Method and apparatus for increasing the air flow into a vacuum cleaner head
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
- (a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an outlet connectable to a source of suction;
(b) a brush rotatably mounted in the casing;
(c) a restricting member mounted in the casing and moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position in which the restricting member reduces the size of the air flow path; and
,(d) a control member drivingly connected to at least one of the restricting member and the brush to move the restricting member between the neutral and restricting positions as the brush is moved with respect to the dirty air inlet.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vacuum cleaner head having a dirty air inlet has an associated restricting member which is operable to reduce the size of the dirty air inlet thereby increasing the velocity of the air entering the air flow path.
37 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an outlet connectable to a source of suction; (b) a brush rotatably mounted in the casing; (c) a restricting member mounted in the casing and moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position in which the restricting member reduces the size of the air flow path; and
,(d) a control member drivingly connected to at least one of the restricting member and the brush to move the restricting member between the neutral and restricting positions as the brush is moved with respect to the dirty air inlet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a transversely extending dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an outlet connectable to a source of suction; (b) a transversely extending restricting member mounted in the casing and moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position in which the restricting member reduces the size of the air flow path at a position adjacent the dirty air inlet; and
,(c) a control member drivingly connected to the restricting member to move the restricting member between the neutral and restricting positions. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an outlet connectable to a source of suction; (b) a restricting member mounted in the casing and moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position in which the restricting member reduces the size of the air flow path at a position adjacent the dirty air inlet; (c) a brush member and the restricting member is positioned beneath the brush member when in the restricting position; and
,(d) a control member drivingly connected to the restricting member to move the restricting member between the neutral and restricting positions.
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19. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a transversely extending dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an air outlet connectable to a source of suction, the dirty air inlet having a central portion and side portions positioned on either side of the central portion; (b) transversely extending restricting means moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position and cooperative with the dirty air inlet for reducing the size of the air flow path at a position adjacent the dirty air inlet; and
,(c) a control means drivingly connected to the restricting means to move the restricting means between the neutral and restricting positions. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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22. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an air outlet connectable to a source of suction, the dirty air inlet having a central portion and side portions positioned on either side of the central portion; (b) restricting means moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position and cooperative with the dirty air inlet for reducing the size of the air flow path at a position adjacent the dirty air inlet; (c) brush means and the restricting means is positioned beneath the brush means when in the restricting position; and
,(d) a control means drivingly connected to the restricting means to move the restricting means between the neutral and restricting positions. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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24. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an air outlet connectable to a source of suction, the dirty air inlet having a central portion and side portions positioned on either side of the central portion; (b) restricting means moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position and cooperative with the dirty air inlet for reducing the size of the air flow path; (c) brush means movably mounted with respect to the dirty air inlet and lift off means for adjusting the position of the brush means and the control means is drivingly connected to the lift off means; and
,(d) a control means drivingly connected to the restricting means to move the restricting means between the neutral and restricting positions. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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28. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an air outlet connectable to a source of suction, the dirty air inlet having a central portion and side portions positioned on either side of the central portion; (b) restricting means moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position and cooperative with the dirty air inlet for reducing the size of the air flow path, the restricting means comprising a central restricting means for reducing the size of the central portion of the dirty air inlet and side restricting means for reducing the size of the side portions of the dirty air inlet, the central restricting means blocking a greater portion of the central portion than the side restricting means block of the side portions; and
,(c) a control means drivingly connected to the restricting means to move the restricting means between the neutral and restricting positions.
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29. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an air outlet connectable to a source of suction, the dirty air inlet having a central portion and side portions positioned on either side of the central portion; (b) restricting means moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position and cooperative with the dirty air inlet for reducing the size of the air flow path, the restricting means comprising a central restricting means for reducing the size of the central portion of the dirty air inlet and side restricting means for reducing the size of the side portions of the dirty air inlet, the side restricting means blocking a greater portion of the side portion than the central restricting means blocks of the central portion; and
,(c) a control means drivingly connected to the restricting means to move the restricting means between the neutral and restricting positions.
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30. A method of cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) introducing dirty air into a dirty air inlet of a vacuum cleaner head, the dirty air inlet comprises a longitudinally extending opening having a transversely extending width, the vacuum cleaner head having a lower surface in which the dirty air inlet is provided, an air outlet connectable to a source of suction and an air flow path extending between the dirty air inlet and the air outlet; and
,(b) reducing the width of the dirty air inlet along at least a portion of the length of the dirty air inlet to selectively reduce the size of the dirty air inlet to increase the rate of air flow through the dirty air inlet whereby the surface is cleaned. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method of cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) introducing dirty air into a dirty air inlet of a vacuum cleaner head, the dirty air inlet has a central portion and side portions positioned on either side of the central portion, the vacuum cleaner head having a lower surface in which the dirty air inlet is provided, an air outlet connectable to a source of suction and an air flow path extending between the dirty air inlet and the air outlet; and
,(b) selectively reducing the size of the dirty air inlet to increase the rate of air flow through the dirty air inlet by selectively reducing the size of the side portions of the dirty air inlet to a greater extent than the size reduction of the central portion whereby the surface is cleaned.
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36. A vacuum cleaner head for cleaning a surface comprising:
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(a) a casing having a lower surface and an air flow path, the air flow path including a dirty air inlet provided in the lower surface and an outlet connectable to a source of suction; (b) a restricting member mounted in the casing and longitudinally moveable between a neutral position and a restricting position in which the restricting member reduces the size of the air flow path at a position adjacent the dirty air inlet; and
,(c) a control member drivingly connected to the restricting member to move the restricting member between the neutral and restricting positions.
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Specification