CN1179088A - Vaccuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a vacuum cleaner comprising a housing containing apparatus for separating dirt and dust from an airflow, the vacuum cleaner being configured so as to allow it to be positioned on a flight of stairs, wherein the housing has a forward end shaped so as to facilitate the sliding of the vacuum cleaner over the flight of stairs in an upward direction.

Description

vacuum cleaner

The invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, in particular to a cylindrical vacuum cleaner.

Few vacuum cleaners, whether upright or cylindrical, are designed to be stably positioned on a flight of stairs. British Patent No. 658328 discloses a cylindrical vacuum cleaner, which is equipped with a slide plate fixed on the bottom surface of the cylindrical cabinet. The groove on the slide plate allows the vacuum cleaner to be "hooked" on the flange of the stairs. This design allows the user to manipulate the vacuum cleaner's hose or joystick with both hands. An improved design similar to the one described above is described in our co-pending UK Patent Application No. 9417749.0 and corresponding PCT Application No. PCT/GB94/02575.

Neither of these prior art vacuum cleaners is designed or intended to be able to move up and down a flight of stairs without requiring the user to lift the entire vacuum cleaner and place it at another convenient location on the flight of stairs form. This can be cumbersome, especially if the user must hold the hose or joystick while repositioning the vacuum cleaner. It would be much more convenient to be able to drag or slide the vacuum cleaner up stairs without having to lift the body, but the shape of each of the two prior art vacuum cleaners is very difficult and cumbersome to drag or slide, and Can cause considerable vibration of the vacuum cleaner. This can impair the work of the vacuum cleaner.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum cleaner which can be easily maneuvered up a flight of stairs.

The present invention provides a vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 1 . Advantages of the invention will be stated in the dependent claims.

The shaping of the front of the case to allow the cleaner to slide up a flight of stairs means that the cleaner slides up more smoothly and with less vibration to minimize vibration-induced damage to the cleaner.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a vacuum cleaner of the present invention placed on a flight of stairs;

Figures 2a-2d illustrate the successive positions of the vacuum cleaner as it slides up a flight of stairs;

Figures 3a and 3b illustrate a second embodiment of the invention placed on a flight of stairs.

A vacuum cleaner made in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1 . The vacuum cleaner 10 basically includes a housing 12 having a base 14 and a cover 16 . The hose 18 is connected to the case cover 16 of the case 12 through a swivel coupling 20 . The interior of the cabinet 12 is equipped with: ash-tip separation device 22, motor 24 and connecting device for driving the vacuum cleaner to work so as to suck dirty air into the cabinet 12 along the hose 18 to separate dirt and dust particles from the air flow, and then Release clean air into the atmosphere. The internal workings of the vacuum cleaner 10 are not an essential part of the invention and will not be described in detail here.

The base 14 of the cabinet 12 has a recess 26 which is adapted to engage the nosing of a stair tread. Due to this shape, the vacuum cleaner 10 can be stably positioned on a flight of stairs. This configuration is the subject of our pending UK Patent Application No. 9417749.0 and PCT Application No. PCT/GB94/02575. The base 14 of the cabinet 12 is supported by two adjacent steps A, B and the contact portions are 28a, 28b.

When the cleaner 10 is in use, a user may wish to be able to pull the cleaner 10 up a flight of stairs simply by pulling on the hose 18 . In order to make it easier for the vacuum cleaner 10 to slide upwards in the direction of the arrow 30 , a front edge 32 is designed at the front end of the chassis 12 . The front edge 32 protrudes forward of the cabinet 12 and slopes upward relative to most of the plane of the base 14 of the cabinet 12 so that when the user applies a pull to the hose 18 in the direction of the arrow 30, the front edge 32 provides a flange for the step C. A smooth surface, the step C is the step above the steps A and B where the vacuum cleaner is currently located and immediately adjacent to A and B. Sufficient pulling force in the direction of arrow 30 will pull the cleaner 10 up the flight of stairs, while the leading edge 32, by virtue of its shape, allows the cleaner 10 to move upwards smoothly. The lower surface 34 of the front edge 32 provides a surface by means of which the front of the cleaner 10 is guided smoothly over the ledge of the step C. As shown in FIG.

2a-2d illustrate the upward movement of the vacuum cleaner 10 when an upward force is applied to the hose 18 in the direction of the arrow 30 . The position shown in FIG. 1 is shown again in FIG. 2 a and is here taken as the initial position. The contact portions 28a and 28b are in contact with the stepped surfaces of the steps A, B. As shown in FIG. The front end of the front edge 32 is in contact with or adjacent to the flange of the step C. As shown in FIG.

Applying a pulling force in the direction of arrow 30 moves the cleaner 10 up the stairs. The contact portions 28a and 28b are removed from the stepped surfaces of the steps A and B to disengage, and the cleaner is passed by the flanges of the steps B and C through the surface of the groove 26 (or another part of the base 14 of the cabinet 12) and the front edge respectively. 32 lower surface 34 contact to achieve support. Continued pulling in the direction of arrow 30 moves the cleaner 10 up the ledges of steps B and C until the cleaner is supported by contact with the base 14 of the cabinet 12 on either side of the recess 26 . Finally, the ledge of step C will be in contact with at least one side of groove 26, and contact portions 28a, 28b will then be in contact with the stepped surfaces of steps B and C. Further movement in the direction of arrow 30 will ensure that the contact portions 28a, 28b are positioned far enough from the ledges of steps B and C that the cleaner 10 is stably supported. The new stable position is the same as that shown in Figure 2a, except that the cleaner 10 is supported on steps B and C instead of steps A and B.

It should be understood that the structures shown in Figures 1 and 2 are not in great detail. Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figures 3a and 3b. In both figures, the housing 12' of the vacuum cleaner 10' is closed at the bottom by a sliding plate 15'. Slider 15' has a forwardly extending and upturned front edge portion 32' which is adapted to engage the ledge of a step located above and adjacent to the current support step of cleaner 10'. There is a protrusion 17' at the tail end of the slide plate 15', which is connected with the slide plate 15' through a pivot. A spring 19' is provided between the projection 17' and the slide 15', which biases the free end of the projection 17' away from the slide 15'.

The purpose of the protrusion 17' is to provide a braking or stopping means to prevent the cleaner 10' from sliding down the stairs. The support position at this time is shown in FIG. 3b, wherein the protrusion 17' deviates to a working position which can be used as a braking device. In use, the protrusion 17' contacts the step surface to prevent the vacuum cleaner 10' from sliding down. The protrusion 17' can include a device for clamping with the step surface, for example, a large nail, a claw or a rubber foot etc. can be used if necessary. Except for the leading edge portion 32' which has an upward slope, the rest of the bottom of the slide plate 15' is smooth and substantially planar.

If one wants to pull the vacuum cleaner 10' upwards or slide the vacuum cleaner 10' upwards along the stairs, an upward force is applied in the direction of the arrow 30', which can be applied by pulling the hose 18'. The cleaner is then moved upwardly in the direction of arrow 30' and the leading edge portion 32' contacts the ledge of the step which is located above the uppermost one of the steps currently supporting the cleaner. The leading edge portion 32' guides the stepped flange at the lower portion of the cabinet 12' of the cleaner 10' so that the upward movement is smooth and easily controlled. When the projection 17' passes the ledge, it deflects in the direction opposite to the biasing direction of the spring 19', but the action of the spring 19' once it passes the ledge also causes the ledge 17' to return to its original position. operating position. If at that time the user decides to keep the cleaner in this new position, the downward contact of the free end of the protrusion 17' with the nearest step face will prevent the cleaner from sliding down further.

It should be understood that the protrusions 17' can be located in virtually any position on the substantially planar portion of the slide 15'. In particular, the protrusion 17' may be provided at or near the front end of the vacuum cleaner 10', or at a position between the frontmost and rearmost ends of the vacuum cleaner 10'.

The embodiment illustrated in the drawings shows that the housing 12, 12' contains a vortex-type device for separating dirt and dust from the air flow into which the hose 18, 18' flows. This is a preferred feature but should not be seen as limiting the invention.

Claims (10)

1. vacuum cleaner, comprise a cabinet, it is equipped with the device that is used for from air stream eliminating impurities and dust, this vacuum cleaner has a kind of profile that it locatees that allows on a flight of stairs, wherein the Front-end Design of cabinet becomes to help the shape that vacuum cleaner upwards slides along a flight of stairs.

2. vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front end of cabinet has an acclivitous leading edge, and vacuum cleaner is when a flight of stairs is upwards spurred in using, and this leading edge is suitable for providing a level and smooth surface to the step bead.

3. vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein chassis base is made the shape that vacuum cleaner is located on a flight of stairs.

4. vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 3, wherein chassis base comprises a upwardly extending groove, is used for cooperating with the step bead, is contained in the contact portion of groove either side, is used for contacting with two adjacent steps and supporting vacuum cleaner at this place.

5. the described vacuum cleaner of one of claim as described above wherein provides a projection, is used for contacting with step surface and preventing that vacuum cleaner from gliding along a flight of stairs.

6. vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 5, wherein the base of cabinet has projection.

7. as claim 5 or 6 described vacuum cleaners, its protrusions can move between two positions, and a position is the operating position, and projection is to extend outside vacuum cleaner with most of plane of chassis base is angled; Another is an off-position, projection substantially with most of plane parallel of chassis base.

8. vacuum cleaner as claimed in claim 7, its protrusions is biased to the operating position.

9. as arbitrary described vacuum cleaner in the claim 5 to 8, its protrusions is contained in the position of vacuum cleaner tail end or contiguous tail end.

10. as arbitrary described vacuum cleaner in the claim 5 to 8, its protrusions is contained on the position that is located substantially on the vacuum cleaner center.

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