Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Hideo Okubo

Masahiro Kimura

Seiji Yamaguchi

Hiroshi Kawakami

Hiroshi Mori

Saburo Kajikawa

Tadashi Matsuyo

Masaru Moro

Hiroshi Nishimura

Hidenori Kitamura

Toru Odachi

Tomonori Kato

Tomomi Mitani

Hiroshi Hayakawa

Tetsuo Imai

Norihiro Tsuchiya

Tomonori Katoh

Haruhisa Miyake

Kiyokazu Uno

Saburou Kajikawa

A vacuum-cleaner suction tool includes a sucking portion for sucking up dust on a surface to be cleaned, a joint portion having one end connected to the upper side of the sucking portion and the other end provided with a connection pipe, and an agitator disposed within the sucking portion for scraping dust off the surface. The opening, the joint portion, and the connection pipe each have a channel portion allowing sucked-up dust to pass therethrough. The joint portion is configured to be turnable, relative to the sucking portion, in a horizontal direction substantially parallel to the surface to be cleaned to such an extent that the longitudinal central axis of the sucking portion becomes substantially parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the connection pipe, whereby the forward end of the sucking portion, from left to right, can be brought into close contact with wall surfaces so that dust liable to collect in corners can be fully sucked up.

Vacuum-cleaner suction tool and vacuum cleaner using the same

A vacuum cleaner includes working elements of cleaner, that is, a blower and a dust collection unit disposed in a nozzle section of which casing is composed of an upper unit and a lower unit, and having a handle coupled to the nozzle section. At least one of the working elements is supported by the upper unit and a support unit provided in the lower unit or by the lower unit and a support unit provided in the upper unit. Therefore, the cleaner can be repaired without having all screws removed, thus repaired conveniently.

Vacuum cleaner

A floor nozzle for a vacuum cleaner of the present invention has an auxiliary agitator provided outside the lateral wall of a main body of the nozzle. The auxiliary agitator is covered by a protecting cover, so as to ensure safety during use. Moreover, a stirring member, a dust outlet and confirmation holes allow dust to be discharged out of the main body more easily and smoothly, while preventing burning or breaking of the agitator.

Vacuum cleaner floor nozzle having an auxiliary agitator

A vacuum cleaner has a blower motor; a dust detector responsive to a sucked dust particle due to rotation of the blower motor for producing a dust detecting signal when each of the dust particles is detected passing a portion in a suction passage; counter responsive to the dust detection signal for counting the number of the dust interception particles for a given interval; and input power controller responsive to an output signal of the counter for controlling the input power of the blower motor by selecting an input power value from plural preset input power values in accordance with the number. Controlling input power may be performed in accordance with a pulse width indicative of the dust particle size or the counted number may be modified by pulse width. Another embodiment of the vacuum cleaner has plural light emitting diodes for indicating the number counted to show an operator uncleanliness of the floor. The controller includes a microprocessor which can control a thyristor provided in series with the blower motor directly. In a vacuum cleaner where the thyristor is located in the housing, the microprocessor may be located in a handle portion, and a D/A converter and a phase control circuit may be provided in the housing.

A vacuum cleaner and method for determining the kind of floor surface being cleaned by a vacuum cleaner wherein dust amount per unit interval is detected and dust detection change patterns are analyzed for determining floor type. This analysis is based on the following assumptions: smooth and carpet surfaces can be distinguished by dust detection patterns for an interval of several seconds. On the smooth surface, almost all of the dust at one place is picked up during an early stage of the interval. On the other hand, on a carpet floor, dust is picked up continuously. On a new carpet, many piles detach during vacuuming. Thus, if dust detection is continuous over several seconds it may be assumed that, the carpet is a new carpet.

Vacuum cleaner and method of determining type of floor surface being

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Shiga, Japan

Hideo Okubo