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Self-propelled vacuum cleaner having forward and reverse drive

  • US 5,285,550 A
  • Filed: 04/20/1992
  • Issued: 02/15/1994
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1989
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In a vacuum cleaner comprising a wheel supported housing and a reversible drive system in the housing, the drive system comprisin an input pinion and a pair of constantly meshed counter-rotating gears, the input pinion being in driving engagement with one of said gears, said counter-rotating gears each being supported for rotation about a respective axis parallel to the axis of the other, a sprocket associated with each gear to form a set, means supporting each sprocket in confronting relation to a respective gear, clutching surfaces for each gear and sprocket set, a common sprocket supported for rotation about an axis parallel to said gear axes, a belt trained around both of said associated sprockets and said common sprocket, an output shaft operatively connected to said common sprocket and adapted to drive the wheels of the device in forward or reverse rotation as determined by the rotational direction of the sprockets, and clutch actuation means responsive to a manually developed force applied in a first direction to at least a selected one of the gear and sprocket of one set to clutch the one set of said gears and sprockets together through their respective clutching surfaces to drive said sprockets in a first rotary direction and applied in a direction opposed to said first direction to at least a selected one of the gear and sprocket of the other set to clutch the other set of said gears and sprockets together through their respective clutching surfaces to drive said sprockets in a second rotary direction.

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