US2641486A - Joint for filter unit for suction cleaners - Google Patents

Description

June 9, 1953 r J. E. VANCE 2,641,486

JOINT FOR FILTER UNIT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS Filed NOV. 8, 1949 INVENTOR. John E. Vance B W aim/ii. ATTORNEY.

Patented June 9, 1953 JOINT FOR FILTER UNIT FOR SUCTION CLEANERS v John E. Vance, North Canton, Ohio, assignor to The. Hoover Company, North Canton, Qhio, a

corporation of Ohio Application November 8, 1949, Serial No. 126,11!

.13. Claims- The present invention relates to suction cleaners and more particularly to a new and improved filter adapter therefor.

Filter adapters heretofore proposed are ob- J'ectionable for various reasons chief among which are their mechanical complexity, high cost, difficulty to operate, tendency to rupture paper filters opposite the clamping means, and inadequate clearance between the seating tube and clamp. for convenient replacement of the filter.

The present invention overcomes all of the above mentioned shortcomings of prior adapters and provides a very simple, inexpensive and highly effective. construction. The unique clamping means; forming an important feature oft e. invention acts to gather the filter neck tightly about, the. seating tube in an air-tight manner and to lock. it. in place pos iv ly. Th clamp is .0 designed as to. open easily, and in so doin ,v to move to a position entirely removed irony. the seating tube so as not tov interfere in any manner with, the removal or replacement of. the filter.

accordingly, it i an. object of the. present invention to provide a filter adapter for a suction eaner o the likewhich is; characterized by uniqueness, simplicity, low cost, ease of p,e1a,-. 1 ef tiv e s, nd convenience.

Another object is the provision of; av novel a a t r a d fi r cl mp h ch. c t-hers the filter inlet about a tubular support so, as. to, form a fr c i n l g ip and seal between. he fi t r nle and the suppcr nc tu e- A, fi r her b e t,- is t e r vis on, of an. adapter a d fi t r amp hi h oe n t cause the filter o rup e pp i e cl p n means.

These and other objects will become apparent irom the following specification and, an illus trative embodiment in which:

Figur 1 is a side of a suction cleaner with. the filter adapter shown in enlarged scale. and in vertical section; and

Figure 2 is a top plan View on line 2 --.2 of. Figure 1.

An illustrative embodiment of; the invention is shownas. comprising a suction cleaner {0; of; any well known type. This cleaner incl des: a. suction nozzle H and the usual motor-fan unit; concealed by a, hood [2. The cleaner body is supported on wheels l3 and a propelling handle l4 is pivotally connected to the cleaner body inany desired manner. The exhaustair passageway I5, is: cast integrally with the cleaner body 1G and opens. upwa dly and rearwardly, as indi cated in Figure 1.

The filter adapter assembly includes a bag ring Hi which can be removably secured to exhaust conduit l5 in any preferred manner. The inlet end of a flexible rubber bellows H is secured to the inner periphery of ring [6 as by a split ring keeper l8. The inlet end of the bellows serves as a sealin gasket between ring it and exhaust conduit 15. A tubular filter seating adapter I9 is attached to the upper end of bellows H by a sheet metal sleeve 20' which is locked in place on inwardly extending flange 21 by beading 22.

In order that flexible bellows l1 may be. relieved of carrying the weight of tubular member l9 and the filter attached thereto, it is preferred tosupp-ortthe adapter pivotally from bag ring I6. To this end, the lower end of tube i9 is connected to the bag ring by means of a rigid, plate-like arm 23. As will be noted from the drawings, arm 23 overlies bellows H and is rigidly connected to the lower end of adapter tube I9. As shown, arm 23 is cast integrally with the lower, flanged end of tube 19. The lowermost end of arm 23 is pivotally connected to the upper side of ring lfi by a hinge 24. Torsion spring 25 surrounds the hinge and is of sulficient strength to. support. the adapter, the filter and any dirt contained therein.

It will therefore. be understood that; spring 25 acts. normally to. hold the adapter and the filter closely adjacent the underside of propelling handlev M. If the handle is lowered; the adapter and. filter pivot downwardly about; hinge 24. If, on the; other hand, the, handlev is raised, spring 25 urges; the adapter and filter to. follow it u r ward'ly.

A apter tube l9 may e circular or or any other cross-sectional shape and its discharge. end may be of; smaller diameter than its lower inlet e d t iacilitate placement of. a filter thereover, One or more longitudinally extending areas of its: surfac are depressed. as indicated at 26., As here shown-there is only one longitudinal de pr ssicn 26 extending upwardly from the; base, r member is and terminating somewhat short oi the upper end of the adapter. In pra ti it has: been fou dthat onesuch depression is adequote and, th s i particularly true when using a. lterbag having. an, inlet. neck of reduced diameter as; is common practice.v However,. if the adapter is designed for use-with a. filter having a lar e inlet ne k, it may be desirable. tohave a. plurality of depressions at spaced. points around the adapter. The purpose of the dc.- Dresslons is to receive gathered portions of the filter neck, in such manner that the filter firmly grips adapter tube IS. The manner in which this is accomplished will become more apparent below.

The clamping device for gathering neck 21 of a paper filter 28 comprises a plate 29 pivotally connected to the upper end of arm 23 by a hinge 30. Resilient wire fingers 3| of the shape shown in Figures 1 and 2 are secured to the underside of plate 29 as by the lateral inturned edges thereof. One end of a leaf spring keeper 32 is secured to the base of tubular member l9, while its free end is positioned to latch over the edge of opening 33 in plate 29. When so latched, spring 32 looks the filter clamp in the position shown in Figure 1. In this position, resilient fingers 3| ather the filter neck into depression 26 to-lock the filter firmly on the adapter tube.

Operation ator'then takes a new paper filter bag 28 and telescopes its inlet end 27 downwardly over adapter tube I9. The filter neck is of suihcient diameter 'to slide easily over the adapter tube and, preferably, its end is cut off at an angle tothe filter center-line as an aid in guiding it onto the adapter. A notch 38 interfits with a locator abutment 39 located on the lower side of the adapter tube and assures that the longer side of the filter neck will overlie depression 26 in the adapter tube. After the filter is in place, the operator simply pivots the clamping device downwardly until it is latched by leaf' spring 32. As the clamping device'pivots downwardly, resilientfingers 3| gather the underlying'portions of the filter neck into depression 26 so that the neck grips the tube firmly and in a positive manner. Not only is an airtight seal formed with'the tube but the gripping action has been found so strong in practice that the filter cannot be removed without tearingit. Furthermore, the gripping action extends throughout the area of contact between the filter neck and the adapter tube. This characteristic of my novel construction 'contrasts sharply with prior constructions in'which the clamping action occurs only in the area directly opposite the'wire or other clamping'ring. And this is true whether the clamping ring of the prior'art is of the expanding or contracting type. To complete the assembly the operator'merely places the upper, free end of the filter within envelope 35, pulls closure 36 downwardly and attaches the upper end of the envelope to handle I l. The cleaner is now ready for operation.

The removal of a dirtyfilter is even simpler than that just described for the assembly operation. Generally, the operation is merely reversed. That is, the envelope is detached'fromthe handle, clsure'36 is'opened, and clamping device 29 1s unlatched and swung upwardly. The filter is then withdrawn from the tube and taken to a place of disposal. A new filter is installed in the man'- ner described above.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the present device provides an adapter and a filter clamp therefor which is extremely simple in construction and in operation. Furthermore, the size of the filter neck may vary over a considerable range in view of the large gathering capacity of resilient fingers 3 I. These fingers act to gather all excess material of the filter and to draw it tightly about the" tube. Thereafter the resiliency of fingers 3| permits them to give sufficiently to permit locking of the clamping device by leaf spring 32. It will also be observed that the clamping device is completely removed from the vicinity of the adapter tube during both the assembly of a fresh filter and the removal of a used one.' If desired, the bottom of depression 26 may carry a sponge rubber pad or the like.

While Ihave shown and described but a single modification 1 of my invention, it is to be understood that this modification is to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited tothe particular structures shown anddescribed, but to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:.

1. The combination with a suction cleaner of the type having a body, a motor-fan unit, a propelling handle pivoted to said body and an exhaust air passageway, of a filter adapter assembly for releasably securing a paper filter to said exhaust air passageway, said adapter including a rigid cylindrical conduit, means for connecting the forward end thereof to said passageway, an elongated depression in the outer surface of said conduit restricted toone side thereof and extending lengthwise of said conduit, said depression being positioned to underlie the inlet end of a paper filter bag, means for gathering and clamping a filter onto said conduit comprising movable means mounted on said conduit near the forward end thereof, said gathering means being movable against the outer surface of a filter inlet in an area opposite said depression so as to depress said filter into said depression until said filter grips said conduit tightly and in an air tight manner, said gathering means also being movable away from said depression to release the same for withdrawal from said conduit and from said gathering means.

2. The combinationdefined'in claim 1 includ-' ing means for releasably locking said filter gathering means in :a filter clamping position on said rigid cylindrical conduit.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 characterized in that said depression extends longitudinally of said cylindrical conduit from a point near the end of a-filter mounted thereontoa point short of the discharge end of said conduit. 4. A filter adapter for use on a suction cleaner comprising a rigid tubular member having alongitudinally extending depression restricted to one side thereof, said member being adapted to receive the inlet end of a filter bag with a portion of-said inlet overlying said depression; and-filter clamping means pivotally mounted on said tubular member opposite one end of said depression including resilient means operable when pivoted downwardly against a filter neck to depress a portion thereof into said depression until said neck grips the peripheralsurface of said tubular member firmly and in an airtight manner. 5. A filter adapter as defined in claim 4 in which said clamping means is movable to a point entirely removed from said depression so that a' filter can be placed on said tubular member without interference from said clamping means.

6. A filter adapter for use on a suction cleaner comprising a tubular member adapted to receive a filter inlet thereover, said tubular member being provided with means restricted to one side thereof for gathering excess portions of a filter inlet so that the filter grips the surface of said member firmly and in an air tight manner, said filter gathering means including a movable member having means for pivotally connecting the same to said tubular member and having a resilient filter gathering element for contacting the outer surface of a filter inlet and gathering the same circumferentially about and into air tight contact with said tubular member.

7. A filter adapter for use on a suction cleaner as defined in claim 6 including means for looking said filter gathering means in position to clamp a filter inlet in place on said adapter.

8. A filter adapter for use on a suction cleaner comprising a tubular member the discharge end of which is formed to receive the inlet of a filter bag thereover, said member having an elongated depression extending longitudinally along one side thereof having one end terminating short of the discharge end of said tubular member, and means carried by said tubular member opposite the other end of said depression operable to gather the filter neck circumferentially about said tubular member until it grips said member tightly and to press the gathered portions into said depression.

9. A filter adapter for use on a suction cleaner comprising a tubular member, the inlet end of said member being formed for connection to the suction nozzle of a suction cleaner and the exhaust end being adapted to receive the inlet of a filter bag thereover, an elongated depression extending lengthwise of said member having one end merging with the outer surface of said member near but spaced from the exhaust end thereof, means carried by said adapter adjacent one end of said depression to gather a filter inlet circumferentially toward said depression from the opposite sides thereof until said inlet clamps the tubular member firmly and in an air tight manner, and means for locking said gathering means in said filter clamping position.

10. An adapter assembly for connection to a suction cleaner exhaust outlet comprising, a mounting ring, a tubular filter mounting member pivotally connected to said mounting ring in axially spaced relation thereto, said tubular member having an air inlet end and an air discharge end adapted to receive a filter bag, a flex- 6 ible conduit inter-connecting said ring and the inlet end of said tubular member, said tubular member having an elongated depression extending lengthwise thereof positioned to underlie afilter bag inlet positioned theron, and filter clamping means movably mounted on said assembly opposite one end of said depression for clamping said filter inlet to said tubular member by gathering said inlet and pressing the same into said depression.

11. An adapter assembly as defined in claim 10 in which said filter clamping means is pivotally connected to said tubular member near the inlet end thereof so as to pivot toward and away from said depression, and latch means for locking said clamping means in its closed position against said tubular member.

12. An adapter assembly as defined in claim 10 in which said clamping means includes resilient means positioned to contact said filter inlet and press it into said elongated depression.

13. A filter adapter for use on a suction cleaner comprising a tubular member having a dirty air inlet end adapted to be connected with a carpet contacting suction nozzle and a dirty air discharge end adapted to telescopically receive and support the inlet end of a paper filter bag, at least one elongated depression in the outer surface of said tubular member extending lengthwise thereof and having one end merging with the outer surface of said member at a point spaced from the discharge end thereof, manually operable filter gathering means movably mounted on said member adjacent the opposite end of said depression from the end thereof which merges with the outer surface of said member, said gathering means being movable against the outer surface of a filter inlet telescoped over said tubular member from the discharge end so as to depress said inlet into said depression and thereby gather said inlet tightly about said member in an air tight manner, and means for releasably locking said gathering means in place on said tubular member.

JOHN E. VANCE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 18,962 Riebel Oct. 3;; 1933 1,219,756 Jones Mar. 20, 1917 1,314,235 Adkins Aug. 26, 1919 2,093,991 Boyer Sept. 28, 1950

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