Floor nozzle for vacuum cleaners

• US 5,539,953 A
• Filed: 05/17/1995
• Issued: 07/30/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gerhard Kurz
• Original Assignee: Gerhard Kurz
• Inventors: Kurz, Gerhard
• Primary Examiner(s): MOORE, CHRISTOPHER K
• Application Number:
  US08/443,102
• Time in Patent Office: 440 Days
• Field of Search: 15/398, 15/400, 15/401, 15/402, 15/367, 15/373, 15/420
• US Class Current: 15/367
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/06 with fixed, e.g. adjustably fixed brushes or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0613 with means specially adapted for picking up threads, hair or the like, e.g. brushes, combs, lint pickers or bristles pads
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0653 with mechanical actuation, e.g. using a lever
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2815 using optical detectors
• 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

Abstract

A floor nozzle for vacuum cleaners comprises a housing and two suction channels, separated by an intermediate strip, arranged in the bottom plate thereof and extending transversely to the direction of movement the intermediate strip being designed as a rigid plow strip arranged between a front and a rear cleaning edge and acting to open the nap to be cleaned, due to its digging-in effect, toward the front or rear suction channel, depending on the direction of movement.

Claims

1. A floor nozzle for vacuum cleaners, comprising:

a housing;

a pivot plate;

a vertically adjustable brush strip supported on said pivot plate;

a bottom plate;

an intermediate strip for opening a nap to be cleaned;

front and rear suction channels separated by said intermediate strip and arranged in said bottom plate and extending transversely to a direction along which the floor nozzle is to be pushed to effect any of a forward and backward movement, said front suction channel being defined by a front cleaning edge, said rear suction channel being defined by a rear cleaning edge, each of said front and rear cleaning edges being rounded for sliding across the nap during any of the forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle on the nap; and

support means arranged on the housing for providing swivel support of a suction pipe, wherein the intermediate strip is arranged between said front and rear cleaning edges for opening the nap to be cleaned, said intermediate strip being configured as an elongated lip for penetrating into the nap, bending individual fibers of the nap over according to the direction of movement of the floor nozzle across the nap, and separating the nap in directions toward the front and rear suction channels depending on the direction of movement of the floor nozzle in one of a forward and backward direction as the front and rear cleaning edges slide across the nap.

2. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein the front and the rear cleaning edges exhibit a rounded configuration, facing the surface to be cleaned and sliding thereon, with no other support or sliding surfaces formed on the bottom plate.

3. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein said front and rear cleaning edges, as well as said intermediate strip, extend outwardly relative to the remaining surfaces of said bottom plate.

4. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate strip exhibits any one of a toothed and comb-like configuration.

6. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein a projecting edge in the form of a sealing lip is provided in the bottom plate.

7. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein said brush strip for working hard floorings is arranged in front of said suction channels, viewed in the forward direction of movement of said floor nozzle.

8. A floor nozzle according to claim 7, wherein said brush strip is interrupted by a first front lint pickup pad and another lint pickup pad is arranged behind said rear cleaning edge, both said pickup pads being located adjacent the middle of said floor nozzle.

9. A floor nozzle according to claim 7, further including an upper cover part positioned above and connected to said bottom plate, wherein said pivot plate for lowering said brush strip is arranged between said upper cover part and said bottom plate.

10. A floor nozzle according to claim 9, wherein said cover part and said bottom plate are connected by means of inclined seals designed to substantially eliminate eddy currents.

11. A floor nozzle according to claim 9, wherein said cover part is configured to form an inner box-like suction channel terminating at a rim extending in an upward direction from said bottom plate, to form a suction hole split up into two partial suction holes.

12. A floor nozzle according to claim 11, wherein said rim formed on said bottom plate and terminating by the two partial suction holes is inclined in an inward and rearward direction for forming gradually curved guide surfaces for the air flow, thus avoiding the production of troublesome eddy currents.

13. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, further including an upper cover part folded on both sides of said support means to form bearing walls.

14. A floor nozzle according to claim 13, wherein said bearing walls comprise doubled bearing wall portions between which are formed free spaces, said support means including cranked bearing axles that extend through said doubled bearing wall portions and through said free spaces, said pivot plate including rocker arms projecting from said pivot plate and extending in a rearward direction into said free spaces, said rocker arms having throat openings embracing said bearing axles.

15. A floor nozzle according to claim 14, wherein said cranked bearing axles include axle stubs set off relative to the axis of said cranked bearing axles, said axle stubs projecting toward each other to form a pivot bearing for a suction pipe to be positioned in and supported by said support means, said axle stubs being aligned along an axis positioned between the axis of said cranked bearing axles and said suction channels.

16. A floor nozzle according to claim 14, wherein said throat openings of said rocker arms projection from said pivot plate are snap-locked on said cranked bearing axles so as to fix said cranked bearing axles against lateral displacement.

17. A floor nozzle according to claim 14, wherein said pivot plate is supported below by said bottom plate via compression springs, and is pivotally operated by switching means in the form of an actuator rocker accessible from the outside of said floor nozzle, said actuator rocker having a pivot axis extending over the width of said floor nozzle and actuating said pivot plate by sliding faces coacting with counter-surfaces of said pivot plate.

18. A floor nozzle according to claim 17, wherein the pivot axis of said actuator rocker is rotatably seated in bearing block halves formed in said cover part and said bottom plate, respectively, and provided with a central cranked portion by which said actuator rocker passes around an inner suction channel formed by said cover part.

19. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein said front and rear suction channels meet to form an inner suction channel, said floor nozzle further including an optical dust detector, comprising a light transmitter and a light receiver, arranged in said inner suction channel and followed by an evaluation circuit which actuates different indication lamps, that are visible from the outside of said floor nozzle, in response to the dust flow rate, with an off-the-line power supply unit arranged inside said floor nozzle.

20. A floor nozzle according to claim 19, wherein said evaluation circuit, which is controlled by the optical dust detector, comprises transmitter means whose output signal is received by a control circuit controlling the vacuum cleaner motor, for regulating the vacuum cleaner power.

21. A floor nozzle according to claim 20, further including an all-round infrared transmitter for emitting dust detector signals from the floor nozzle, and at least two infrared lamps arranged to emit light to the outside of said floor nozzle.

22. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein said intermediate strip is interrupted in the central bottom region of said suction channels.

23. A floor nozzle according to claim 1, wherein said elongated lip configuration of said intermediate strip includes a tapering toward a free pointed end of said intermediate strip for facilitating creation of a digging-in effect into the nap by the free pointed end of the intermediate strip.

5. A floor nozzle for vacuum cleaners, comprising:

a housing;

a pivot plate;

vertically adjustable brush strip supported on said pivot plate;

a bottom plate;

an intermediate strip for opening a nap to be cleaned;

front and rear suction channels separated by said intermediate strip and arranged in said bottom plate and extending transversely to a direction along which the floor nozzle is to be pushed to effect any of a forward and backward movement, said front suction channel being defined by a front cleaning edge, said rear suction channel being defined by a rear cleaning edge, each of said front and rear cleaning edges being rounded for sliding across the nap during any of the forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle on the nap;

support means arranged on the housing for providing swivel support of a suction pipe, wherein the intermediate strip is arranged between said front and rear cleaning edges for opening the nap to be cleaned, penetrating into the nap, bending individual fibers of the nap over according to the direction of movement of the floor nozzle across the nap, and separating the nap in directions toward the front and rear suction channels depending on the direction of movement of the floor nozzle in one of a forward and backward direction as the front and rear cleaning edges slide across the nap, said support means including support wheels rotatably connected to said housing so as to be rotatable about an axis; and

a handle pipe connected to the floor nozzle via a pivot axis, said pivot axis being set off to the front relative to the axis of rotation of the support wheels in a manner such that pressure applied by an operator, via the handle pipe, results in additional contact pressure between the floor nozzle and the surface to be cleaned than is otherwise present.