U.S. patent number 3,863,285 [Application Number 05/376,700] was granted by the patent office on 1975-02-04 for carpet sweeper.
Invention is credited to Hiroshi Hukuba.
United States Patent |
3,863,285 |
Hukuba |
February 4, 1975 |
CARPET SWEEPER
Abstract
A carpet sweeper with provision of: a rotating brush supported
transversely within the lower portion of a housing to sweep up the
dust on the floor when said housing moving there along; a pair of
cleaning combs attached to said housing in parallel with the axis
of said rotating brush, in such a manner that each of them is
disposed above but just behind the rotating brush when said
rotating brush moves forward along the floor surface, so that the
teeth of the cleaning comb can penetrate themselves deeply into the
rotating brush to take away therefrom the dust adhered thereto; and
a dust receiver positioned just behind said cleaning comb so as to
receive the dust cleared off from the rotating brush by the
cleaning comb, said cleaning comb being provided between the teeth
thereof with an interval several times as wide as the width of a
single tooth and on the bottom edge of each interval with a small
projection, whereby the tip of said small projection rubs the
peripheral surface of the rotating brush and the bottom edge of
said interval is barely brought into contact with the same when the
tip of each tooth goes deep into the rotating brush.
Inventors: |
Hukuba; Hiroshi
(Nagareyama-shi, Chiba-ken, JA) |
Family
ID: |
23486096 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/376,700 |
Filed: |
July 5, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/48 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47L
11/40 (20130101); A47L 11/4013 (20130101); A47L
11/4041 (20130101); A47L 11/33 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47L
11/00 (20060101); A47L 11/33 (20060101); A47l
011/33 () |
Field of
Search: |
;15/41 R-48/ |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Roberts; Edward L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Woodhams, Blanchard and Flynn
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A carpet sweeper, comprising in combination: a rotating brush
supported transversely within the lower portion of a housing to
sweep up the dust on the floor during movement of said housing
along the floor surface; a cleaning comb attached to said housing
in parallel with the axis of said rotating brush in such a manner
that it is positioned above and behind the rotating brush relative
to the direction of movement along the floor, the comb having
elongated teeth and being positioned so that the teeth penetrate
deeply into the rotating brush to rake therefrom the dust clinging
thereto; and a dust receiver disposed just behind said cleaning
comb for reception of the dust raked away from the rotating brush
by said cleaning comb; the improvement wherein said cleaning comb
has a substantially flat base plate with a plurality of said
elongated teeth projecting outwardly from one edge thereof, the
adjacent teeth being spaced apart by a space having a width several
times greater than the width of a single tooth, a plurality of
small triangular-shaped projections projecting outwardly from said
one edge of said base plate, said projections being spaced between
said teeth and projecting into said spaces, said projections having
a length which is extremely small in comparison to the length of
said teeth, and said projection having a width at the base end
thereof which is substantially less than the width of said space so
that there remains a substantially straight base edge of
substantial length extending between the base end of the projection
and the base end of an adjacent tooth, said comb being positioned
adjacent said brush so that the teeth penetrate deeply into said
brush while the tips of the projections slide along the periphery
of the brush and the base edge of each space barely comes into
contact with the periphery of the brush.
2. A carpet sweeper according to claim 1, wherein a pair of said
cleaning combs are disposed on opposite sides of the rotating brush
and just above the brush in order that the teeth of the cleaning
comb located just behind the rotating brush during forward movement
thereof can penetrate deeply into the brush while the other comb
located on the opposite side of the brush stays in such a position
as to prevent the teeth thereof from deeply penetrating into the
brush, and means movably mounting said pair of combs relative to
said housing for permitting said pair of combs to be synchronously
shifted laterally relative to said brush so that shifting of the
combs in one direction causes the teeth of one comb to deeply
penetrate the brush while the teeth of the other comb are withdrawn
from the brush, said combs when shifted into a second position
having the teeth of the other comb deeply penetrating the brush
while the teeth of said one comb are withdrawn from said brush.
3. A carpet sweeper according to claim 1, wherein the comb has only
a single projection located between each pair of adjacent teeth.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
a. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carpet sweeper and more
particularly to a carpet sweeper provided with a rotating brush
adapted to rotate, in liason with the rotation of the rollers
supporting a housing, so as to sweep away the dust on the
floor.
B. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional carpet sweeper of this type is disclosed in U.S.
Pat. No. 3,628,211.
The carpet sweeper of above-mentioned type is usually provided with
a comb having a plurality of teeth which can penetrate their tip
ends deeply into the rotating brush to take away therefrom the
light and soft dust, for instance, such as fallen hair of the
carpet, etc.
In FIGS. 1A and 1B, there is shown a portion of a comb 37 included
by a conventional carpet sweeper as above-mentioned. The comb 37 is
provided with a plurality of teeth 52 spaced at regular intervals
l' which are substantially equal to the width l of a single tooth
thereof, and these teeth 52 can be penetrated deeply into the
rotating brush 4 as to the full length thereof from the tip to the
bottom edge 58. Therefore, these teeth serve, to some extent, to
arrest the rotation of the rotating brush by effecting a large
resistance thereagainst, since the intervals l' defined between
adjacent teeth are comparatively narrow, being almost equal to the
width of a single tooth as afore-described. As the result, it
becomes impossible for the carpet sweeper to move lightly and
easily for operation thereof.
In addition to the above, the practical use thereof has proved that
it has a very poor capability in removing the dust from the
floor.
To eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantage resulting from the
large resistance of the cleaning comb against the rotating brush,
the interval l' between the teeth was broadened, whereby the
resistance was decreased as expected, but the capability of
cleaning was badly decreased even more.
In order to eliminate the foregoing disadvantages, the inventor of
the present invention contrived a comb 47 having the teeth as shown
in FIGS. 2A and 2B and carried out a series of investigations with
regard to effectiveness therefrom.
As apparent from the appended drawing, this improved comb 47 was
provided on the base plate thereof with a plurality of long teeth
spaced at the intervals l" that are several times as broad as the
width of a single tooth and at the center of the bottom edge 68
with a tooth 66 shorter than the aforesaid long tooth 62.
It was found out, however, that, even from such an improved comb,
there still resulted the same disadvantage as from the comb
illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, when it was set in such a manner
that both teeth 62 and 66, long ones and short ones, could
penetrate so deeply into the rotating brush. Accordingly, to avoid
such a disadvantage, the improved comb was re-set, as seen in FIGS.
2A and 2B, in such a manner that the tip ends of the short teeth 66
were only to touch and rub the peripheral surface of the rotating
brush 4.
As the result, the resistance between the comb 47 and the rotating
brush 4 was so much decreased that the carpet sweeper could perform
very easy movement over the carpet. Nevertheless, such a re-setting
of the comb resulted in a vacant space 69 defined between the
peripheral surface of the rotating brush 4 and the bottom edges 68
of the intervals between the teeth 62 and 66, said vacant space 69
having a length almost equal to that of the short tooth and the
width just equal to that of the interval.
Therefore, there resulted another disadvantage that the dust was
caused to fall off through the vacant spaces 69.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a carpet sweeper
which is free from such disadvantages as inherent to the
conventional one and having excellent capability of taking away the
dust very effectively from the rotating brush and of moving itself
very easily and lightly without any resistance in the rotation of
the rotating brush.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a carpet
sweeper to be operated with easy movement of the housing due to the
minimized resistance between the rotating brush and the cleaning
comb, resulting from defining each interval between the teeth as
several times as broad as the width of each tooth, even when the
tip of each tooth goes so deeply into the rotating brush.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a carpet
sweeper comprising: a cleaning comb provided with a small
projection at the middle of the bottom edge of each interval
defined between the teeth, which interval has a width several times
as broad as that of a single tooth, so that said small projections
can clear away the dust adhering around the peripheral surface of
the rotating brush so as to complete cleaning of the entire portion
of the brush, while said teeth taking away the dust penetrate into
the brush by inserting themselves therein so deeply that said
bottom edge just contacts the peripheral surface of the brush; and
dust receiver adapted to receive all the dust cleared off from the
entire portions of the rotating brush.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an example of the cleaning comb
attached to a conventional carpet sweeper.
FIG. 1B is a front view of the cleaning comb shown in FIG. 1A.
FIG. 2A is a perspective view of another example of the cleaning
comb attached to another conventional carpet sweeper.
FIG. 2B is a front view of the cleaning comb shown in FIG. 2A.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a carpet sweeper according to the
present invention.
FIG. 4 is a partially cut-away perspective view of the carpet
sweeper shown in FIG. 3 having a portion of the housing cover cut
away to illustrate the inner side thereof.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a preferred
embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, taken along a
line passing longitudinally through the center portion of the
housing thereof.
FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a portion of the cleaning comb
attached to the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown
in FIGS. 3 to 5.
FIG. 6B is a front view of the cleaning comb shown in FIG. 6A.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the hindering member.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In FIGS. 3 to 5, the reference numeral 1 denotes a housing having a
gentle rise defined lengthwisely along the central line of the
upper portion of the housing so that it has an arc-shaped
cross-section.
In the front and rear end portion of the housing 1, there is
defined a pendent edge 2 respectively extending downwardly, while,
on both side portions thereof, there is provided respectively a
side plate 3 also extending downwardly. And a side wall 17 is
disposed in parallel therewith and with a predetermined space
therebetween.
A rotating brush 4 is located in the central portion of the inner
side of the housing 1 in such a manner that the axis 8 of the
rotating brush 4 is disposed at a right angle to the direction in
which it moves. The axis 8 thereof is rotatably supported
transversely between the side plates 3 of the housing and is
provided in both end portions thereof with a roller 9, which is
fixedly secured thereto, and is properly pressed on both sides by
the drive wheels 10 rotatably supported inside of the housing
1.
A dust receiver 5 is provided close to the front and rear side of
the rotating brush 4 respectively. The side plates 13 and a bottom
plate 12, which is provided with plural detents 11, cooperate to
form said dust receiver 5. Said dust receiver is pivotably
supported by both side walls 17 at a point on each side plate 13
adjacent to the rotating brush 4, through the intermediate of pins
14.
On the side plate of each dust receiver that faces toward the
rotating brush, there is defined a spring receiver 15 in the lower
portion of each side end thereof, so that a pair of springs 16 are
adapted to engage with each spring receiver respectively with their
leg portions.
Thereby, the pushing force of said spring 16 keeps the free end
portion of each dust receiver 5 always in contact with the packing
18 attached to the pendent edge 2 of the housing 1.
The reference numeral 6 denotes a hindering member which is
provided, as seen in FIG. 7, with plural projections 19 formed with
a wire member bent into a series of V-shapes at appropriate
intervals and both end portions thereof are further bent so as to
make a right angle to themselves for formation of the engaging
portions 20.
Said hindering member 6 is disposed over the dust receiver 5 in
parallel with the rotating brush in such a fashion that the plural
projections 19 are opposed to the dents 11 of the bottom plate 12
of the dust receiver 5 and are slanted in such a manner that the
tips of the projections are kept apart from the rotating brush 4.
Further, the engaging portions 20 thereof are fitted into a groove
21 defined on each side wall 17 of the housing for fixation of the
hindering member thereto.
The reference numeral 7 denotes a flat cleaning comb to be used for
cleaning the rotating brush. The central portion of a suspension
yoke 24 is oscillatably suspended by a shaft 23 supported
transversely over the rotating brush 4 between both side walls 17
of the housing 1. Said cleaning comb 7 is attached to the lower end
of each leg 25 of the suspension yoke 24, in order that the tips of
the teeth of the cleaning comb oppose those of the other comb on
the opposite side, besides being kept slanted rather upwardly.
In reference to FIG. 5, when the rotating brush rotates
counterclockwisely, as shown by an arrow, owing to the rightward
movement of the entire carpet sweeper, the comb positioned on the
forward side of the rotating brush, namely, on the rightward side
of the rotating brush, as seen in FIG. 5, is caused to jump up by
the peripheral surface of the rotating brush 4, and in the meantime
the suspension yoke 24 oscillates counterclockwisely about the
shaft 23, whereby the teeth 22 of the comb 7 positioned just behind
the rotating brush 4 moving forward penetrate thereinto as shown by
a solid line in FIG. 5.
When the carpet sweeper moves in the reverse direction, the teeth
of the comb located on the opposite side penetrate into the
rotating brush as shown by a broken line.
As seen in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the teeth 22 of said comb 7 are aligned
on the base plate 27 with an interval L therebetween, which
interval is several times as broad as the width l of a single
tooth, and, in the middle of the flat bottom edge 28 of each
interval there is provided a small triangular projection 26.
When the teeth 22 penetrate deeply into the rotating brush 4, said
small projections 26 rub the peripheral surface of the rotating
brush with their tips, while the bottom edge 28 barely comes into
contact with the same.
In the drawings, the reference numeral 30 denotes a handle which is
turnably connected with the shaft 23 in the lower portion thereof
within a groove 29 defined in parallel with the moving direction of
the carpet sweeper along the central line on the upper surface of
the housing 1. The foremost lower end of the handle is positioned
against a plate spring 31 disposed on the bottom of said groove
29.
OPERATION
For practical operation of the above-described carpet sweeper,
firstly the handle 30 is pushed so as to move the housing 1 in the
direction, along which the groove 29 is defined on the upper
surface of the housing 1. Thereby the drive wheels 10 roll over the
floor and simultaneously cause the roller 9 to rotate by pressing
it therebetween. Then the rotation of the rollers 9 effect
simultaneous rotation of the rotating brush 4, which is co-axially
connected fixedly with the rollers 9, whereby the rotating brush
sweeps up the dust on the floor as it moves along the floor
surface.
FIG. 5 illustrate a carpet sweeper moving in the direction
indicated by an arrow, that is, moving rightwardly. In this
occasion, the teeth of the cleaning comb 7 positioned just behind
the moving rotating brush 4 penetrate deeply into the rotating
brush.
That is, the teeth 22 of the cleaning comb 7 enter so deeply into
the rotating brush that each small projection 26 on the bottom edge
28 of the interval rubs the peripheral surface of the rotating
brush, while the bottom edge 28 of each interval comes barely into
contact with the same. By this means, each tooth 22 takes away the
dust entered so deeply into the rotating brush and each small
projection 26 concurrently clears away the dust adhering to the
peripheral surface of the rotating brush 4.
The dust cleared away from the rotating brush, as abovementioned,
gets gradually rolled up into a ball-like shape so as to be dropped
into the dust receiver 5. And then, within the dust receiver, the
dust is pushed farther and farther backwardly by passing through
the hindering member 6. The thus pushed-in dust gets clings
together, while the hindering member 6 cooperates with the plural
dents 11 to prevent the clung dust from moving in the reverse
direction.
When the dust receiver gets filled up with dust, it is swung open
around the pins 14 in opposition to the pressing force of the
spring 16, so as to discharge the dust thereform.
Although particular preferred embodiments of the invention have
been disclosed hereinabove for purposes of illustration of the
present invention, it will be understood that variations or
modifications thereof which lie within the scope of the present
invention as defined by the appended claims are fully
contemplated.
For example, a cleaning comb may be fixedly secured to the housing
in the proper position, without being oscillatably attached
thereto.
* * * * *