Floor detector for vacuum cleaners
First Claim
1. A floor detector for a power brush of a vacuum cleaner comprising:
- a housing adapted to be mounted to said power brush;
a lift sensor (S1) having a first movable member (25) reciprocally movably housed in said housing, and a first spring (28) for urging said first movable member outwardly of said housing, said first spring having a first spring constant, said first movable member having a first contact projecting outwardly of said housing, said first contact causing said first movable member to yieldably displace when said power brush is placed on a floor;
a floor sensor (S2) having a second movable member (26) reciprocally movably housed in said housing and a second spring (29) for urging said second movable member outwardly of said housing, said second spring having a spring constant larger than said first spring constant of said first spring, said second movable member having a second contact projecting outwardly of said housing, said second contact causing said second movable member to yieldably displace vertically a first distance when said power brush is placed on a relatively hard floor and to yieldably displace vertically a second distance when said power brush is placed on a relatively soft floor;
a first displacement sensor (31) housed in said housing and detecting displacement of said first movable member;
a second displacement sensor (32) housed in said housing and detecting displacement of said second movable member; and
control circuit means for correlating signals from said first and second displacement sensors to operate the power brush.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A floor detector for a power brush of a vacuum cleaner comprises a lift sensor S1 and a floor sensor S2. The lift sensor S1 has a movable member which yieldably displaces when the power brush is placed on a relatively soft floor while the floor sensor S2 has a movable member which yieldably displaces when the power brush is placed on a relatively hard floor. Each of movable members is detected its movement by a corresponding light sensor which provides a signal representative of the movements. The signals from the light sensors are sent to a control circuit which controls a drive source for driving the brush member of the power brush. In this manner, the brush member is rotated when the power brush is placed on a relatively soft floor such as a carpeted floor and is not rotated when the power brush is placed on a relatively hard, flat, smooth floor.
143 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A floor detector for a power brush of a vacuum cleaner comprising:
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a housing adapted to be mounted to said power brush; a lift sensor (S1) having a first movable member (25) reciprocally movably housed in said housing, and a first spring (28) for urging said first movable member outwardly of said housing, said first spring having a first spring constant, said first movable member having a first contact projecting outwardly of said housing, said first contact causing said first movable member to yieldably displace when said power brush is placed on a floor; a floor sensor (S2) having a second movable member (26) reciprocally movably housed in said housing and a second spring (29) for urging said second movable member outwardly of said housing, said second spring having a spring constant larger than said first spring constant of said first spring, said second movable member having a second contact projecting outwardly of said housing, said second contact causing said second movable member to yieldably displace vertically a first distance when said power brush is placed on a relatively hard floor and to yieldably displace vertically a second distance when said power brush is placed on a relatively soft floor; a first displacement sensor (31) housed in said housing and detecting displacement of said first movable member; a second displacement sensor (32) housed in said housing and detecting displacement of said second movable member; and control circuit means for correlating signals from said first and second displacement sensors to operate the power brush. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification