U.S. patent application number 10/842459 was filed with the patent office on 2005-11-17 for hand vacuum cleaner with dry & wet switcher.
This patent application is currently assigned to ZWEITA INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Hsu, Chih Kao.
Application Number | 20050251950 10/842459 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35307956 |
Filed Date | 2005-11-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050251950 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hsu, Chih Kao |
November 17, 2005 |
Hand vacuum cleaner with dry & wet switcher
Abstract
A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher that operates in
dry or wet mode without any external attachment is comprised of an
elevation deck adapted with a water curette provided at the nozzle
of the dust receiver; the knob being turned to control the
ascending or descending of the elevation deck to change the
openness of the nozzle; larger openness of the nozzle allowing dry
operation mode and smaller openness to fully expose the water
curette thus to operate in wet mode at the highest vacuuming
velocity.
Inventors: |
Hsu, Chih Kao; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BACON & THOMAS, PLLC
625 SLATERS LANE
FOURTH FLOOR
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
|
Assignee: |
ZWEITA INTERNATIONAL CO.,
LTD.
Bandar Seri Begawan
BN
|
Family ID: |
35307956 |
Appl. No.: |
10/842459 |
Filed: |
May 11, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/344 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47L 5/24 20130101; A47L
7/0009 20130101; A47L 7/0042 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
015/344 |
International
Class: |
A47L 005/24 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher comprised of a
body of the cleaner, a dust receiver disposed at the tip of the
body, an elevation deck adapted with a water curette being provided
to a nozzle of the dust receiver, a lid, and a knob is
characterized by that: the dust receiver having its nozzle to
extend inwardly to define an inner tube, an enclosed space being
defined in the dust receiver, and a recessed space being disposed
at the front of the nozzle to accommodate the elevation deck, the
lid and the knob; the elevation deck adapted in the recessed space
of the dust receiver having been inserted at its front the water
curette, and a spiral post being disposed in the middle of the
elevation deck; the lid provided at where above the recessed space
of the nozzle having at its end surface provided with an opening;
the knob secured in the opening of the lid having at its lower end
provided with an inner spiral tube to be screwed to the inner
spiral post disposed on the elevation deck; the ascending and
descending of the elevation deck being controlled by turning the
knob to change the openness of the nozzle; the larger openness of
the nozzle allowing the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in dry mode;
and the smaller openness of the nozzle allowing the hand vacuum
cleaner to operate in wet mode by exposing the water curette.
2. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, a retaining plate extends from the inner wall of
the recessed space of the nozzle, one or multiple guidepost being
provided on the retaining plate, a longitudinal plate being
provided in the middle of the retaining plate, another retaining
plate extending from the real end wall of the elevation deck, one
or multiple guide holes being provided on the retaining plate and a
slot being longitudinally disposed in the middle of the retaining
plate; and the guide hole and the longitudinal slot being merely
provided in relation to the guidepost and the longitudinal plate
penetrating into the recessed space.
3. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, a rotation plate is provided on the top of the
knob.
4. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, one or multiple locking slots is provided on the
peripheral wall of the recessed space in the nozzle; one or
multiple corresponding locking plates is provided on the peripheral
wall of the lid; and the locking slot and the locking plate are
interlocked to each other in position.
5. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, the lid is integrated with the nozzle at where
above the nozzle.
6. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, the elevation deck relates to a deck with a cross
section of an L shape.
7. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, the inner spiral rube at the lower end of the
knob is formed by punching one or multiple inverse insertion
plates.
8. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in
claim 1, wherein, the knob is provided with two or more than two
slots at the opening of the inner spiral tube.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] (a) Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention is related to a hand vacuum cleaner
with a dry/wet switcher, and more particularly, to one that has its
elevation deck provided with a water curette that can be adjusted
to change the openness of the nozzle for switching between the dry
and wet operation modes.
[0003] (b) Description of the Prior Art
[0004] A wet/dry dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner of the prior art
has to be adapted with an external rubber hose or any other
attachment exclusively for wet operation mode to clean water, milk,
other types of liquid or mixture of liquid and solid. Those extra
external attachments require additional storage space, make the
handling for storage of the vacuum cleaner more troublesome, and
are vulnerable to get lost to fail the wet operation mode.
Furthermore, it's not handy and much time may be wasted in
replacing the external attachments in switching for another
operation mode.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a
dry and wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner adapted with a
switcher that does not require any external attachments to change
the operation between wet and dry modes, thus to eliminate the
problems of storage or making shift as found with the prior art,
promote the operation efficacy of the cleaner as a whole, and
simplify the switching process between two operation modes. To
achieve the purpose, an elevation deck adapted with a water curette
is provided at the nozzle of the dust receiver with the openness of
the nozzle adjustable by ascending or descending the elevation deck
from turning a knob to fast switch between both operation
modes.
[0006] Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a dry
and wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner adapted with a switcher.
Wherein, a guidepost is erected on the nozzle of the dust receiver,
and a corresponding guidepost is disposed at the elevation deck to
help facilitate the ascending or descending of the elevation
deck.
[0007] Another purpose yet of the present invention is to provide a
dry and wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner adapted with a
switcher. Wherein, the water curette incorporated by insertion to
the elevation deck is replaceable.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing primary members of the
present invention.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the present invention.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing that an elevation deck is
separated from the nozzle.
[0011] FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a knob, a lid and the
elevation deck of the present invention as assembled.
[0012] FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing that the openness of the
nozzle of the present invention is at its maximal status.
[0013] FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing that the openness of the
nozzle of the present invention is at its minimum status.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing that the present
invention is switched to wet operation mode.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0015] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a dry/wet dual-purpose hand
vacuum cleaner of the present invention is comprised of a body 1
and a dust receiver 2 provided at the front end of the vacuum
cleaner. The body 1 also includes a strainer, a fan, a motor, a
switch, a handle, and/or a charging base of the prior art and will
not be elaborated herein. The switcher of the present invention is
provided at the tip of the dust receiver 2 and essentially
comprised of an elevation deck 3 adapted with a water curette 31 at
a nozzle 21 of the dust receiver 2, a lid 4 and a knob 5.
[0016] Wherein, the nozzle 21 provided at the front of the dust
receiver 2 extends inwardly to define an inner tube 22 to suck into
the dust through the nozzle 21 when the vacuum cleaner is started.
A water retainer 23 and a strainer cover 24 are disposed in
sequence at the rear end of the dust receiver 2. The peripheral of
the water retainer 23 is sealed with a watertight strip 231 to
define an enclosed space 25 to accommodate the water stains,
liquid, or mixture of liquid and solid with good watertight result
when the water retainer 23 is stuffed into the dust receiver 2 as
also found in the prior art. However, in the present invention, a
recessed space 26 is provided in the front of the nozzle 21 to
accommodate the elevation deck 3, the lid 4 and the knob 5. A
retaining plate 221 extends from the inner wall of the recessed
space 26. One guidepost or multiple guideposts plate 222 is
disposed on the retaining plate 221, and a longitudinal plate 223
is disposed in the middle of the retaining plate 221.
[0017] As illustrated in FIG. 3, the elevation deck 3 related to a
deck with its cross section indicating an L shape is adapted to the
recessed space 26 of the dust receiver 2. The replaceable water
curette 31 is inserted to the front of the elevation deck 3. A
spiral post 32 is provided at the center of the elevation deck 3
and a retaining plate 33 extends from the wall at the rear end of
the elevation deck 3. One guide hole or multiple guide holes 331 is
provided on the retaining plate 33 and a slot 332 is longitudinally
provided in the middle of the retaining plate 33. Both of the guide
hole 331 and the longitudinal slot 332 are merely located at where
corresponding to the guidepost 222 and the longitudinal plate 223
that penetrate through the recessed space 26 to help guide the
elevation deck 3 to achieve smooth ascending or descending.
[0018] The lid 4 incorporated by insertion to where above the
recessed space 26 of the nozzle 21 has at its end surface provided
with an opening 41.
[0019] The knob 5 provided in the opening 41 of the lid 4 has its
upper end disposed with a rotation plate 51 and its lower end an
inner spiral tube 52. The inner spiral tube 52 screwed to the
spiral post 32 of the elevation deck 3 is provided with a threaded
inner tube, and one or multiple inverse insertion plate 521 is
provided by punching on the external wall of the inner spiral tube
52. Both of the inverse insertion plate 521 and the wall of the
opening 41 lock the knob 5 in position by holding against the when
the knob 5 is inserted into the opening 41 of the lid 4 as
illustrated in FIG. 4 without the risk of falling off. The knob 5
when incorporated to the spiral post 32 of the elevation deck 3 can
only be turned without being moved. When the knob 5 is turned, it
drives the elevation deck 3 to either ascend or descend.
[0020] By turning the knob 5 clockwise or counter-clockwise, the
elevation deck 3 produce the displacement of ascending or
descending. Once the elevation deck 3 ascends to its upper limit as
illustrated in FIG. 5, the nozzle 21 is given its maximal openness
to permit the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in dry mode. On the
contrary, when the elevation deck 3 descends to its lower limit as
illustrated in FIG. 6, the nozzle 21 is given its minimum openness
thus to fully expose the water curette 31 for the hand vacuum
cleaner to operate in wet mode. With the minimum openness, the hand
vacuum cleaner is at its highest vacuuming velocity to fast remove
water stains, liquid or mixture of liquid and solid into the
enclosed space 25 in the dust receiver 2 in the route as indicated
by the arrow illustrated in FIG. 7.
[0021] With the inner spiral tube 52 screwed to the spiral post 32
of the elevation deck 3 to the full extent of lock up for the
elevation deck 3 to ascend to its upper limit. When the knob 5 is
turned counter-clockwise to its extreme, the retaining plate 33 of
the elevation deck 3 and the retaining plate 221 in the recessed
space 26 are in the status of full retaining.
[0022] The peripheral wall of the recessed space 26 in the nozzle
21 is provided with one or multiple locking slots 261, and one or
multiple locking plates 42 is provided at where in relation to the
peripheral wall of the lid 4. The locking plate 42 and the locking
slot 261 are interlocked to each other in position for the lid 4 to
be firmly secured at where above the recessed space 26 of the
nozzle 21.
[0023] Now referring to FIG. 5, the water curette 31 provided at
the front of the elevation deck 3 is completely hidden to the inner
wall of the nozzle 21 when the elevation deck 3 ascends to its
upper limit to allow the maximal openness for the nozzle 21 for the
hand vacuum cleaner to operate in dry mode.
[0024] Additional to the inverse insertion plate 521 provided by
punching on the wall of the inner spiral tube 52 of the knob 5, two
or more than two slots 522 are provided at the opening of the inner
spiral tube 52 to permit proper flexibility to the opening of the
inner spiral tube 52 for fast insertion into the spiral post 32
incorporated to the elevation deck 3.
[0025] It is to be noted that the preferred embodiment disclosed
above is not used to restrict the teaching of the present
invention. Any other equivalent replacement and/or substitution art
shall be deemed as falling within the scope of the specification of
the present invention. For example, if and when required, the lid 4
may be integrated to the above of the nozzle; or the water curette
31 may be adapted to the elevation deck 3 by locking or any other
equivalent means.
[0026] The present invention by simply turning a knob achieves the
easy switching between the dry and wet operation modes for the hand
vacuum cleaner without any external attachments allows easy use and
discloses an innovative and justified structure. Therefore, this
application for a utility patent is duly filed accordingly.
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