30 is pivoted forward and lifted from the perch pins 82.
In its installed position shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the head 30 is fully supported by the base 10 in that it is secured to the base 10 so as to move in its entirety with the base 10 as the base 10 is pushed or lifted by the user. The headlamp 110 is rigidly attached to the head housing 104, which is rigid and fixed to the base 10. Therefore, the position of the headlamp 110 is fixed relative to the base 10.
While the head 30 is attached to the base 10 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the cleaner 100 can be used to clean the floor 6. To do this, the user grasps the handle 22 by its handgrip 152 and pivots the handle 22 rearward as indicated by arrow 153. The user pushes and pulls the handle 22 to move the base 10 and the vacuuming head 30 forward and rearward along the floor 6 as the headlamp 110 illuminates the floor 6 in front of the vacuuming head 30. The brushroll 124 is driven by the motor 60 through the belt 134 and the drive pulley 68. It brushes the floor 6 to dislodge dirt from the floor 6. The dislodged dirt is carried by a flow of air through nozzle cavity 121, the lower inlet ports 72, the fan 60 and the outlet tube 76, into the filter bag 26.
FIG. 7 shows a portable vacuum cleaner 160 comprising both the portable handle assembly 14 and the vacuuming head 30 attached to the base 10. This type of cleaner is configured for the user to manually lift and move the cleaner 160 by the handle 24 to clean an above-the-floor household surface 166, such as a stair step. While grasping the handle 24 by its handgrip 162, the user moves the vacuuming head 30 along the surface 166. The rotating brushroll 124 brushes the surface 166 to dislodge dirt. As explained above, the fan 60 drives an air flow that carries the dirt from the surface 166, through the vacuuming head 30, the fan 60 and the fill tube 76, into the filter bag 28. The headlamp 110 illuminates the surface 166 in front of the vacuuming head 30.
FIG. 8 shows a canister vacuum cleaner 170 comprising both the upright handle assembly 12 and the power head assembly 32 attached to the base 10. The power head assembly 32 includes a power head 172, connected by a rigid tube 174 and a flexible tube 176 to an attachment plate 178.
The power head 172 includes a housing 180 defining a nozzle cavity 181. A headlamp 190 is secured to a front end 196 of the housing 180. A brushroll 200 in the nozzle cavity 181 is driven by a motor 202 in the housing 180. The rigid tube 174 is pivotably connected to the power head 172 and has a handgrip 204, so that the tube 174 can be used as a handle for pushing the power head 172 over the floor 6.
As shown in FIG. 9, the attachment plate 178 supports three electrical contacts 211, 212 and 213 that engage corresponding electrical contacts 91, 92 and 93 (FIG. 2) of the base 10. A three-conductor electrical line 216 extends from the contacts 211, 212 and 213 of the plate 178 to the power head 172. The line 216 conducts 24 VDC from the base 10 (FIG. 8) to power the brushroll motor 202 and 5 VDC from the base 10 to power the headlamp 190. The electrical power conducted to the motor 202 and the headlamp 190 can be manually interrupted with a power switch 218 (FIG. 8) located on the tube 174 in front of the handgrip 204.
The attachment plate 178 has a latch pin 246 and two hooks 248 like the latch pin 146 and two hooks 148 (FIG. 4) of the vacuuming head 30. This enables the attachment plate 178 to be attached to and removed from the base 10 in the same manner as the vacuuming head 30 is attached to and removed from the base 10.
Referring to FIG. 8, a user can grasp the handgrip 204 and move the power head 172 about the floor 6 by the rigid tube 174 and pull the base 10 by the flexible tube 176. The headlamp 190 illuminates the floor 6 in front of the power head 72. The brushroll 200 rotatingly brushes the floor 6 to dislodge dirt from the floor 6. The dislodged dirt is carried by a flow of air through the nozzle cavity 181, the tubes 174 and 176, the upper inlet port 70 (FIG. 2), the fan 60 and the fill tube 76, into the filter bag 26.
The portable handle assembly 14 (FIG. 1) can be attached to the base 10 in place of the upright handle assembly 12. Operation of the cleaner 170 would be the same as described above, with the filter bag 28 of the portable handle assembly 14 taking the place of the filter bag 26 of the upright handle assembly 12.
FIG. 10 shows another canister vacuum cleaner 270 comprising both the upright handle assembly 12 and the accessory hose 34 attached to the base 10. The hose 34 includes a flexible tube 276 and an attachment plate 278 that are similar to the flexible tube 176 and attachment plate 178 of the power head assembly 32 shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, the hose 34 can be attached to the base 10 in the same manner as the power head assembly 32. However, the accessory hose 34 lacks the cable 216 and electrical contacts 141, 142 and 143 (FIG. 9) present on the power head assembly 32.
The hose 276 is attached to an accessory 282 that is not electrically powered, in this case a brush accessory. The accessory 282 is configured to be moved along an above-the-floor surface 286, such as that of a cushion. An air flow carries dirt from the surface 286 through the flexible tube 276, the fan 60 and the fill tube 76, into the filter bag 26.
The portable handle assembly 14 (FIG. 1) can be attached to the base 10 in place of the upright handle assembly 12. Operation of the cleaner 270 would be the same as described above, with the bag 28 of the portable handle assembly 14 taking the place of the bag 26 of the upright handle assembly 12.
The vacuuming head 30 in FIG. 1 is a type of cleaning head in that it is rigidly fixed to the base 10 while cleaning a surface. Another cleaning head that can be removably attached to the base 10, in place of the vacuuming head 30, is a floor buffing head (not shown). It differs from the vacuuming head 30 in that its brushroll is configured to buff a hard floor 6 and not conduct dirt into the base 10. Yet another cleaning head is a shampooing head. It is configured to dispense clean shampoo to a carpet, to brush the shampoo into the carpet, and to remove dirt-laden shampoo from the carpet. The vacuuming head 30, the buffing head, the shampooing head, the power head assembly 32 and the accessory hose 34, though different from each other, are all “cleaning attachments” in that they can be removably attached to the base 10 and moved along a household surface to clean the surface. Of these, the vacuuming head 30, the buffing head and the shampooing head, though different from each other, are all cleaning “heads” in that they are configured to be fully supported by the base when removably attached to the base.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
Patent Application
20070039119
