Cleaner device for swimming pools and the like

• US 5,172,445 A
• Filed: 07/24/1991
• Issued: 12/22/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jean-Pierre Orset
• Original Assignee: Jean-Pierre Orset
• Inventors: Chandler, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBERTS JR, EDWARD
• Application Number:
  US07/735,310
• Time in Patent Office: 517 Days
• Field of Search: 15/1.7, 15/387
• US Class Current: 15/1.7
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 4/1654 Self-propelled cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 4/1672 Connections to the pool water circulation system

Abstract

A hydraulic cleaner device comprises a water pump for drawing water from a pool through a tube, an open bottom casing divided into two compartments by a partition wall delimiting an inlet for an axial turbine having a rotor that drives a shaft connected by a reducing and transmitting mechanism to a set of wheels supporting the casing and a brush sweeping unit for movement along the bottom of the pool. One of the compartments of the casing is placed downstream of the axial turbine and is connected to the tube leading to the pump. An immersed buoyancy member is connected to the casing.

Claims

1. A hydraulic cleaner device for a swimming pool and the like in which a water pump is provided for drawing water from the pool through a tube, said cleaner device comprising a casing having an open bottom, a shaft carried by said casing, a set of spaced wheels mounted on said shaft for supporting said casing on the bottom of a pool, brushes provided between said wheels for sweeping material from the bottom of the pool into the open bottom of the casing as said cleaner device moves along the bottom of the pool, an axial turbine having a rotor, a reducing and transmitting mechanism between said rotor and said shaft, the interior of said casing being divided into two compartments by a partition wall delimiting a water inlet to said axial turbine, a first one of said two compartments in said casing being positioned downstream of said axial turbine and being adapted to be connected to said tube, rotation of said rotor due to the flow of water through said axial turbine driving said shaft through said reducing and transmitting mechanism to rotate said wheels thereby to effect movement of said cleaner device along the bottom of the pool, a buoyancy member connected to said casing for maintaining said casing in a substantially vertical position on the bottom of the pool when said cleaner device is immersed in the pool.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein a strainer is placed in said casing upstream of said inlet for said axial turbine.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said strainer is shaped substantially like a second one of said two compartments, said strainer being carried by a plate which forms a cover for said second compartment.

4. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said strainer includes a removable bottom member giving access to an inner cavity formed by said strainer.

5. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said strainer comprises a front surface obturating a bottom portion of said casing, said front surface carrying a flap valve.

6. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said strainer is shaped substantially like one of said two compartments of said casing, said strainer being mounted in said casing and in a cover which is encased on one lateral side of said casing, said strainer and cover forming a removable assembly.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6, wherein said open bottom of the casing is provided with baffle members that form inlet ducts leading to flap-valves opening into said strainer.

8. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said strainer comprises a bottom portion which closes the open bottom of said casing and a partition located above said bottom portion to delimit a channel closed at one end by a lateral wall of said strainer, said channel opening in a cover that closes one lateral side of said casing containing said strainer, said bottom portion of said strainer further comprising at least one flap valve for the passage of water through said channel, through said cover, through said strainer, through said turbine and through said tube toward said pump.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8, wherein said partition is U-shaped and joined in one piece with said bottom portion of said strainer.

10. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said brushes comprise a sweeping unit that engages the bottom of the pool simultaneously with said wheels.

11. A device as set forth in claim 10, wherein said sweeping unit is loosely mounted on said casing.

12. A device as set forth in claim 10, wherein said sweeping unit is provided with small rods one of said small rods being inserted with some clearance in a notch of a wall of said casing, and another one of said small rods being connected by fingers engaged with some clearance in other notches of said casing, said fingers being retained by a cover for said casing.

13. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said wheels comprise two wheels respectively located on opposite sides of said casing.

14. A device as set forth in claim 13, wherein said wheels include a third wheel located at a median part of said shaft.

15. A device as set forth in claim 14, wherein said third wheel has a smaller diameter than said tub wheels.

16. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said axial turbine comprises a stator with directing blades placed within a body that is frictionally engaged in a sheath carried by said partition wall.

17. A device as set forth in claim 16, wherein a notch is formed in said sheath containing said body of said axial turbine for use in disassembling said turbine.

18. A device as set forth in claim 16, wherein said stator, said rotor and said sheath are mounted in a sleeve encased in a lateral side of said casing and in a cover containing said reducing and transmitting mechanism, said sleeve and cover forming an interchangeable unit.

19. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said axial turbine comprises a stator located upstream of said rotor relative to a circulation direction of water inside said casing, said rotor being mounted on a shaft that drives said reducing and transmitting mechanism, said mechanism being mounted on one side of said casing.

20. A device as set forth in claim 19, wherein said rotor is slidably mounted on said shaft, and wherein a pressure spring is arranged against said rotor, whereby said rotor is movable on said shaft as a function of a pressure applied to said rotor by water drawn by said pump while providing a variable by pass gap between said stator and rotor.

21. A device as set forth in claim 20, wherein said rotor is freely mounted for rotation on said shaft, wherein said spring is a helical spring engaged on said shaft, and wherein ends of said spring are fixed, on the one hand, to the rotor and, on the other hand, to a sleeve connected to said reducing and transmitting mechanism.

22. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein an adjusting flap valve is arranged in said partition wall for bypassing a vacuum formed by said pump.

23. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said casing is connected to said tube by a connection member that allows rotation of said casing with respect to said tube.

24. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said buoyancy member maintains said casing in a position in which at least one of said brushes bears on the bottom of said pool.

25. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said buoyancy member is mounted on said tube leading to said pump.

26. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said tube is mounted on said buoyancy member by frictionally connecting elements of resilient material that extend from said buoyancy member into notches of said tube.