EP0233710A1

EP0233710A1 - Improvements in and relating to hose assemblies

Info

Publication number: EP0233710A1
Application number: EP87300553A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Christopher Robert Duncan
Original assignee: Numatic International Ltd
Current assignee: Numatic International Ltd
Priority date: 1986-01-22
Filing date: 1987-01-22
Publication date: 1987-08-26

Abstract

The invention relates to a hose assembly comprising a flexible fluid primary conduit (14) for the transport of air and liquid with one or more secondary conduits or conductors (21) in juxtaposition thereto, characterised by an outer sleeve (25) adapted to surround said primary and secondary conduits, the sleeve being releasably fastened about said conduit by longitudinal fastening means (22).

Description

The present invention relates to hose assemblies and has particular reference to hose assemblies for vacuum cleaners, spray guns and the like, particuarly where mass air transport is required along a hose.
With the development of domestic and industrial vacuum cleaning appliances, there is a demand for a hose assembly which allows transport of air from one part of an appliance to another and at the same time to provide a conduit or conductor for the supply, for example, of electricity or liquid at a point remote from the main power source.
Many complex solutions have been proposed to the problem, for example, by the provision of electrical conductors within the air hoses of vacuum cleaners to enable power to be supplied to head assemblies remote from the body of the vacuum cleaner. The advantage of the powered head at the end of a vacuum cleaner hose provides for much greater cleaning efficiency and provides for the advantage of the greater power of a suction vacuum cleaner combined with a powered head to provide a "beats as it sweeps" action.
Similarly in the spraying art there is a need to supply air, under pressure, from a compressor to a spray gun and provide corresponding power supplies at the spray gun head for metering measuring control or for powering an anciliary pump. Such devices are used particularly in electro-static spraying techniques.
The disadvantage of a complex hose contruction is that where the cable forms an integral part of the hose, in the event of damage to the hose, the cables may themselves be damaged. Furthermore the incorporation of electrical conductors within the structure of the hose itself results in an extremely elaborate and expensive article of manufacture.
An alternative which is frequently practised is simply to provide a separate electric cable and then provide clips to secure the electric cable at spaced intervals along the hose and any work-piece attached thereto. This has the disadvantage that the hose and any associated cable while lying generally together are in fact, sufficiently separate that in use the electric cables can foul the projections formed by the clips in use with the result, that the cable clips are strained or broken and the cable becomes detached from the hose. After a period of time in normal use such an assembly usually results in separation of the cable from the hose with the result that sooner or later the electrical cable becomes strained or broken.
According to the present invention there is provided a hose assembly comprising a flexible fluid primary conduit for the transport of air and liquid, one or more secondary conduits or conductors in juxtaposition said primary conduit and an outer sleeve adapted to surround said primary and secondary conduits, said sleeve being releasably fastened about said conduit by longitudinal fastening means.
The sleeve may be a sheath formed of a flexible plastic material and the fastening means may be a zip, a longitudinally series of spaced press studs, instant fastening means such as that commerically available under the trade mark "VELCRO". The use of a sheath described above while increasing, marginally the cost of the primary conduit serves to protect both primary and the seondary conduit and yet is easily detached and reassambled for servicing.
The invention includes a hose assembly in which the substantial length of the hose may be covered by one , or more lengths of outer sleeve jointed end to end. The end to end joints made simple abutting joints or physical jointing may be effected by means of VELCRO, stud fastenings or the like to provide an overlap fastening.
In a particular aspect of the present invention there is provided a vacuum cleaner hose and tool assembly comprising a flexible hose assembly in accordance with the invention, secured to a rigid tubular wand formed of a plurality of rigid or semi-rigid tubular pieces, further characterised by a clip for securing electrical conductor to the tube which clip comprises an annular body means provided on an internal surface of said body with means for fixedly securing said body to said tube and conductor securing means provided on an external surface of the body for securing the electrical conductor thereto.
The means for fixedly securing said body to the wand tube may comprise a plurality of circumferentially spaced projections each adapted to engage with a corresponding hole or recess in the primary conduit. Each projection may be shamfered towards one end to assist entry over said primary conduit or tube. The secondary conduit may be an electrical conductor or it may be a hollow tube for the purpose of delivering a liquid to an area juxtaposed a tool provided at the end of the primary conduit or tube.
The conduit securing means may comprise a pair of spaced lugs extending outwardly of the surface of said body being substantially parallel to the body access. Each lug is preferably provided with a thickened portion towards its extremity in opposed relationship with a corresponding portion on the other lug to provide a constriction through which the secondary conduit is pressed for retention thereby. Each lug may be shamfered at its extremity to provide for ease of insertion of the secondary conduit between said lugs.
In another embodiment of the present invention the body is preferably slightly frustoconical with the projection shamfered towards the end of larger diameter. In this case the body may serve additionally as a jointing member for jointing two tube portions. Thus, for example, in the situation where a multi-part wand is used for a vacuum cleaner, the clip may serve as the jointing member between two adjacent tube portions and may also serve to support and/or secure the secondary conduit in the form of either a hollow tube or electrical conductor. In this particular embodiment, the end of smaller diameter may be provided with an inwardly projecting annular rim. This rim may be interrupted in parts thereof juxtaposed said projections to leave a plurality of circumferentially spaced inwardly projecting rim-like segmental portions which serve to engage with an end of the tube to which the body is applied.
Use of the clip in accordance with the present invention in a vacuum cleaner wand provides for a means of securing a secondary conduit such, for example, as an electrical conductor, in a positive manner without fear of the clips becoming lost. Once assembled because the body is a completed closed ring about the wand it cannot become disengaged unless cut or removed. Furthermore, since it is positively located on the wand body it will not swivel or rotate thus avoiding tangling of the conductor.
The hose assembly in accordance with the present invention provides inter alia , therefore, means for securing an electrical conductor in close juxtaposition to a flexible hose and wand for a vacuum cleaner.
The present invention further includes a vacuum cleaner incorporating a hose assembly in accordance with the present invention.
Following is a description by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings of methods of carrying the invention into effect.
In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a vacuum cleaning machine incorporating a hose assembly in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a clip for use in combination with the sheath of the invention.
Figure 3 is an end view of the clip of Figure 2.

In Figure 1 of the drawings, a cylindrical vacuum cleaner body 10 has in its upper part 11 a motor for applying suction within the body of canister 12. The canister 12 is provided with an air inlet 13 provided with connection means for connection to a hose 14. The hose 14 is provided at its end remote from vacuum cleaning body 10, with an end cuff 15 adapted to receive a shaped tool 16 having the lower end a tool head 17, which in this case is a powered unit incorporating an electric motor driving a sweeper brush of known design. The upper part 11 of cleaner 10 is provided with an electrical output 20 adapted to connect with electrical conductor 21, which is then run along with hose 14 and connects with tool 16 by means of clips 22 and is connected at its other end by means of connector 23 to an electrical socket provided in the back tool head 17.
The hose 14 and associated conduit 21 is enclosed by means of an outer sheath 25 having a longitudinal fastening 26, in this case a zip fastening extending from one end to another. The sleeve 25 is designed as a close fit above the conduit 14 and its associated electrical conduct or 21 and fastening of the zip forms a substantially unitary construction by the sheath 25 so as to protect the hose and its associated conduit 21 and at the same time to prevent substantial separation of one from the other.
The clip, illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, is intended to act as both an end jointing sleeve for two pieces of tube constituting the wand of a vacuum cleaner and also to provide means for securing conduit along one side of the wand thus assembled.
The clip 110 has a generally frustoconical body 111 having a first end 112 of narrower diameter and second end 113 of larger diameter which second end 113 is adapted to be entered over the end of the tube to which the clip 110 is to be applied.
The inner surface 114 of body 111 is provided with a plurality, in this case three, circumferentially spaced lugs 115 each of which is shamfered towards the end of larger diameter at 116. The end of smaller diameter is provided with three inwardly projecting segmental rim portions 117 adapted to engage with and locate against the end of a tube to which the body 111 is applied.
The external surface 118 of body 111 is provided with a pair of axially disposed lugs 120 and 121 each of which is provided with a thickened portion 122 towards its extremity 123, each thickened portion being in opposed relationship with a corresponding portion on the other lug. Each lug 120, 121 is provided with a shamfered portion 124 towards extremity 123 to aid the insertion of the electrical conduit thereinto.
In operation, a conduit is laid into the spacing between the lugs and is then pressed into place between the thickened portions 122 whereby the conduit is retained in place to lie in close juxtaposition to the clip body 111 and the tube to which it is applied. In use the clip 110 is entered over the end of a mating tube which is provided with three circumferentially spaced holes adapted to accommodate each of projections 115. The end 113 of greater diameter is entered over the free end of the tube until the chamfered portions 116 of each projection 115 come into abutment with the external surface of the tube. The body 111 is then forced over the end of the tube until the end of the tube abuts the segmental ring portions 117 and the projections 115 snap into the cooperating holes provided in the body of the tube itself. The projections 115 serve to seal holes in the tube and at the same time serve to retain the body 111 on the end of the tube to which it is applied.
On jointing a similar tube, the tube end is entered into the end of the clip body 111 between the segmental portion 117 which serve to guide the tube and locate it so that the extremity thereof abuts the internal surface of each of projections 115 projecting through the internal surface of the first tube.

Claims

1. A hose assembly comprising a flexible fluid primary conduit for the transport of air and liquid with one or more secondary conduits or conductors in juxtaposition thereto, characterised by an outer sleeve adapted to surround said primary and secondary conduits, the sleeve being releasably fastened about said conduit by longitudinal fastening means.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the sleeve is a sheath formed of a flexible plastics material.

3. A hose assembly as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 characterised in that the fastening means is selected from a zip fastener, a longitudinal series of spaced press studs and hook and eye fastening means such as that commercially available under the Registered Trade Mark "VELCRO".

4. A hose assembly as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the primary conduit is a vacuum cleaner hose and the secondary conduit is an electrical conductor.

5. A vacuum cleaner hose assembly as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the hose assembly is secured to one end of a multi-part tube, the other end of which is a remote powered tool to which an electrical conductor passes further characterised by clip means for securing said tube parts together and for securing said conductor to the tube, each clip comprising an annular body, means provided on an external surface of said body for fixedly securing said body to said primary conduit or tube, a conduit securing means provided on the external surface of said body for securing said secondary conduit thereto.

6. A hose assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein the means for fixedly securing said body comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced projections, each adapted to engage a corresponding hole or recess in the juxtaposed tube path.

7. A hose assembly as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6 characterised in that each projection is chamfered towards one end to assist entry over the outer surface of said tube.

8. A hose assembly as claimed in claim 7 characterised in that conductor securing means comprises a pair of spaced lugs extending outwardly of the outer surface of said body in plane substantially parallel to the tube axis.

9. An assembly as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8 characterised in that each lug is provided with a thicken portion towards its extremity in opposed relationship with a corresponding portion on the outer lug to provide a constriction through which the electrical conductor is pressed for retention thereby.