US2904816A - Rug tool having a turbine-driven rug brush - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1959 w KSKOLFlELD 2,904,816

RUG TOOL HAVING A TURBINE-DRIVEN RUG BRUSH Filed Feb. 24, 1956 RUG TOOL HAVING A TURBINEDRIVEN RUG BRUSH William King Sirolfield, Bridgeport, Conn, assignor to general Electric Company, a corporation of New ork Application February 24, 1956, Serial No. 567,685

9 Claims. (Cl. 15-375) This invention relates to cleaning tools generally, and to air-operated cleaning tools particularly. My invention is well suited for use in a vacuum cleaner cleaning tool and, therefore, for the purpose of simplifying an explanation of it, will be disclosed in such a device.

Contemporary vacuum cleaners fall into two general types: first, those which clean partially by suction and include a motor-driven rug brush (this feature is normally found in so-called upright cleaners) and second, those which clean primarily by suction and do not include a motor-driven brush (commonly referred to as canister cleaners, and normally either of the horizontal or vertical variety). The vacuum cleaner cleaning tools to which the invention relates are primarily those which are used to clean rugs and floors. It is generally agreed that the best cleaning job on rugs is performed by cleaners having a power-driven rug brush which may or may not have other elements such as heaters associated with it. The strong features of the canister-type cleaners are that they are adapted for convenient above the floor cleaning, i.e., wall, furniture, drapery and ceiling cleaning. It is believed by many skilled in this art that a canister cleaner is superior to the upright cleaner, all other things being equal, in all respects other than its ability to clean rugs. Therefore, it is highly desirable that a cleaning tool attachment be devised that may be used with the canister-type cleaner and which is capable of closely approaching, if not duplicating, the excellent rug cleaning capabilities of the motor-driven rug brush of the upright-type cleaner. It'is believed obvious that the reason motor-driven brushes are not provided in canister cleaner rug tools is because of the difiiculty of furnishing power to the rug tool. In order to meet this problem, it has been suggested that the moving fluid (air) which passes through the canister cleaner rug tool when the cleaner is operated be utilized to drive a fluid-operated motor, which in turn drives a rug brush. in this application the term turbine-driven rug tool is used to signify this type of device.

One type of turbine-driven rug tool with which the inventor is familiar operates on a split air flow principle. In this arrangement, there is provided a rug tool body having a nozzle which is adapted to be associated with a rug, a rug brush mounted for rotation in the nozzle and contact with the rug, a turbine chamber which houses a turbine and communicates with the atmosphere through inlet openings, the turbine being connected to the rug brush in mechanical driving relationship, and an outlet passageway which communicates with the suction unit of the vacuum cleaner when the rug tool is connected to the canister cleaner wand. With this type of rug tool, when a flow of air is induced through the tool by energizing the suction unit, some air enters the nozzle through the opening in the nozzle, and some air enters the turbine chamber through the inlet openings. The air entering the nozzle opening is dust-laden and is carried off through the outlet passageway to the suction unit. The air entering the turbine chamber contacts the vanes on the turbine and rotates it, and thereby drives the rug brush.

United States Patent Patented Sept. 22, 1959 It has been observed that this type of prior art rug tool suffers from a basic defect. Because the flow of air through the nozzle and the flow of air through the turbine chamber is constant, i.e., non-adjustable relative to each other, it is difiicult to obtain reasonably good cleaning on various types of rugs. For example, on a deeply cut figured rug the nozzle may not seal Well and, therefore, the larger portion of the air drawn into the tool enters through the nozzle opening. This results in a diminution of the amount of air passing through the turbine chamber, and results in weak or no rotation of the turbine and rug brush. Therefore, the cleaning action of the rug brush is insuflicient to whisk olf surface lint, thread, hairs, etc., although a moderately good job of sucking the dirt out of the rug is done. On the other hand, if the prior art rug tool is used on a finely woven smooth rug, the nozzle seals tightly to the rug, resulting in the dirt being drawn out of the rug very well and the turbine being operated properly and, therefore, the rug brush whisking the dirt off the rug adequately. However, the tight seal between the nozzle and the rug makes it difficult to push or pull the rug tool over the rug.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved air-operated cleaning tool which is particularly adapted for use for canister-type vacuum cleaners, which operates on the split air fiow principle and wherein the above mentioned basic defect in this type of device is obviated.

The object of this invention is achieved in one form by providing in a split air flow, turbine-driven, cleaning tool, means for regulating the relative flow of air through the nozzle and the turbine chamber, and preferably to achieve such regulation by controlling the flow of air through the nozzle. In this form, such control enables the user to decrease or increase at will the amount of air entering the nozzle, thereby automatically altering the amount of air entering the turbine chamber, and causing the turbine to rotate with more or less power, for the purpose of adapting the rug tool to the type of rug on which it is used and the type of dirt or lint to be picked up.

Other objects and further details of that which I believe to be novel and my invention will be clear from the foregoing description and claims taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a sectional view taken substantially on a central longitudinal line which passes through the improved cleaning tool;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to Fig. l, but showing some of the parts in different positions;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, the control knob being shown fully in section;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the improved cleaning tool attached to a portion of a canister cleaner wand;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the improved cleaning tool.

Referring to the drawings, the improved cleaning tool, which will herein be referred to as a rug tool, is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. Rug tool 10 comprises a body having a nozzle portion 12, the turbine portion 14, the outlet portion 16. As is illustrated in Fig. 4, the outlet portion 16 is tubular and adapted to be coupled in any conventional manner to the rigid wand 18, which in turn communicates through appropriate conventional conduit mechanism with the suction unit, that is, an air flow producing source. The latter may be any one of the large number of available suction units and be stationary, built-in or portable. The improved rug tool is particularly useful when associated with a canister type vacuum cleaner, because it renders the latter substantially equal in rug cleaning ability to vacuum cleaners, such as the upright type, which have motor-driven rug brushes, hence, the wand 18 may communicate-with a canister-type cleaner. However, it should be clearly understood that the improved rug tool is not restricted in utility to use with canister-type cleaners.

As canbest be seen in Figs. 1, 4 and-5, the rugtool bodyhas appropriate walls for-med therein which' compartmentits interior in the-desired manner. Thearug tool body walls comprise essentially three generally horizontal walls, an upper, intermediate and lower wall,= and appropriate side walls which render the bodya unitary structure. Upper horizontal wall-2il is generally circular and merges at its periphery into a depending, slotted side wall 22 which is generally cylindrical. At its'forward side (the side opposite to the outlet portion-l6), thewall 22 mergesinto a generally horizontal wall 24-whichforms the upper surface of the nozzle portion 12 and extends into the body, Within the body, wall 24-supports in any conventional manner a dividing wall- 26- which is illustrated'as a separate member, and which is spaced below the wall 2% and extends rearwardly partially into the outlet portion '16. The walls 24 and 26, together comprise the intermediate wall.

A portion 28 of the depending wall 22 at the latters rear extends downwardly beyond the walls 24 and 26' and merges at its lowermost points with the generally horizontal lower wall 30 which is illustrated as being a separate piece. The central portion of ;the rearward side of portion 28 merges into the outlet portion 16. The lower wall 39 extends beneath the walls 24 and 26- and has an elongated opening 32 formed near its forward end. A generally vertical side wall 34'extends from the portion 28 of depending wall 22 completely aroundthe nozzle portion 12 and is secured to the wall 24 at its upper edge and to the Wall 30 at its lower edge. An inspection of Figs. 1 and 5, it is believed, will clearly indicate the wall formation and the manner in which the rug tool body is compartmented to provide the following: a nozzle chamber 36, which is located generally between the walls 24, 26, 30 and 34; a turbine charnber 38, which is located between the walls 2b, 22,, 24and 26; and an outlet chamber 40, which is formed in the outletv portion 16. The terminal portion 66 of wall 26 extends into the outlet portion 16 and divides the latter into two passageways. The upper passageway 42 communicates through the opening 43 with the turbine chamber 38 and thereby places the latter into communication with the outlet chamber 40. The lower passageway 44 communicates through the opening 46 with the nozzle chamber 36 and thereby places the latter into communication with the outlet chamber 40. A plurality of slots 48 are formed in the depending wall 22 and thereby place the turbine chamber 38 into communication with the atmosphere.

Turbine St) is mounted for rotation in the turbine chamber 38 by being rigidly secured to the turbine hub 52, which in turn is mounted for rotation on the bearing pin 54 that is rigidly connected to the wall 21? anddepends therefrom. Hub 52 has a V-shaped groove 56 formed therein to simulate a pulley surface, and is supported onthe bearing plate 58, which is rigidly secured to the free end of the pin 54. Hub 52 is partially disposed. in opening 60., formed in wall 26, but is not in bearing contact with the wall.

The foregoing arrangement provides a rotatable mounting for the turbine and its hub wherein most of the load is taken by the bearing plate 58. This particular mounting is merely exemplary of a rotary mounting for the turbine and is not a critical aspect of my invention, for other, mountings can readily be devised which would be the equivalent of the one illustrated. It is important, however, that the turbine and its hub be mounted for rotary movement relative to the supporting portions .of the rug tool body, andthe illustrated arrangement accomplishes this objective.

Mountediu the forward end of the nozzle chamber 36 q r r in juxtaposition to the nozzle opening 32 is the conventional rug brush 62, which has bristle tufting which ex.- tends through the nozzle opening for the purpose of contacting a surface to be cleaned and to whisk dirt through the nozzle opening into the nozzle chamber. The details of the rug brush construction form no specific part of my invention and, therefore, will not be described in detail, however, the rug brush does have a -'V shaped groove 63 formed in it which simulates a pulley surface. The endless belt 64 is mounted in the V-shaped grooves 56 and 63, and thereby places the rug brush and turbine into mechanical driving relationship. By the latter it is meant that if either the turbine or the rug brush is rotated, the other will be rotated-through-the driving connection effected by the endless belt 64.

When a source of suction is attached to the outlet portion 16, a flow of air is induced through both the turbine portion and the nozzle portion of the rug tool in the manner illustrated by the schematic arrows in Fig. 1. When the parts are disposed-as il-lustratedin; Fig. l, the air flow through the turbine portion is as--follows: clean air-from the atmosphere flows through the slots 48 into the turbine chamber 38, where-it-con-tactsthe vanes 51 of the turbine 5i and rotates the latter'and its hub 52, out of the turbine chamber through the open-h ing 43 into and through upper passageway 42 --to the outlet chamber 49, and then to the sourceof-suction. Inthe nozzle portion of the rug tool a simultaneousflowofl air is induced as follows: dust-laden air passes through the nozzle opening 32 into the nozzle chamber 36, throughthe opening 46 into the lower passageway 44, into the outlet chamber 44? and then to the source of suction.

The split air flow described is accompanied by rotation j of the turbine which in turn rotates'the rug brush'62 through the medium of the endless belt64. This mode of operation is extremely desirable because it provides a power-driven rug brush in an air operated cleaning tool, and lends itself to convenient use with a canister type cleaner. However, as was mentioned in the introduction; to the specification, a basic defect exists in cleaning tools; of this type. This defect, applicant found, was due tothe absence in prior art rug tools of this type of anymeans for controlling the flow of air through either theturbine chamber or nozzle chamber to permit the operator to regulate the relative air flow through said-chambersto suit the operators needs as dictated -by the typeof rug on which the rug tool is used and the type of dirt to be picked up. As was pointed out in the introduction of'thisspecification, when prior art, turbine-driven, rug tools were used on certain types of rugs, the nozzle did not sealwell and a large part of the air drawn into the rug toolentered through the nozzle opening, and this resulted in poor turbine operation and consequently poor rug brushoperation; and when used on other types of rugs, the prior art, turbine-driven rug tools sealed tightly to the rug and had good general performance, but suffered from thenecessity of requiring a great deal of effort in order to push or pull the rug tool over the rug. Y

In the first situation, applicant found that decreasing the amount of air flowing into the nozzle opening resulted in more air entering the turbine chamber and, hence, improved the turbines operation. In the second situation, applicant found that decreasing the amount of air flowing; into the nozzle opening lessens the seal and permits easier movement of the rug tool on the rug. Therefore, it will be seen that applicant has discovered that controlling the amount of air entering through the nozzle opening effects and regulates the relative amounts of'air entering into both the nozzle chamber and turbine chember, and affords the operator an adjustable control for, adapting the air fiow characteristics of the rug tool:to the; type of rug which is being cleaned and the type of dirt tobe cleaned. It will be understood that there are various; types of rugs and conditions that may be met when; operating a vacuum cleaner, and that in many cases a adjustment of the air flow is needed, whereas in others suchadjustment assists a person using the cleaner to do a better cleaning operation. i w H The improved rug tool includes the referred-to means for controlling the amount of air entering through the nozzle opening. While numerous equivalent arrangem'ents could be effected, the illustrated valve platearrangement is a simple and efiective manner of controlling this flow of air. By reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, it will be observed that the terminal portion 66 of the Wall 26 supports a valve plate '68 which extends into the lower passageway 44. The outline of valve plate 68 conforms to the cross-section of passageway 44, which is substantially semicircular, and is pivotally mounted at its straight edge to the wall portion 66 so as to be movable between a position wherein it lies closely adjacent to said portion and thereby does not constrict the passageway 44 at all, and another position wherein it is disposed at approximately 90 degrees from said portion and, therefore, substantially closes the passageway 44. There are numerous positions between these two extreme positions which the valve plate may assume to constrict the passageway 44 to different extents. In Fig. 2, two representative positions of the flap valve are illustrated, one being shown in dotted lines.

The manner of pivoting the valve plate to the terminal portion 66 is not critical. As illustrated, the hinge pin 70 is rigidly connected to the straight edge of the valve plate 68 and passes through a transverse opening 69 formed in the terminal portion 66 by displaced portions of the latter, and openings 71 in the sides of the tubular outlet portion 16 (see Fig. 3).v The ends of hinge pin 70 are mounted for rotary bearing motion in openings 71, and one end 72 of the hinge pin extends to the exterior of the tubular outlet portion and is rigidly connected to the knob 74 at its free end on one side of the tubular outlet portion. Rotation of the knob 74 rotates the hinge pin 70 in the transverse opening 69, and pivots the valve plate 68.

In order to maintain, the valve plate in adjusted position, a plurality of balls 76 are mounted in sockets 77 in the knob 74, and are frictionally pressed into engagement with one side of the tubular outlet portion 16. by appropriate resilient means 79 to. thereby maintain the; knob in any position to which it is adjusted. The, braking effect of the spring pressed balls 76 is supplemented by the generally tight fit of the hinge, pin 70 in the displaced portions of the terminal portion. 66 in which it, is supported, to retain the hinge pin and, hence, the valve plate in any position to which it has been adjusted, The knob 74 may have a pointer 78, and appropriate indicia (not shown) may be formed on the rug tool for indicating the various positionsof adjustment of the valve plate.

It will be apparent that the valve plate enables an operator of thefrug tool to control the amount of air which enters through the nozzle opening 32 and consequently the amount; of air that enters through the slots 48. Starting with a condition in which the valve plate lies contiguous to the terminal portion 66 and, therefore, wherein the passageway 44' is not constricted at all, it will be observed that a certain amount of air will enter through the slots 48 and a certain amount will enter through the nozzle opening 32. If the type of rug on which the rug tool is operated seals too tightly to the rug tool or if it does not seal enough and too much air is entering into the nozzle opening, either condition may be alleviated by adjusting the valve plate 68 in such a manner that it constricts the passageway 44. This reduces the amount of air which may pass through the passageway 44 and consequently the amount of air that may enter through the nozzle opening 32. This has the consequential effect of increasing the amount of air that enters through the slots 48. Therefore, if the rug tool has been sealing too tightly, the reduction in the amount of air entering through the nozzle opening will lessen the those skilled in the art.

through the nozzle chamber and the turbine chamben' Whereas the provision of the valve plate 68 constitutes a significant improvement in turbine-driven rug tools, under one condition a situation may arise which creates a subsidiary problem. In some cases it may be necessary to so severely restrict the flow of air through the nozzle opening in order to provide easy pushing of the rug tool that the effective amount of opening in passageway 44 is so small that it will not readily allow coarse dirt to pass through to the outlet chamber and ultimately to the source of suction.

To eliminate this problem, a bleeder valve is provided, which is illustrated as being mounted in the lower wall 30, but which may be mounted at some other location, such as in the side wall 34, if it is desired. The bleeder valve comp-rises the opening 80 which is formed in the bottom wall 30, and the valve disk 82 which is larger than the opening 80 and overlies the latter. The valve disk 82 is pivotally connected by a conventional hinge construction 84 to the inner side of the bottom wall 30 and is movable to either cover or uncover opening 80. Valve disk 82 is normally pressed against the inner surface of the bottom wall to cover the opening 80 by the leaf spring 86 which is rigidly secured at one of its ends to the inner side of the bottom 30 by the securing means 88.

In Fig. 1 the bleeder valve is illustrated as closed, i.e., the opening 80 is covered by valve disk 82. In Fig. 2 the bleeder valve is illustrated as being open. It will be observed that when the bleeder valve is open, air enters directly through the opening 80 into the passageway 44, thereby bypassing the nozzle opening 32. This becomes useful, as was mentioned, when it is necessary to severely restrict the amount of air entering through the nozzle opening 32 in order to reduce the seal created between the rug and the nozzle, and when it is desired not to unduly constrict the passageway 44. The latter undesirable condition is avoided by allowing the bleeder valve to open when the vacuum in the nozzle chamber reaches a predetermined level. By permitting additional air to flow directly into the passageway 44 and to bypass the nozzle opening, the vacuum at the nozzle which is causing the tight seal may be reduced, and yet the passage-' way 44 does not have to be unduly restricted.

In view of the foregoing, it is believed that it will be apparent that the improved rug tool satisfies the object of this invention in that it provides in -a split air flow, turbine-driven rug tool, means which permits an operator to regulate the relative amounts of air flowing into the turbine portion and the nozzle portion of the rug tool, and thereby adapt the rug tool to whatever cleaning conditions obtain, i.e., type of rug and dirt being cleaned.

As will be evident, certain aspects of my invention are not limited to the particular details of the construction of the example illustrated, and I contemplate that various and other modifications and applications will occur to It is, therefore, my intention that the appended claims will cover such modifications and applications as do not depart from the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an air operated rug tool attachment for cooperation with the air conducting wand of a canister type vacuum cleaner comprising a body having a turbine chamber disposed near the top of said body which communicates with the atmosphere and has a turbine rotatably mounted therein, a nozzle chamber disposed near the bottom of said body which communicates with the atmosphere and has a rug brush rotatably. mounted therein, and an outlet chamber which communicates with the. turbine chamber, nozzle chamber and a source of suction, said outlet chamber communicating with said relative amounts of air that flow through said nozzle chamber and said turbine chamber, said regulating means comprising air flow restricting means which is located wholly within said body, and a manually operable means which is accessible from the exterior of said body for operating said air flow restrictingmeans, said air fiow restricting means being adjustable by said manually operablemeans to any one of a plurality of diflerent positions to thereby provide va plurality of different set tings wherein the air flow is restricted to diiferent extents.

2: In an air operated rug tool attachment for cooper a. tion with the air conducting wand of a canister type vacuum cleaner comprising a body having a turbine chamber whichcommunicates with the atmosphere andhas a.

turbine rotatably mounted therein, a nozzle chamber which communicates with the atmosphere and has a rug brush rotatably mounted therein, and an outlet chamber which communicates with the turbine chamber, nozzle chamber and a source of suction, said outlet chamber communicating with said source of suction through said. air conducting wand, said turbine adapted to rotate said.

rug brush when it is rotated, whereby on actuation of saidsource, a flow of dust-laden air is induced through said nozzle and said outlet chamber, and the flow of clean air is induced through said turbine chamber, where it contacts said turbine and rotatesit, and said outlet chamber, that improvement comprising means for regn lating the relative amounts of air that flow throughsaid nozzle chamber and said turbine chamber, said regulat ing means comprising air flow restricting means .which. is located wholly'within said body in the path of the air that flows through said nozzlecharnber, and a manually operable means which is accessible from the exterior ofsaid body for operatingsaid air flow restricting means, saidair flow restricting means being adjustable by said manually operable means to any one of a plurality of diilerent positions tothereby provide a plurality of different settings wherein the air flow is restrictedtodifl ferent extents.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein said body includes a nozzle opening and air enters said nozzle chamber through said nozzle opening, and additional means is provided for allowingairto; enter said nozzle chamber under certain predetermined conditions without passingthrough said nozzle opening.

4, An air operated rug tool comprising a body having 8.: a turbine chamber, a. nozzle chamber and an outlet chamber, openings in said body placing said turbine chamber into communication withthe atmosphere, a, turbine rotatably mounted in said turbine chambfi f, a nozzle opening placing ysaid nozzle chamber into com;

" munication withthe atmosphere, a rug brush rotatably uncovers, said bypass opening when thevacuum within mounted in said nozzle chamber adjacent said nozzle opening, said. turbine and said rugbrush being in mechani; caL driving relationship, a passageway. connecting said, nozzle chamber and said outlet chamber, and valvemeans, in said passageway for selectivelydirectly controllingthe flow of air through said passagewayto thereby control the amount of air that enters through said nozzle opening, said valve, means being selectively positionable be-d tween a fully opened positionand a fully closed posi;

r n a t p r l y of f rent in er ediate positions wherein a difierent amount of air is allowed to flow through said passageway.

5. A device asdefined in claim 4 wherein said valve means comprises a pivotal valve plate.

'6. A device as definedin claim 5 wherein said valve plate is controlled by means which is 'aQQessiblefromthe exteri r f theme.to .-v

7. An air operatedrug tool. comprising a body hav-, ing walls which define a turbine chamber, a nozzle, chamber and a tubular outlet chamber, openings in said walls for placing said turbine chamberinto communication, withthe atmosphere, a turbine rotatably mounted in said .turbinechamber, a nozzle. opening placing said nozzlechamber into communication with the atmosphere, a rug b rush rotatably mounted. in said nozzle chamber adjacent said nozzle opening, said turbine and said rug brush being in mechanical driving relationship, one of saidwalls separatingsaid turbine and nozzle chambersand extending into said tubular chamber, a plate in said, tubular chamber hinged to said one of said walls on the nozzlepchamber side thereof, said plate being selectively. movable to a plurality of positions to vary' the,v amount of clearance between itself and the .portionsoithetubularchamber forming walls nsaidside, whereby on theupstream sideof said plateforadmitting air into said nozzle chamber under certainpredetcrrnined con r.

ditions without passing through said nozzle. opening,.

9. Agdeviceasdefined in claim 8 wherein said means comprises a bypass opening and a spring pressedclosure which, normally covers said bypass opening, but.which the nozzlechamber reaches a predetermined point.

References Citedin the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS

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