Bissell Inc.

Bissell Homecare, Inc.

John J Jailor

Scott R Graham

Eric R Metzger

William H Frederick

Jeffrey A Hall

Steven Keith Meek

Henry J Rosendall

Brandon L Mouw

Kenneth L Roberts

Giovanni Pino

Gary L Smith

Steven R Umbach

Timothy S Parker

A vacuum cleaner is provided with a wheel housing having at least one axle bracket extending therefrom along a transverse axis and at least one axle bracket-receiving socket formed in a foot of the vacuum cleaner whereby the socket slidably receives and pivotally mounts the at least one axle bracket. The wheel housing is thereby pivotally mounted to the foot. A height adjustment mechanism is provided with the wheel housing having an actuator having a bearing shaft and a bearing sleeve with a longitudinal bore. The longitudinal bore of the bearing sleeve receives the bearing shaft to rotatably mount the actuator. A detent mechanism is provided between the bearing shaft and the bearing sleeve to releasably mount the actuator to the foot. The actuator can be adapted to release upon encountering abnormal forces applied against the vacuum cleaner.

Nozzle lift and adjustmentmechanism for an upright vacuum cleaner

A vacuum cleaner comprises a housing having a floor-engaging nozzle fluidly interconnected with a filter bag in a closed filter bag chamber in the housing through a suction passageway, an exhaust vent in the filter bag chamber to exhaust filtered air exiting from the filter bag chamber and a vacuum motor provided in the housing to draw air from the floor-engaging nozzle to the filter bag. An exhaust filter is mounted in the exhaust vent. A sensor in the filter bag chamber detects a condition representative of the flow of air through the exhaust filter element and an exhaust filter indicator interconnected with the sensor provides a signal to a user when the condition reaches a predetermined level to indicate a clogged condition of the exhaust filter. A sensor and indicator can also be provided for the filter bag so that independent signals can be generated relating to the clogged condition of one or both of the filter bag and exhaust filter.

Upright vacuum cleaner with full bag and clogged filter indicators

An upright vacuum cleaner is provided which has a handle pivotally mounted to a foot. The foot has a releasable mechanism pivotally mounted thereto. The releasable mechanism and the handle are provided with abutting protrusions and recesses which can abut one another to retain the handle in an upright storage position, in an angularly disposed position for normal use and a generally horizontal position. The releasable mechanism preferably comprises a foot pedal which has an integral arm spring extending angularly therefrom and biased against the foot so that the protrusion and/or recess on the foot pedal is urged within a corresponding recess and/or protrusion on the handle.

Vacuum cleaner having a handle release thereon

A vacuum cleaner comprises a housing, a motor mounted in the housing, and a switch coupled the motor for actuating the motor to an operative and an inoperative condition. The switch includes an actuator button for moving the switch between an opened and a closed position. A foot pedal is pivotally mounted to the housing and has a bottom surface in an abutting relationship with respect to the actuator button. The foot pedal can include an axle having a pair of flat surfaces which pivotally mount to a slotted circular retainer in the housing. The bottom surface of the foot pedal can include a depending flange which is in abutting relationship with the actuator button. Further, a spring can be disposed between the bottom surface of the foot pedal and the housing to bias the foot pedal away from the switch wherein the spring at least partially surrounds a portion of the foot pedal and at least partially surrounds the actuator button.

Upright vacuum cleaner with power switch pedal

The invention disclosed herein relates to an improved vacuum cleaner comprising a foot, a handle pivotally mounted to the foot, and a vacuum motor mounted to one of the handle and the foot. The foot has a suction inlet fluidly connected to the vacuum motor and an agitator brush rotatably mounted to the foot. The improvement relates to a wheel assembly comprising a housing, an axle mounted to the housing and at least one wheel rotatably mounted to the axle. The housing has an integrally-molded flange extending therefrom. The wheel assembly rollably supports the vacuum cleaner on a floor surface. A channel is formed in the foot and is adapted to pivotably mount the housing flange for movement between a first and a second position. In the first position, the wheel assembly supports the suction inlet at a first distance relative to the floor surface. In the second position, the wheel assembly supports the suction inlet at a second distance therefrom.

Nozzle lift and adjustment mechanism for an upright vacuum cleaner

A convertible vacuum cleaner operable in both on-the-floor and above-the-floor cleaning operations is shown. Depending upon the location of the handle which is pivotally supported by the vacuum foot, a conversion valve interconnected to the handle automatically converts the vacuum between on-the-floor and above-the-floor cleaning operations. The conversion valve includes a flapper valve member which is actuated between a first position blocking fluid communication between the vacuum motor and the brush roll chamber and a second position blocking fluid communication between the vacuum motor and the accessory hose. The valve member is actuated between these two positions by a pin and actuator arm provided on the pivotally mounted valve member. The pin is received in a contoured groove formed on the motor housing and the motor housing is securely mounted to the handle and pivotally mounted with respect to the foot and valve member. As the handle is tilted between the substantially upright position and a tilted position, the flapper valve member is actuated between the first and second positions.

Convertible vacuum cleaner

A vacuum cleaner filter bag mounting assembly comprises a bag mounting member having a fixed plate which is secured to a housing of a vacuum cleaner and a hinge plate which is pivotally mounted to the fixed plate through a living hinge. A channel is formed on the outside surface of the hinge plate for a receipt of the vacuum bag collar and an air deflector extends outwardly from the fixed plate for insertion into the filter bag. The bag mounting member is preferably integrally molded from a single injection-molding operation. An outlet tube is integrally molded to the fixed plate and has bag-retaining projections on an outer surface and a deflector at the end to deflect particles downwardly into the filter bag. The filter bag is retained in the operating condition by the bag-retaining projections on the outlet tube.

Filter bag mounting assembly for a vacuum cleaner

Sweeper housing

A manually operated carpet sweeper which can be assembled and disassembled without the need of tools. The sweeper has a frame which supports front and rear wheels, a cleaning brush and a dirtpan, all of which are fastened to the frame by finger operable latching surfaces. The sweeper is operated with a handle which is fastened to a bail which is releasably supported on the frame. The front, side and top forward surfaces, all potentially marring surfaces, are covered with an elastomeric material which has finger actuable gripping surfaces for fixing the cover in place on the frame of the sweeper. The height of the sweeper, and in turn the height of the cleaning brush, can be adjusted using a wheel or a sliding member on the top surface of the sweeper. Also, the rear wheels for the sweeper are held by configured stub shafts which are held by the sweeper frame thereby avoiding the use of an axle extending across the width of the sweeper. A large dirtpan is thereby made possible. The dustpan is biased to the use position by a sliding spring.

Carpet sweeper

The specification discloses an impeller for cleaning devices. A plurality of impeller segments are slipped over a twisted flat wire to provide the impeller. Each of the impeller segments preferably includes a plurality of paddles, and a central section with a non-cylindrical opening for receiving said twisted flat wire.

Debris impeller

A wall mountable vacuum accessories caddy has a generally planar front surface with a rearwardly projecting perimeter flange and forwardly projecting arms for releasably receiving and supporting vacuum accessories. In one aspect of the invention, the caddy is a one-piece injection molding, moldable in a simple two-piece mold.

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Rockford, MI, United States of America

John J Jailor