CN102440717B - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

A stick vacuum type vacuum cleaner comprising: a handheld vacuum cleaner attached to an elongated rigid tube and fluidly connected to a cleaning head disposed at the end of the tube. The cleaning head is connected to the wand via a mechanical steering coupling for steering the cleaning head in a plane parallel to the ground contact as the wand rotates about its axis.

Description

vacuum cleaner

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of vacuum cleaners, and more particularly to the general type of "stick-vac" type vacuum cleaners, including hand-held vacuum cleaners, which are attached to an elongated rigid wand and which are fluidly connected to the suction head set at the end of the hard tube.

Background technique

Broadly speaking, there are four types of vacuum cleaners: "upright" vacuum cleaners, "canister" vacuum cleaners (also known as "canister" vacuum cleaners), "handheld" vacuum cleaners and "stick" vacuum cleaners , the latter are commonly referred to as "vacuum stick" vacuum cleaners or simply "vacuum sticks".

Upright and cylinder vacuum cleaners are well known. They tend to be mains operated and used for heavier duty cleaning applications.

Handheld vacuum cleaners are smaller, very portable vacuum cleaners that are best suited for lighter-duty applications such as spot cleaning of floors and trim in the home, interior cleaning of vehicles and boats, and more. Unlike upright and canister vacuums, they are designed to be held in the hand during use and tend to be battery operated.

Stick vacuum cleaners primarily provide a lightweight, functional alternative to upright vacuum cleaners for lighter duty floor cleaning applications, such as cleaning floor debris.

Broadly speaking, there are two different types of vacuum rods. The first category is, in a sense, the ultra slim-line upright vacuum cleaner, although usually "cordless" rather than mains operated. An example of this type of stick vacuum cleaner is shown in British Patent Application No. GB2377880A1, in which case a removable hand-held vacuum cleaner is additionally introduced.

The second category of stick vacuum cleaners is an innovation from handheld vacuum cleaners, consisting of handheld vacuum cleaners combined with a rigid, slender suction tube that extends effectively down to the floor allowing the user to Remain standing while cleaning floor surfaces. A floor tool is typically fixedly attached to the end of a rigid, elongated suction wand, or alternatively may be integrated with the bottom end of the wand. Designs of such stick vacuum cleaners are shown in USD298875, USD303173 and USD280033. In each case, the hand-held suction unit includes a motor, a fan and some separation device, which can be a bag or a cyclonic separation system.

The present invention relates to a second category of stick vacuum cleaners. In the case of these stick vacuum cleaners, the wand and blade are generally considered and sold as low-cost accessories for hand-held vacuum cleaners, so that the wand mode of the vacuum cleaner is less expensive than dedicated stick vacuum cleaners of the first category. Functionality tends to be poor.

Contents of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved stick vacuum cleaner of the second general type described above.

According to the present invention there is provided a stick vacuum cleaner comprising a hand-held vacuum cleaner attached to an elongated rigid tube and fluidly connected to a cleaning head provided at the end of said tube, Wherein the suction head is connected to the wand via a mechanical steering coupling for steering the suction head in a plane parallel to the ground as the wand rotates about its axis.

By providing a mechanical steering coupling according to the invention between the wand and the cleaning head, the maneuverability of the stick vacuum cleaner is greatly improved over conventional stick vacuum cleaners of the second general type.

Any suitable mechanical steering coupler may be used. Specifically, the mechanical steering coupler may be configured to constrain the wand and suction head to co-rotate about the wand axis, while allowing relative rotation of the wand and suction head about an axis that is not parallel to the wand axis. Such steering couplers may be less expensive to implement while still providing a high degree of maneuverability to the cleaner.

The suction head and wand may be coupled for relative rotation in a rotatable scarf or via a toggle joint. The use of a toggle joint is considered to be particularly advantageous as it provides mechanical steering advantages to the cleaning head during steering.

The wand may be passively articulated to the head to vary the lay angle between the wand and head. The variable lie angle helps keep the head in contact with the ground through a wide range of steering angles during head steering. Here, the term "lie angle" is somewhat analogous to the lie angle between the sole end of a golf club head and the shaft of the club.

Where the wand and cleaning head are coupled by a knuckle joint, this knuckle joint may be an articulated knuckle joint for varying the lying angle between the cleaning head and the wand.

Dust-laden air can be conveyed to the hand-held vacuum unit through a hard tube. The wand thus advantageously serves the dual purpose of fluidly connecting the cleaning head to the handheld vacuum cleaner while also transmitting steering torque to the cleaning head.

Handheld vacuum cleaners may include pistol grips. In stick vacuum cleaners according to the invention, it is believed to be particularly advantageous to have a pistol grip on a hand-held vacuum cleaner because it tends to align the user's forearm with the hard tube (the hard tube is similar to the handle of a pistol). barrel). Therefore, the steering of the vacuum cleaner can be mainly controlled by external rotation and internal rotation of the forearm, which is natural and comfortable for the user.

The pistol grip also provides good leverage for efficient transfer of steering torque between the handle and cleaning head (via the hard tube), especially by lowering the twist handle so that the user's hand is on top of the handle when the cleaning head is turned Rolling up trend. The provision of a straight pistol grip extending perpendicularly to the tube is considered to be particularly advantageous in this respect.

The provision of a pistol grip does not necessitate the use of a trigger, although of course it is convenient to use a trigger eg for switching a handheld vacuum cleaner.

A handheld vacuum cleaner will include some form of motor, which will be the heavier component of the handheld vacuum cleaner. Advantageously, the motor can be located at or near the upper end of the pistol grip so that the weight of the motor can be more comfortably supported on the user's hand.

A hand-held vacuum cleaner may include a cyclonic separation system, in which case the wand may be aligned with a tangential inlet axis to the cyclonic separation system. The dust-laden air is thus conveyed directly into the cyclonic separation system along the preferred inlet axis. This reduces the "discontinuity" pressure loss between the hard pipe and the separation system, which is particularly advantageous in the present situation because of the larger pressure drop across the (longer) hard pipe.

Description of drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a stick vacuum cleaner in use;

Figure 2 is a close-up perspective view of a portion of the stick vacuum cleaner of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the blade forming portion of the stick vacuum cleaner shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view corresponding to Figure 1 but showing the various operational axes of rotation associated with steering the stick vacuum cleaner across the ground;

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing an alternative scraper that may form part of a stick vacuum cleaner according to the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of the grill shown in FIG. 5 .

Detailed ways

Figure 1 shows a stick vacuum cleaner in use, comprising a hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 held in the hand, an elongated hard tube 5 attached to the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 and reaching down to the ground, and the end of the hard tube 5 The suction head 7 is in contact with the floor (the floor itself is not explicitly shown in Figure 1, although it definitely is).

Referring to FIG. 2 , the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 includes a motor-driven fan disposed inside the motor housing 9 for sucking air through a suction nozzle 11 located at the front of the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 . The elongated hard tube 5 is connected to the suction nozzle 11, and the dust suction head 7 is connected to the lower end of the hard tube 5 again. During use, dusty air is sucked through the suction port 12 ( FIG. 3 ) on the lower side of the dust suction head 7 , and delivered to the suction nozzle 11 on the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 through the hard tube 5 .

Dusty air entering the suction nozzle 11 passes through a cyclonic separation system 13 where the dust is separated from the air, before the cleaner air is then exhausted back into the atmosphere via one or more fine particle filters (not visible). Dust separated from the air flow within the cyclone separation system 13 is collected in a bin 15 for disposal. The handheld vacuum cleaner 3 is powered by a multi-cell rechargeable battery housed in a battery pack 17 .

The cleaning head 7 forms a part of the cleaning blade 19 , and the cleaning blade 19 can be separated from the hard tube 5 by means of a catch 21 . The hard pipe 5 can be separated from the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 by means of buckles 23 . Thus, the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 can be used alone as a stand-alone hand-held vacuum cleaner by removing the hard tube 5, or alternatively, the hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 and the hard tube 5 can be used in combination by removing the cleaning blade 19. "Long reach" hand-held vacuum cleaners. The use of a detachable screed is not necessary: for example, the suction head 7 could be permanently fixed to the wand 5 .

The scraper 19 disassembled from the wand 5 is shown in more detail in FIG. 3 .

The screed 19 comprises a linking neck portion 25 acting as a mechanical steering couple between the wand 5 and the suction head 7 .

The neck portion 25 includes a front portion 27 and a rear portion 29 , the front end of the front portion 27 is connected to the cleaning head 7 , and the rear end of the rear portion 29 is combined with a buckle 21 for detachably connecting to the hard pipe 5 . The front portion 27 is pivotally connected to the rear portion 29 so that the relative movement of the front portion 27 and the rear portion 29 about the axis A is constrained. Thus, the front portion 27 and the rear portion 29 effectively form a hinged elbow joint which allows a variation of the lie angle θ between the cleaning head 7 and the wand 5 when the scoop is connected to the wand 5 (See Figure 4). Thus, the reclining angle can be changed to suit the height of a particular user, and when in use, the cleaner can be moved to a lower profile orientation as desired, for example to clean under a bed.

A flexible conduit in the form of a hose 31 extends through the neck portion 25 of the link. The hose 31 flexibly connects the suction head 7 to the end of the hard tube 5 in use so as not to interfere with the linkage of the neck portion 25 around the axis A.

The front end of the front part 27 is shaped as a cylindrical collar 27a. The cylindrical collar 27a is connected to the cylindrical end of the rear outlet tube 7a on the suction head 7 by a conventional circlip or snap ring arrangement (not visible in Figure 3) which constrains the suction The head 7 and the front part 27 rotate relative to each other about the axis B of the cylindrical collar 27a. A conventional gasket arrangement (not shown) can be used to form a compression seal between the suction head 7 and the neck portion 25; the seal should preferably be a low friction seal (eg using a PTFE coated gasket), Thus, the free rotation of the suction head 7 relative to the neck part 25 is not hindered.

By constraining the suction head 7 and wand 5 to co-rotate about the wand axis C, while still allowing relative rotation of the suction head 7 and front portion 27 about axis B, the neck portion 25 acts as a steering coupler, wherein in use Axis B is not parallel to axis C (see Figure 4). Thus, the steering of the cleaning head 7 can be controlled by rotating the wand 5 about the wand axis C to guide the cleaning head 7 in the desired direction. When the hard tube rotates around the axis C, the co-rotation of the suction head 7 and the hard tube 5 and the relative rotation of the collar 8 and the rear outlet pipe 7a are combined to rotate the suction head 7 in a plane parallel to the ground, so that the suction The head 7 does not bank about the axis B while rotating. Articulation of the wand 5 and suction head 7 about axis A may also help to maintain the suction head 7 in a plane parallel to the ground, especially for large turning angles, although it is believed that this articulation is beneficial for obtaining steering is not necessary.

A pair of dome-shaped wheels 33 are provided on the front portion 27 . Dome-shaped wheels 33 are mounted on both sides of the short axis (not visible) of the neck portion 25 . These minor axes are each angled downward to set each wheel at a corresponding fixed positive camber. This camber is the same for each wheel 33 so that the wheels form a "V" when viewed from the front. When the hard tube 5 rotates around the hard tube axis C, the dome-shaped wheel 33 tilts accordingly to maintain rolling contact with the ground. Thus, the domed wheel 33 is better able to track through rotation than a conventional "flat sided" wheel.

The hand-held vacuum cleaner 3 has a pistol grip handle 35 (see FIG. 2 ) which tends to position the user's forearm parallel to the hard tube 5 . Therefore, the steering of the cleaner 1 can be mainly controlled by external rotation and internal rotation of the forearm, so it is natural and comfortable for the user. The pistol grip also provides excellent leverage for efficient transmission of steering torque from the handle 35 to the cleaning head 7 (via the hard tube 5 and neck portion 25), especially reducing the The tendency of the user's hand to roll "over the top" of the handle.

The motor housing 9 is arranged on the upper end of the pistol grip 35 . Thus, the weight of the motor within the motor housing 9 is comfortably supported on the user's hand during use of the cleaner 1 .

Figure 5 shows an alternative scraper 190 which may be connected to a wand 5 according to the invention to provide a mechanical steering coupling between the wand 5 and the cleaning head.

The scoop includes a link neck portion 250 including a front duct portion 270 and a rear duct portion 290 . The front duct portion 270 is fluidly connected to the suction head 70 . The rear duct portion 290 is configured to be push fit onto the hard tube 5 (the end of the hard tube may need to be modified accordingly to accommodate this push fit).

The front duct portion 270 is pivotally connected to the suction head 70 such that the front portion 270 and the suction head 70 are constrained to rotate about the axis D. As shown in FIG. This allows for variation of the lay angle between wand 5 and suction head 70 in use.

The front duct section 270 is connected to the rear duct section 290 by a rotatable scarf joint 300 which constrains the front duct section 270 and the rear duct section 290 to rotate about an axis E which is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rear duct section 290 .

The front duct part 270 and the rear duct part 290 together form an air duct for fluidly connecting the suction head 70 to the wand 5 in use.

The neck portion 250 acts as a mechanical steering coupling between the wand 5 and the suction head 70 in a similar manner to the neck portion 25 . Thus, the neck portion 250 is arranged to constrain the wand 5 and suction head 70 to co-rotate about the wand axis C while still allowing relative rotation of the wand 5 and suction head 7 about the axis E. Therefore, when the wand 5 rotates about the wand axis C, the co-rotation of the suction head 7 with the wand 5 is combined with the relative rotation of the front part 270 and the rear part 290 to turn the suction head 7 in a plane parallel to the ground. .

The axis E is not parallel to the ground, so that the relative rotation of the front 17 and rear 19 about the axis E includes both horizontal and vertical components (compared with the relative rotation about the axis B in FIG. in the vertical plane). Thus, the relative rotation of the front portion 270 and rear portion 290 not only counteracts undesired tipping of the head during steering, but also provides a mechanical advantage associated with turning the head 70 left or right, further improving the available manipulative.

The air sucked in through the suction opening on the suction head does not have to be piped. For example, air could be delivered by a flexible hose running alongside the hard tube; in this arrangement the hard tube would still be coupled to the head in a similar fashion to provide the required directional maneuverability, so the hard tube would still keep the head Physically connected to the handheld vacuum cleaner, but the wand itself need not be hollow.

A stick vacuum cleaner according to the invention, an example of which has been described, is believed to offer significantly better maneuverability over existing "stick vacuums" of the same general type, bringing the functionality of this type of stick vacuum more to the above mentioned A general type of stick vacuum cleaner.

Claims (8)

1. a stick type vacuum cleaner, comprise hand-held vacuum cleaner, this hand-held vacuum cleaner is attached to an end of elongated rigidity hard tube and fluid is connected to the cleaner head of another end being arranged on described hard tube, wherein said cleaner head is connected to described hard tube via mechanical steering coupler, described mechanical steering coupler is used in the plane on parallel contact ground, making described cleaner head turn to when described hard tube rotates around hard tube axle, wherein said hand-held vacuum cleaner comprises pistol grip handle and comprises cyclone separation system, this cyclone separation system has tangential inlet, and described hand-held vacuum cleaner fluid is connected to described cleaner head by described hard tube, and described hard tube is aimed at described tangential inlet axle.

2. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein in use, described mechanical steering coupler retrains described hard tube and described cleaner head turns around described hard tube axle corotation, also allows described hard tube to rotate around relative with the uneven axle of described hard tube axle with described cleaner head simultaneously.

3. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 2, wherein said cleaner head and described hard tube couple, relatively to rotate along interlocking or relatively to rotate via knuckle joint.

4. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said hard tube is hingedly connected to described cleaner head for the angle of lying changed between described hard tube and described cleaner head.

5. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, coupling between wherein said cleaner head and described hard tube is realized by hinged knuckle joint, for the angle of lying changed between described cleaner head and described hard tube.

6. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said pistol grip handle is straight substantially.

7. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 6, wherein said pistol grip handle is basically perpendicular to described hard tube and extends.

8. stick type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said hand-held vacuum cleaner comprises the upper end or neighbouring motor that are positioned at described pistol grip handle.