DE29803415U1 - Floor nozzle for vacuum cleaners - Google Patents

Description

Gerhard Kurz, Industriestrasse, 75382 Althengstett Floor nozzle for vacuum cleaner State of the art

The invention relates to a floor nozzle for vacuum cleaners according to the preamble of claim 1.

In a known floor nozzle of this type (European patent no. 0 552 652), which goes back to the same applicant, there is a middle intermediate strip between two suction channels extending transversely to the direction of movement, which is designed as a rigid and - compared to the rounded sliding edges of the front and rear cleaning edges - at the same time narrow-lipped plough bar. The sliding edges formed by the base plate of the floor nozzle housing frame the two suction channels in the base plate from the outside and are set back from the middle plough bar, so that the latter has a kind of digging effect in the pile fabric to be cleaned, pushing this pile fabric into the front or rear depending on the direction of movement of the floor nozzle.

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opens the rear suction channel, which ensures a particularly good deep cleaning effect on a pile carpet.

Furthermore, the middle plough bar, which is directed downwards towards the pile fabric to be cleaned, can have a toothed or comb-like shape. The suction channels formed or framed by the front and rear cleaning edges and the middle rigid plough bar flow in the middle area of the floor nozzle via respective partial suction holes and finally inwards into a common suction hole.

In other known floor nozzles (EP-A-O 125 994 or EP-A-O 382 598 and EP-A-O 248 695), all of which belong to a common family, a special swivel bearing is arranged in the suction area of the floor nozzle, which comprises a separate housing part, the bottom surface of which has indentations to form diagonally running suction channels, whereby a front wide cleaning edge, a rear cleaning edge that is also very wide and a middle rib can be seen. Two suction channels that run transversely to the sliding direction therefore open downwards on the floor or carpet pile to be cleaned, which are supplemented by transverse brush strips arranged in front of the front and behind the rear cleaning edge. The intermediate rib, which is clearly rounded at the bottom, only serves as a separating function between the two partial suction channels formed by this and protrudes less than the two partial suction channels at the front and

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rear cleaning edges of the nozzle housing.

It is not possible for the intermediate rib to act independently on a pile-containing floor fabric, as it cannot reach it due to its retracted position.

It is also known to arrange a rubber lip made of soft, flexible material in the rear area of a floor nozzle (EP-A-O 382 598), which takes on the function of a scraper and runs bent far back or forward depending on the direction of movement of the floor nozzle. This scraper rubber lip has a toothing on its lower edge, which, however, due to the strong swiveling effect that the rubber lip is capable of during the movement - the drawings shown show the lips bent almost horizontally in their end area - obviously has no major processing influence on a pile-containing floor fabric with its comb structure.

It is also known to arrange elastic and soft rubber lips of a small thickness in front of and behind a single suction channel, which also perform a scraper function and, following the pushing movement, cling flat to the fabric to be cleaned and follow the movement. This significantly increases the pushing force that has to be applied.

For all previously known floor nozzles, with the exception of the floor nozzle mentioned first,

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EP 0 552 652, the problem arises that they merely glide over the pile to be cleaned and are not able to effectively open the pile for incoming air currents and thus achieve a real deep cleaning.

The invention is therefore based on the object of fundamentally improving this known floor nozzle while retaining the plough rib principle known from European Patent 0 552 652 and of achieving a highly effective cleaning effect on pile floors with particularly deep air penetration.

Advantages of the invention

The invention achieves this goal with the features of claim 1, advantageously supplemented by features of subclaims, and has the advantage that the floor nozzle can effectively open the pile carpet and does not just slide over it, whereby otherwise only a superficial cleaning effect is possible by vacuuming dirt particles lying on the pile fabric or adjacent to the surface.

The opening of the pile fabric is accompanied by the introduction of effective air currents, which come from several directions and are able to loosen and transport away dirt, dust, but also mites and their deposits even from deeper areas of the pile fabric.

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This results in an effective synergistic interaction of all three plow ribs in connection with the two suction channels separated by the middle plow rib and also due to the fact that the two outer plow ribs have air currents that are essentially parallel to the respective pushing direction and therefore through the outer plow ribs, which are preferably provided with a comb structure or teeth, while in the area of the middle plow rib, air currents prevail in the transverse direction of the floor nozzle, which enter through open side openings. Both air currents together have an effective dissolving effect on dirt particles in the open pile fabric, so that, as comparative measurements have shown, a significantly higher, almost surprisingly high cleaning effect is achieved compared to conventional suction nozzles.

Since the basic mechanisms of action of a so-called plough bridge as a raised cleaning rib, as in the European patent
0 552 652, in which it has already been discussed in detail, further explanations are unnecessary and in this context reference is made to the European patent mentioned.

Preferred embodiments of the invention consist in that, in order to facilitate the pushing force to be applied, the two outer plough webs can be pivoted in the nozzle housing by predetermined angles, so that, following the respective pushing direction, a folding over and thus a

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easier movement of the nozzle overall is possible even over deep-pile material to be cleaned.

A further advantageous embodiment consists in that at least the two outer plough webs, which, like the middle plough web, are rigid in themselves and therefore not bendable, have a comb structure or toothing on the edge with which they come into contact with the pile fabric of a carpet to be cleaned, which enables improved penetration and opening of the pile fabric while at the same time facilitating the flow of sucked-in air masses from the front and back through the same pile fabric areas, which, after they have been opened by the two outer plough webs depending on the direction of movement, are also flowed through by the cross air flows of the two suction channels while still open and are thereby cleaned.

Another advantage is the low design of the floor nozzle, whereby it is also possible to arrange an optical dust detector, preferably in the common suction channel area or in the area of the suction nozzle, which consists of a light transmitter and a light receiver and is designed in such a way that, in conjunction with an evaluation circuit, it detects the current dust throughput and also displays it, for example, by means of corresponding indicator lights that can be seen from the outside by the user of the vacuum cleaner.

Further advantageous embodiments and features of the invention are the subject of the subclaims and are set out therein.

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drawing

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing and are explained in more detail in the following description. They show:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the base plate of the floor nozzle, i.e. a view of an embodiment of the floor nozzle from below, with the front and rear plough bars removed so that only their receiving channels are visible;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the floor nozzle along the section line II-II of Fig. 1, with the swivel structure of the swivel connector connected to the floor nozzle clearly visible;

Fig. 3 is a section along the line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side view of a separately shown plough web in a preferred embodiment with pivot pins on both sides;

Fig> 5 the plough web of Fig. 4 in side view in enlarged representation and

Fig. 6 shows a preferred detail of a tooth or comb structure on the plough web, while the

Fig. 7 shows a section along the line VII-VII of Fig. 1, i.e. in the first half a partial representation of a plough web receiving channel and in the second half a partial representation of the remote suction channel separated by the central plough rib.

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Description of the embodiments

A basic idea of the invention is to effectively open the pile fabric to be cleaned by at least one leading plough bar in every sliding direction, i.e. when the floor nozzle is moved forwards or backwards by the user, so that the entire dirt-cleaning suction effect exerted by both suction channels can take effect.

The particularly deep cleaning effect, i.e. the deep air penetration, can be explained by the fact that during the pushing movement of the leading plow rib, the pile fabric that is still open, or at least set in motion, is subjected to a further opening or holding effect by the middle plow web after passing the first, adjacent suction channel, whereupon, again viewed in the pushing direction, the second, then trailing suction channel follows. Effective air currents flow into both suction channels in the transverse and longitudinal directions, which also flow through the opened pile and effectively remove dirt particles.

The floor nozzle IC shown in Figures 1 and 2 from below and from the side, which can either be connected to a hose connection to a vacuum cleaner or can also be a vacuum cleaner mouthpiece on a hand-held vacuum cleaner, essentially comprises a flat rectangular housing 11 (see Fig. 2), which is centered in a central bulge forming an inner suction channel 12.

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13, which has a swivel bearing towards the rear, i.e. towards the user or the suction hose connection

14 for a suction nozzle 15, which forms a preferably round attachment mouthpiece 16 with a suitable diameter, to which the hose end of a vacuum cleaner can usually be connected, for example by snapping it in or using another suitable fastening. The swivel nozzle is designed in a conventional manner and has a metal swivel axis at 17, which simultaneously serves to support two support or running wheels 18a, 18b on the outside. The common suction channel 12 opens in the direction of the mouthpiece, i.e. the base plate 19 of the floor nozzle 10, into two short partial suction channels 20a, 20b, which each merge in the base plate 19 into a front and a rear suction cross channel 21a, 21b, which are separated by a central, fixed and inherently rigid plough web 22 (Fig. 2).

Here and in the following, the term "front" or "front" refers to an area facing away from or located far away from the suction nozzle or the operator, while "back" or "rear" refers to arrangements and elements that are adjacent to the suction nozzle or closer to the operator. This information can also be used to refer to a sliding movement directed forwards, i.e. away from the operator, in accordance with the running direction A of the floor nozzle shown in Fig. 2.

Therefore, if one starts from the representation in Fig. 2, one can see that they are in front of and behind the two suction

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transverse channels 21a, 21b each further comprises a further plough web, namely a front plough web 23a and a rear plough web 23b.

The entire structure in the mouthpiece area or in the base plate 19 of the floor nozzle is therefore designed in such a way that the two suction cross channels 21a, 21b are framed on their longer transverse sides by a front plough web 23a and a rear plough web 23b, respectively, while they are separated in the middle by the middle plough web 22. Furthermore, there are also sliding cross edges or sliding cross surfaces in front of and behind the two outer plough webs 23a, 23b, namely a front sliding cross edge 24 and a rear sliding cross edge 25. In conventional floor nozzles, these sliding edges are sometimes also referred to as cleaning edges; the sliding cross edges 24, 25 have essentially lost such an effect in the described embodiment; They form front and rear borders for the storage or holding of the plough webs 23a, 23b and are clearly set back from their outer, downward-facing end area, so that the plough webs 23a, 23b, but also the middle plough web 22, are enabled to come into an active connection with the pile fabric without being hindered from doing so by a sliding and lifting effect of the front and rear sliding transverse edges that would otherwise maintain the distance.

If desired, the middle plough web 22 can also centrally support a cleaning pad or a thread take-up device 26, which can be designed in the usual way and of which only the trough-shaped,

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a downwardly open receiving area for a correspondingly effective piece of material is shown.

Compared to the front and rear sliding cross edges, the middle plough web 22 also projects slightly, which is not clearly visible in the illustration in Fig. 2, since this sectional illustration divides the thread take-up area in the middle. However, it is also possible, although not preferred, to have the middle plough web flush with the height of the front and rear sliding cross edges.

Only at the lateral edge areas, where the front and rear sliding transverse edges 24, 25 form longitudinally extending, mutually directed lateral end wall areas 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b (Fig. 1), do these end wall areas 24a, 24b; 25a, 25b approach the height of the outer plough webs, but do not quite reach them, which is irrelevant since these end wall areas are relatively narrow and cannot prevent the plough webs from digging into the pile due to the spacing. It is of course equally possible to hold these end wall areas in a similarly recessed height position, whereby the front end wall areas 25a, 25b, which enclose the front suction cross channel 25 between them, can accommodate smaller front sliding or guide wheels 27a, 27b in cutouts.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is that the front and rear plough webs also allow automatic adjustment to a

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The respective pile material to be cleaned can then be realized, whereby at the same time a noticeable reduction in the required pushing force can be achieved if they are mounted so that they can be pivoted forwards or backwards by a specified angle depending on the pushing direction.

In this advantageous embodiment (Fig. 2), the housing of the floor nozzle forms bearing recesses extending outwardly adjacent to the two inner suction transverse channels 21a, 21b in the transverse direction to the floor nozzle, namely a front bearing recess 28 for the front plough web 23a and a rear bearing recess 29 for receiving the rear plough web 23b.

The design of the plough webs can then be as shown in Fig. 4 in plan view; each plough web 23a, 23b has a flat rectangular shape with a predetermined thickness that ensures appropriate bending stiffness, as shown in the cross-sectional view in Fig. 5, whereby bearing rounds 32 to be inserted or snapped into receiving rounds 30, 31 (Fig. 2) can be formed in any shape on the plough web, including two end bearing pins, so that the secure reception and pivotability of each bearing pin in its bearing recess 28, 29 is ensured.

Preferably, the plough webs have a basically arbitrary toothing or comb structure 33 directed downwards, i.e. towards the pile fabric to be cleaned, wherein preferably in the plan view such teeth are formed as shown in Fig. 6.

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The teeth of Fig. 6 initially project forward in a straight line from the base and then form a tapered tip 34, whereby sufficient space remains between the teeth through which air can flow, sucked in by the vacuum created. At the same time, the tips reliably open the pile fabric.

In a further embodiment, the pivotability of the plow webs 23a, 23b in their bearing recesses is determined by stops on both sides, which can be formed by the bearing recesses themselves, so that the plow bars can pivot forwards and backwards by 15° each, starting from a middle position, depending on the sliding direction. It goes without saying that these and the following figures are only to be understood as examples and do not limit the invention.

Furthermore, since the teeth in the tapered tip area, as can best be seen from the illustration in Fig. 5, also taper by 15° on each side (see Fig. 5), the resulting pile fabric when the floor nozzle is pushed in one direction or the other results in a total oblique angle of the acting plough web area of approximately 30° in the preferred embodiment, so that at the same time as a desired and effective opening work, the floor nozzle can be easily moved in the sliding direction. This is because at the respective turning points the plough bars, which are then swung in the wrong direction, so to speak, get caught in the pile, in any case

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against the new direction of movement and are quickly tipped over into their opposite swivel position by this relative braking effect, which only occurs in the first moment - this process is repeated at every turning point.

It has already been mentioned above that air currents act on the pile fabric opened by the plough bars in the transverse and longitudinal direction; according to Fig. 1, longitudinal air currents B, B' pass over and under and through the respective teeth of the plough bars into the suction area of the suction cross channels 21a, 21b, while at the same time further air quantities flow into these suction cross channels from both sides that are preferably left open, according to arrows C and C, so that in the area of the suction cross channels and on both sides of the middle plough bar 22, where thread movements take place in the pile due to the opening and digging movement of the plough bars on the pile, cleaning air currents also act from all sides, which, as can be easily seen, have a profound cleaning effect on the pile fabric from all sides, also by swirling it, so that the surprisingly high cleaning effect becomes recognizable and understandable.

The sectional view in Fig. 3 shows that the middle plough rib 22 is approximately flush with the end wall areas, which means that the middle plough rib, as the view in Fig. 2 clearly shows, also protrudes noticeably downwards beyond the effective front and rear sliding transverse edges 24, 25 and also has a ploughing and digging effect that cannot be ignored.

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on the pile fabric. Preferably, the middle rigid plough rib is not designed to be pivotable, but can be formed as a rigid protruding web in one piece from the housing. It is also not necessary, although it is easily possible, to design the middle plough rib 22 with a lower tooth or comb structure.

The illustration in Fig. 7, which in its first half on the left in the drawing plane of Fig. 7 shows the bearing recess 29 for the rear plough web 23b, makes it clear once again that both suction channels - on the right side in the drawing plane of Fig. 7 only the right half of the suction channel 21a is shown - run tapering outwards on both sides from the central inlet opening, whereby it can also be seen that the middle plough web 22 rises slightly from the trough 26 for the thread take-up and in its height slightly exceeds the lower edge of the sliding cross edge 25 (with the floor nozzle in the operating position).

Claims (12)

3182G/ot/wi 16 20.02.1998 Gerhard Kurz. Industriestrage. 75382 Althenqstett Protection claims 1. Floor nozzle for vacuum cleaner, with a housing (11) and a base plate in which at least two suction channels (21a, 21b) are arranged transversely to the sliding direction of the floor nozzle (10), which are separated by a central cleaning edge designed as a plough bar (22) and open into a common suction hole, characterized in that a further plough bar (23a, 23b) is arranged on the outside adjacent to both suction channels (21a, 21b), at least these two additional plough bars (23a, 23b) being raised relative to the front and rear sliding transverse edges (24, 25) adjacent on both sides. 2. Floor nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that the plough webs are rigid and have narrow lips to enable a digging effect in the pile fabric to be cleaned and are located essentially at the same height. 3182G/ot/wi 17 20.02.1998 3. Floor nozzle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the plough webs (22, 23a, 23b) has a toothing directed towards the pile fabric to be cleaned. 4. Floor nozzle according to claim 3, characterized in that the front and rear plough webs (23a, 23b) are toothed. 5. Floor nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that the middle plough web (22) is rigidly mounted in the nozzle housing and is designed to be tooth-free with a height which corresponds to the average height of the other two plough webs in the case of their teeth. 6. Floor nozzle according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the middle ploughing bar (22) centrally supports a thread take-up. 7. Floor nozzle according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the two outer plough webs, namely the front plough web (23a) and the rear plough web (23b) are pivotable in bearing recesses (28, 29) and are therefore mounted so as to yield to the respective sliding direction. 8. Floor nozzle according to claim 7, characterized in that the pivotability of the plough webs (23a, 23b) is ±30°, preferably ±15°. 9. Floor nozzle according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that in addition to the pivotability 3182G/ot/wi 18 20.02.1998 the tooth tips of the front and rear plough webs (23a, 23b) are tapered in the direction of movement to the front and rear with helix angles of ±30°, preferably ±15°. 10. Floor nozzle according to one or more of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that front and rear sliding edges (25, 24) on both sides merge laterally into (more raised) end wall regions (24a, 24b; 25a, 25b), the front wall regions supporting support rollers (27a, 27b). 11. Floor nozzle according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the common suction hole, into which the two suction transverse channels (21a, 21b) open, merges into a suction nozzle (15) pivotably attached to the housing, whereby the pivoting bearing of the suction nozzle simultaneously supports rear outer support wheels (18a, 18b). 12. Floor nozzle according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that optical dust detection means are arranged in the area of the suction channel, in particular for optical display of dust collection.