Vacuum cleaner tool for use on horizontal and vertical surfaces

• US 4,397,060 A
• Filed: 03/26/1981
• Issued: 08/09/1983
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Black & Decker Incorporated (Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Black & Decker Incorporated (Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lessig, William R. III, Jinkins, Danny R., Canatella, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): MOORE, CHRISTOPHER K
• Application Number:
  US06/247,826
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 15/387, 15/377, 15/393-402, 15/410, 15/415 R, 15/416-422, 15/350
• US Class Current: 15/377
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 5/367 Suction cleaners for fixing on staircases
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0416 driven by fluid pressure, e.g. by means of an air turbine
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/242 Hose or pipe couplings

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner tool is removably mounted on the elongated wand of a conventional vacuum cleaner. The tool includes a head or main housing having a forwardly-disposed brush enclosure portion with a lower planar opening formed therein. A brush is rotatably journaled in the brush enclosure portion of the housing and protrudes below the opening therein. An air turbine is rotatably journaled in the housing and is drivingly connected to the brush. The axis of the housing is coincident with the axis of the wand, and both are arranged at 45 degrees with respect to the planar opening for the brush. In one position, the planar opening is in a horizontal plane. The mounting means between the housing and the wand includes a swivel member. This swivel member enables the housing to be rotated 180 degrees with respect to the wand. When so rotated, the planar opening for the brush is in a vertical plane. As a result, the tool facilitates the cleaning of horizontal and vertical surfaces (such as stair steps) without requiring the operator to change the orientation of the wand with respect to the working surfaces.

Claims

1. A vacuum cleaner tool for use on horizontal and vertical work surfaces, said tool being intended for use with a vacuum cleaner having a portion including an elongated wand controlled by the operator, said tool comprising a housing including an agitator housing portion having a substantially planar opening formed therein, an agitator means rotatably journaled in the agitator housing and protruding below the opening therein, an air turbine having a shaft rotatably journaled in the housing about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the agitator means, a transverse wall in the housing laterally of the air turbine, the shaft having a portion extending beyond the transverse wall, a driving pulley on the extending portion of the shaft, a driven pulley on the agitator means, a belt between the pulleys, thereby driving the agitator means from the air turbine, an air inlet means including an aperture formed between the housing and the agitator housing, the housing having a substantially open bottom portion, a cover plate removably secured to the open bottom portion of the housing, the cover plate having an upstanding channel-shaped ramp radially overlying a portion of the air turbine and spaced therefrom, the ramp having a forward portion in communication with the aperture between the housing and the agitator housing, whereby air drawn in through the planar opening in the agitator housing passes through the aperture and enters into the housing and is directed by the ramp for powering the air turbine, means for mounting the housing on the vacuum cleaner portion about an axis which is disposed substantially at 45 degrees with respect to the plane of the opening in the agitator housing, the housing having a first position with respect to the vacuum cleaner portion wherein the opening in the agitator housing is disposed in a substantially horizontal plane, thereby facilitating the cleaning of a horizontal work surface, and the mounting means including means for rotating the housing and its agitator housing portion substantially 180 degrees with respect to the vacuum cleaner portion and from the first position into a second position, wherein the opening in the agitator housing is disposed in a substantially vertical plane, thereby facilitating the cleaning of a vertical work surface without requiring the operator to change the orientation of the vacuum cleaner portion with respect to the work surface, said means for rotating including a swivel member between the wand and the housing, the swivel member being carried by the housing and having an external annular notch formed therein, wherein the housing has a pair of parallel internal annular flanges received within the notch, and the vacuum cleaner portion and the housing having respective axes which are substantially alined with one another and with the axis of the mounting means, whereby the tool is substantially balanced in both of its positions.

2. The combination of claim 1, further including an annular sealing member between the flanges.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein the swivel member has an outwardly tapered end portion, and wherein the wand has a corresponding inwardly-tapered forward portion received in the end portion of the swivel member.