Electric vacuum cleaner

• US 5,301,385 A
• Filed: 11/13/1992
• Issued: 04/12/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Mine, Takeshi, Abe, Katsumi
• Primary Examiner(s): MOORE, CHRISTOPHER K
• Application Number:
  US07/976,104
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 15/319, 15/339
• US Class Current: 15/319
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2826 the condition of the floor
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2842 Suction motors or blowers
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2857 User input or output elements for control, e.g. buttons, switches or displays
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 40/00 Technologies aiming at improving the efficiency of home appliances, e.g. induction cooking or efficient technologies for refrigerators, freezers or dish washers

Abstract

An electric vacuum cleaner which has a plurality of indicating lamps L₁ -L₆ for being lighted in steps to indicate the power levels of the motor which has simple construction at connecting parts of the pipes, and which,

comprises a plurality of indicating lamps which are provided on the nozzle part to indicate the power levels of the motor in steps; a power-source providing leads which extends from the body to the nozzle part; a control circuit which controls the power of the motor; a light-emitting element which emits optical signals based on the power signal generated by the control circuit; an optical-signal passage which is provided through the extension pipe in order that the optical-signals travel straight; a light-detecting element which receives the optical signals travelled from the light-emitting element; and driving circuitry for driving a plurality of the indicating lamps based on the signals received at the light-detecting element,

is constructed in such a way that the power levels of the motor are converted into the optical signal at the light-emitting element (30) and then transmitted to the light-detecting element (40) through the light-signal passage (50), therefore electric pins for transmitting the output signals, which were conventionally required at the connecting part of the pipes, are now completely unnecessary.

Claims

1. An electric vacuum cleaner comprising a body incorporating a motor, a control circuit for controlling the power of the motor, a plurality of indicating lamps for indicating the power of the motor in steps, a hose part which is connected to the body, a grip part which is connected to the hose part and is provided with a grip connecting part, an extension pipe connected to the grip connecting part, and a nozzle part with a nozzle pipe connected to the extension pipe, wherein:

the indicating lamps are provided on the nozzle part, the vacuum cleaner also comprising a light emitting element for converting a power signal generated into an optical signal, and wherein the extension pipe is provided with an optical signal passage for said optical signal, the nozzle part is provided with a light detecting element for receiving said optical signal and a driving means for driving the indicating lamps as a function of the optical signal received by the light detecting element is provided.

2. An electric vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the vacuum cleaner comprises converting means for converting the power signal generated by the control circuit into digital signals.

3. An electric vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that floor condition detecting means are provided in the nozzle part, two couples of the light emitting element and the light detecting element being provided at both ends of the optical signal passage for supplying detecting signals generated by the floor condition detecting means to the control circuit.