Black Decker Inc.

Eric Coburn

Andrew Walker

David Rowntree

Barry Pears

Danny Bone

Stephen Andrew Houghton

Derek Muir

There is provided a hand-holdable vacuum cleaner, comprising: an electric motor, an electrical on-off switch for operating said motor; a fan connected to an output shaft of said motor; an airflow pathway comprising an inlet for dirty air, an outlet for clean air, and a collection chamber located in fluid communication between said inlet and said outlet; means for separating out debris entrained with dirty air entering via said inlet and depositing the debris in said collection chamber; and means for adjusting an angle of said inlet relative to a main axis of said vacuum cleaner; wherein the vacuum cleaner further comprises a rigid, elongate nose having said inlet at one end thereof, said nose being pivotable relative to said main axis through an angle of at least 135 degrees. The elongate nose can be pivoted from a first, folded position in which it is angled alongside the main axis of the vacuum cleaner, substantially parallel thereto, allowing the vacuum cleaner to be stored in a very compact overall space, to a second, extended position in which it is angled by only a small amount or not at all from the main axis of the vacuum cleaner to provide an extension thereof. Secondly, since the nose is rigid and elongate and has the dirty air inlet located at one end thereof, it may be introduced into narrow spaces without any need to be supported by a hand of a user, unlike a flexible hose extension known from prior art hand-holdable vacuum cleaners.

Hand-holdable vacuum cleaners

In one aspect, the present invention provides a filter cleaning mechanism comprising: a filter material () for filtering out dust and dirt particles from air passing therethrough; a frame () for supporting said filter material (); devices () for mechanically agitating said filter material to dislodge dust and dirt particles therefrom; wherein the devices for mechanically agitating said filter material comprises elements () for deforming said frame within its elastic limit and elements () for rapidly releasing said frame from said deformation to cause said frame to relax to an undeformed state. The present invention also provides a hand-holdable vacuum cleaner comprising such a filter cleaning mechanism, as well as a method of cleaning a filter assembly () comprising a filter material () and a frame () for supporting said filter material (), wherein the method comprises the steps of deforming the frame within its elastic limit and rapidly releasing the frame from said deformation, thereby causing the frame to relax to an undeformed state.

Filter cleaning mechanisms

A dual filter arrangement for a vacuum cleaner for filtering particles of dust and debris from an airflow passing through the vacuum cleaner. The dual filter comprises a coarse pre-filter having an array of pores formed therein of substantially uniform diameter and a fine primary filter which is located rearwardly of the pre-filter in the direction of flow of the airflow. The dual filter is releasably latched to a main housing portion of the vacuum cleaner housing. A nose cone is removably secured to the housing and circumscribes the dual filter assembly. The dual filter enables even more efficient filtering of contaminants from dust and dirt entrained air ingested by the vacuum cleaner. Attachment of the dual filter to the main housing portion provides the additional advantage of increasing the capacity of the nose cone and eliminating the need for the user to handle the dual filter assembly when emptying contaminants collected within the nose cone. A unique seal arrangement provides a substantially airtight seal between the dual filter system and the main housing to which it is secured.

Dual filter vacuum cleaner apparatus

The present invention provides an upright vacuum cleaner () having an elongate body () and comprising a floorhead () on which the elongate body is mounted, the floorhead () having a first inlet () for dirty air, a wand having a second inlet for dirty air, a changeover valve () for selecting between a flow of dirty air from the first or second inlet, a dust collection chamber () also having a dirty air inlet (), a duct () for conveying said flow of dirty air from the changeover valve () to the dust collection chamber inlet (), and a source of suction power for drawing the dirty air from the first or second inlet through said changeover valve () and said duct () to the dust collection chamber inlet (). The changeover valve () comprises a linear conduit () positionable in fluid flow between the first inlet () for dirty air of the floorhead () and said duct (), the duct () having a sigmoid curve () from the changeover valve () to the dust collection chamber inlet (). When the conduit () is positioned in fluid flow between the first inlet () and the duct (), the flow of dirty air from the first inlet (), through the changeover valve () and the duct () to the dust collection chamber inlet () all lies in a plane.

Upright vacuum cleaners

There is provided a hand-holdable vacuum cleaner, comprising: an electric motor; an electrical on-off switch for operating said motor; a fan connected to an output shaft of said motor; an airflow pathway comprising an inlet for dirty air, an outlet for clean air, and a collection chamber located in fluid communication between said inlet and said outlet; means for separating out debris entrained with dirty air entering via said inlet and depositing the debris in said collection chamber; and means for adjusting an angle of said inlet relative to a main axis of said vacuum cleaner; wherein the vacuum cleaner further comprises a rigid, elongate nose having said inlet at one end thereof, said nose being pivotable relative to said main axis through an angle of at least 135 degrees. The elongate nose can be pivoted from a first, folded position in which it is angled alongside the main axis of the vacuum cleaner, substantially parallel thereto, allowing the vacuum cleaner to be stored in a very compact overall space, to a second, extended position in which it is angled by only a small amount or not at all from the main axis of the vacuum cleaner to provide an extension thereof. Secondly, since the nose is rigid and elongate and has the dirty air inlet located at one end thereof, it may be introduced into narrow spaces without any need to be supported by a hand of a user, unlike a flexible hose extension known from prior art hand-holdable vacuum cleaners.

A filter apparatus and a vacuum cleaner incorporating the filter apparatus are disclosed. The filter apparatus has a first, fine filter assembly and a second, coarse filter assembly. The fine filter assembly includes a body defining a central aperture in which a pleated fine filter element is arranged. The periphery of aperture is surrounded by a resilient rubber sealing member. Apertures are arranged around the body portion radially outwards of the aperture and sealing member for mounting the fine filter assembly to pins on housing of the vacuum cleaner. The body is also provided with radially inwardly facing slots for engaging corresponding projections on a coarse filter assembly for removably mounting the coarse filter assembly to the fine filter assembly. The removable coarse filter assembly gives the user a choice between two stage filtration (i.e. using the fine and course filter assemblies) or single stage filtration (i.e. using the fine filter assembly only).

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Coxhoe, United Kingdom

Eric Coburn