U.S. patent application number 10/696606 was filed with the patent office on 2005-05-05 for powered edge cleaning vacuum.
Invention is credited to Forsberg, Bruce William, Forsberg, Linda.
Application Number | 20050091788 10/696606 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34550147 |
Filed Date | 2005-05-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050091788 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Forsberg, Bruce William ; et
al. |
May 5, 2005 |
Powered edge cleaning vacuum
Abstract
An apparatus and method suitable to remove dirt and debris from
the floor edge, where a wall meets the floor, with a power driven
brush in conjunction with a vacuum unit.
Inventors: |
Forsberg, Bruce William;
(Hazel Green, AL) ; Forsberg, Linda; (Hazel Green,
AL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BRUCE FORSBERG
134 BUTCH CASH ROAD
HAZEL GREEN
AL
35750
US
|
Family ID: |
34550147 |
Appl. No.: |
10/696606 |
Filed: |
October 30, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/383 ;
15/377 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47L 5/26 20130101; A47L
9/0416 20130101; A47L 9/0411 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
015/383 ;
015/377 |
International
Class: |
A47L 009/04 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An apparatus for cleaning floor/wall edges comprising: A means
of cleaning to the edged of a vacuum head housing A means of rotary
brushing to the edge of a vacuum head housing A means to increase
agitation and maintain airflow at the outside edge of a vacuum
housing
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bearings are inset from
the outside edge of the rotary brush thus allowing full agitation
at the extremity of the brush and vacuum head.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vacuum head housing is
adapted to receive the inset bearings to induce airflow and
agitation at the outside edges of the head.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instrument can be made as
part a typical house sized vacuum units.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instrument can be a
stand-alone tool for power agitated hand cleaning.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the insturment can be an
additional tool for typical house sized vacuum units.
7. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive belt can be
positioned between the bearings, or to the outside of both bearings
in a cantilevered fashion.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bearing assembly and
mounting fixture is easily removable from the vacuum head.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the brushes and bearing
assembly may be made with multiple brush pieces or injection molded
as a single unit.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the unit is fabricated of
metals, plastic, or other and combinations of these or like
items.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instrument can have
brushes extend to the outer edge of the cylindrical brush.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a fine mist water spray
attachment is added to dampen the top surface of the carpet to
facilitate dust/dirt removal.
13. A method for cleaning floor/wall edges comprising the steps of
Operating a handheld unit with edge cleaning brushes Operating a
typical house cleaning vacuum with edge cleaning brushes Operating
unit adaptable to vacuum cleaners with edge cleaning powered
brushes
14. A method of claim 13, wherein the brushes are an integral
design of the typical house cleaning vacuum unit.
15. A method of claim 13, wherein a handheld stand alone unit is
used to apply rotary brush power agitation to the edge of the
handheld unit.
16. A method of claim 13, wherein the unit can be an add-on
attachment to the vacuum unit where the air flow drives the powered
brushes that extend to the edge of the housing unit.
17. A method of claim 13, wherein the brushes can be easily replace
if worn to maximize edge agitation.
18. A method of claim 13, wherein a fine mist water spray
attachment is added to dampen the top surface of the carpet to
facilitate dust/dirt removal.
Description
REFERENCES CITED
U.S. PATENTS DOCUMENTS
[0001] U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,903
[0002] U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,219
[0003] U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,902
[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,146
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,289
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,893
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,874
[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,786
[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,356
[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,240
[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,440
[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,441
OTHER
BACKGROUND
[0013] There are many different types of vacuum units that
successfully remove floor contaminates, such as dirt, hair, dust,
etc., from open carpet areas. These units do not perform adequately
in removing the floor contaminates from wall edges and next to
obstacles such as furniture because the vacuums powered brushing
mechanisms do not reach to the outside surface of the vacuum
housing unit. There have been many attempts to incorporate edge
agitation devises into vacuum cleaning units, however none of them
aggressively clean to the edge of the vacuum head. Some existing
edge cleaners are simple add-on fixed mount brushes that when the
vacuum head moves across the floor, this edge cleaner scraps the
top surface of the carpet in order to flick the debris into the air
so that the air flow from the vacuum will draw the debris into the
vacuum unit. There is another mechanically actuated brush technique
whereby a brush is horizontally driven back and forth in the front
to rear plane of the vacuum head to lift the dirt with multiple
passes thereby flicking more of the dirt or dust into the air so
that the air flow from the vacuum will draw the debris into the
vacuum unit. One sweeping unit incorporates a horizontally rotating
wheel to brush on top of the carpet surface so that the large
particulate matter can be brushed into the path of the sweeping
unit. In addition, there are a multitude of handheld attachments to
vacuum units for edge cleaning which are functioned by the operator
applying the required effort to manually remove dirt and debris.
None of these instruments have solved the root cause of the problem
in getting a mechanically operated device to aggressively clean
edges. If left uncleaned, a darkened dirt laden strip will form at
the floor edge next to the wall. This invention's powered brush
provides the aggressive agitating action at the edge of the vacuum
head to remove the contaminates from the edge formed by the wall
and floor.
SUMMARY
[0014] The present invention has been made in view of the
above-explained inadequacies of the known method of edge cleaning
apparatus and methods and has the objective to provide a simple
easy to use instrument. To achieve a rotary brushing action,
bearings are utilized thus allowing the brushes to spin at a high
rate of rotation in order to actively brush contaminates into the
vacuum unit. Vacuum rotary brushes have bearings that are mounted
on the extreme limits of the brush ends. The vacuum head has the
other side of the bearing mounted near the inner wall of the head.
The space occupied by the bearings, mountings, and pivot points
leaves a gap at the outer edges of the vacuum unit. This creates a
vacuumed but non-agitated zone between the end of the rotating
brush and the outside surface of the housing. This space has become
quite large on some units which only exasterbates the problem. This
brush and housing assembly invention is different than conventional
assemblies because the bearings are set at one side of the vacuum
head to allow the power rotating brushes to extend to the outer
surface of the vacuum head. The vacuum head sidewall at the
rotating brush location can be an ultra thin piece of the housing,
no housing at all, or it can be open except covered with a thin
portion of the vacuum head bumper seal. The vacuum head is also
adapted to receive the bearings and mounts for easy removal, brush
replacement, or belt replacement.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is an illustration view of the instrument
[0016] FIG. 2 is a detail view of the instrument
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0017] The preferred embodiment is as per FIG. 1 in which piece
number 1 is the vacuum head. Piece number 2 is the bearing that
attaches to the rotary brush, piece number 3, on the inside bearing
surface and the outer bearing surface attaches to the bearing
mounting assembly piece number 4. The bearing mounting assembly,
piece number 4, secures the brush and bearings to the vacuum head
at bearing mounting assembly locations formed into the vacuum head,
piece number 5. The wall of the vacuum head, is left open or
covered by the vacuum head bumper guard, piece number 6, if so
desired. Piece number 7 is the suctions device of the vacuum unit.
FIG. 2 shows the drive belt, piece number 8, vacuum throat, piece
number 9, and drive gear, piece number 10 which can be molded into
the brush shaft. Piece number 12 is a power drive for agitation and
piece number 12 is a vacuum unit with filter which can be housed in
any number of fixture types.
[0018] Alternatives to this preferred embodiment also include:
[0019] A hand held unit for use as a stand alone unit with a
similar bearing offset placement power rotating head that has a
vacuum devise included.
[0020] There are many variations to the preferred embodiments
described in this application that those skilled in the art will
recognize. Although only a few variations are described in this
invention, it is understood that the application of these
variations or practices or any similar are contained in the spirit
and scope of the following claims.
* * * * *