Shag Rug Vacuum Head

Abstract

A head for a vacuum shag rug cleaner in which a comb or brush is mounted in the head on a transverse pivot to swing the comb or brush from a position upright and projecting from the bottom of the head to be effective in combing, to a position with the comb or brush swung to one side with the teeth nearly encompassed in the head. As the vacuum head is moved across a shag rug the teeth will comb the shag rug in one direction and will slide thereover when moved in the opposite direction on the return stroke so that all of the combing is in a single direction to give the surface of the rug a uniform appearance. The comb or brush is spring biased to its upright position and is moved to its non-effective position by action of movement of the comb across the rug in a direction to compress the springs therein.

Parent Case Text

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuance-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 94235, filed Dec. 1, 1970, entitled "Shag Rug Vacuum" (now abandoned).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to vacuum cleaning heads for shag rug cleaning.

2. Summary of the Invention

A cleaning head is provided with a connection for connecting to the vacuum conduit of a vacuum cleaner. The cleaning head has a transverse hood within which is releasably secured a comb or brush spring biased to an upright central position with the brush or comb extending below the open bottom face of the hood. The comb or brush is spring biased to its upright position and can swing to the rear of the hood to an ineffective position with the teeth nearly completely contained within the hood. The comb or brush is effective in combing the nap of a shag rug in one direction of the pass of the head thereover with no combing taking place on the return pass as the comb or brush swings to one side in the return pass.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a vacuum head which will comb a shag rug uniformly in one direction while the head is passed over the shag rug in two directions.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following specification when considered in the light of the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the comb removed from the head; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a brush used with the invention shown removed from the head.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, the reference numeral 10 indicates generally a shag rug vacuum cleaning head constructed in accordance with the invention.

The vacuum cleaning head 10 includes a tubular conduit 11 adapted to be secured to a vacuum cleaning hose extending from any conventional vacuum cleaner. The tubular conduit 11 is rigidly secured centrally of a transversely extending elongate hood 13. The hood 13 has opposite end walls 14, 15 connected at opposite ends of a continuous arcuate wall 16 as can be best seen in FIG. 4. The arcuate wall 16 and the end walls 14, 15 are arranged so as to be opened at 17 completely across the bottom portion thereof.

A generally U-shaped bracket 18 is mounted in each end of the hood 13 on the end walls 14, 15 respectively by a pivot 19 extending therethrough. A stop 20 is rigidly secured to each of the end walls 14, 15 in a position to engage the brackets 18 to prevent them from swinging about their pivots 19 toward the front of the head 10 beyond a position of upright relation midway of the opposite front and rear sides of the hood 13.

A removable stop 21 is threaded into the end wall 14 when desired to lock the brackets 18 in upright position if such be desired.

In FIG. 6 a rigid comb 22 is illustrated and is formed of an elongate flat piece of material having a plurality of sharpened comb teeth 23 formed along the lower edge thereof. A boss 24 extends upwardly from each end of the comb 22 on the upper side thereof opposite the teeth 23. A spring member 25 is secured to each of the bosses 24 by a securing pin 26 as can be seen in FIG. 6. A leaf spring 27 is secured to the comb 22 by a securing element 28 and is positioned intermediate the opposite ends of the comb 22. The comb 22 is adapted to be inserted in the channel brackets 18 at opposite ends of the hood 13 with the springs 25 being compressed slightly as the comb 22 is inserted in the channels 18 so as to provide frictional securement of the comb 22 in the channel brackets 18. The leaf spring 27 is adapted to engage against the rear portion of the continuous wall 16 to urge the comb 22 and the brackets 18 into an upright position with the brackets 18 against the stops 20. With the stop 21 removed the comb 22 can by compressing the leaf spring 27 swing to the rear position shown in broken lines in FIG. 4 to retract the teeth 23 inwardly of the hood 13.

A brush 32 is illustrated in FIG. 7 as a replacement for the comb 22 under certain conditions. The brush 32 is similarly formed of an elongate flat piece of material and has a brush 33 secured to its lower edge by spring securing elements S. Bosses 34 extend upwardly on opposite ends of the brush 32 and have spring elements 35 secured thereto by securing elements 36. A leaf spring (not shown) identical to the leaf spring 27 used with the comb 22 is provided for the brush 32 to permit its use in the same manner as the comb 22.

In the use and operation of the invention the head 10 is moved across a rug with either the comb 22 or brush 32 attached thereto and with the stop 21 disconnected. The head 10 is moved in a line parallel to the axis of the conduit 11 and perpendicular to the transverse hood 13. As the head 10 is pushed forwardly the comb 22 or brush 32 swings rearwardly so that no combing or brushing action occurs then as the head 10 is pulled rearwardly the spring 27 pushes the comb 22 or brush 32 into an upright position so that the rug is combed on the return trip. Since combing only takes place in one direction while the head is moved in two directions it can be seen that all of the combing effect on the shag rug will be in the same direction so as to uniformly comb the rug while moving the head back and forth across the rug.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A shag rug vacuum cleaning head comprising an elongate housing having an open bottom, spaced parallel end walls secured in opposite ends of said housing, a channel bracket pivotally mounted to each of said end walls within said housing, an elongate substantially flat rug treating member engageable in said channel brackets at opposite ends of said member, means on opposite ends of said member for detachably securing said member in said channel brackets, said member being adapted for swinging movement with said brackets in said hood, stop means in said hood for limiting the swinging movement of said brackets in one direction to an upright position of said member within said hood, a resilient leaf spring secured to said member and engaging said housing for normally urging said member and said brackets into stop means engaging position of said brackets while permitting said member to swing away from said stop means on movement of said hood in one direction and disengageable means on one of said end walls to engage the side of said bracket opposite said stop means to prevent the movement of said bracket in a direction opposite to said stop means.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for securing said member in said bracket includes spring members secured to opposite ends of said member and engaging in said brackets to resiliently secure said member in said brackets.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rug treating member includes a plurality of rigid teeth secured thereto in depending relation along the lower edge thereof.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rug treating member comprises a brush having bristles detachably secured to the lower edge thereof.