JP2014039701A - Stretchable hose and vacuum cleaner using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a stretchable hose which becomes a rigid body like a pipe in storing a vacuum cleaner to dispense with a structure for fitting to the vacuum cleaner body and to eliminate the troublesomeness in storing and setting.SOLUTION: A stretchable hose has a double structure including a stretchable hose A6 disposed inside and a stretchable hose B9 disposed outside it, so that the stretchable hose 16 can be freely stretched/contracted by entering and leaving of the air to and from a hollow part 10 therebetween and further be made into a rigid body in the contracted state. The stretchable hose 16 is used as a hose of a vacuum cleaner, so that in storing the vacuum cleaner in a standing state, the hose part can be held in a short and compact manner without bending, and without an extension pipe and a nozzle suspended on the body. Therefore, the vacuum cleaner can be stored without taking time and trouble, in a compact and space-saving manner.

Description

  The present invention relates to a telescopic hose and a vacuum cleaner using the same.

  Currently, the canister-type vacuum cleaner is housed in the vacuum cleaner body on the floor, and the locking part on the extension pipe or floor nozzle is fitted to the locking part on the vacuum cleaner body. And the stand accommodation which accommodates a vacuum cleaner in the form which the extension pipe and the floor nozzle inverted with respect to the floor surface is common (for example, refer patent document 1).

  Further, in a general canister type vacuum cleaner, since the extended flexible hose is connected between the vacuum cleaner main body and the extension pipe, the hose is greatly curved when stored. It often has the impression that it looks bad. For the appearance of this hose, it has been proposed to use an expansion / contraction hose to eliminate the bending of the hose in the housed state (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3).

  In patent document 2, in the coating | cover of hose outer periphery, the location used as the recessed part between spiral core wires is formed with a double coating | coated member, and the supply means which pressurizes with air to the hollow part of this recessed part is provided. During storage, the covering member of the recess is bent radially inward due to the stress of the core wire, forcing the hose into a contracted state in the axial direction, and supplying air to the hollow part of the covering member during use By applying pressure, a configuration has been proposed in which the hose extends in the axial direction and maintains the state as it is.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 3, when a vacuum cleaner is stored by a retractable hose and a storage hose that can completely cover the contracted expansion hose, the expansion hose is contracted and stored in the storage hose. The structure which engages between a storage hose is proposed.

  In the storage state, by holding the contracted state of the expansion / contraction hose by the stress of the core wire (Patent Document 2) and the storage hose holding (Patent Document 3), from the large curved state of the hose in the conventional stand storage state, A clean and attractive form can be realized.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-197076 JP 2003-290097 A JP 2006-346115 A

  However, even in the configurations of Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, the extension pipe and the floor nozzle are held by a locking portion provided in the cleaner body, If you try to fit the locked part provided on the extension pipe or floor nozzle, it is quite easy to fit it because it is far from the user's eye position and the locking part is not large. There is a problem that it cannot be done and takes time and effort.

  Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-described problem, and without the fitting operation in the stand storage state, the means for holding the extension pipe and the floor nozzle can be easily set in the storage state without trouble by just the operation at hand. It is to provide a vacuum cleaner that can.

  In order to achieve the above object, the vacuum cleaner of the present invention is connected to the vacuum cleaner main body in which the electric blower is built, and the vacuum cleaner main body. It is composed of two telescopic hoses having a small diameter and a large diameter composed of a core wire wound in a spiral shape and a covering member covering the outer periphery of the core wire, and the small diameter hose is housed inside the large diameter hose. The space between the small-diameter hose and the large-diameter hose is configured to be a hollow portion sealed by the small-diameter and large-diameter hose ends, and sucks air from the hollow portion. Then, a forced contraction means for contracting the two telescopic hoses in the tube axis direction is provided.

  With such a configuration, in a normal use state (during cleaning), the hose is maintained in an extended state due to the spring pressure of the core wire. When the air in the hollow portion is sucked by the forced contraction means, the hose is flattened in the tube axis direction and crushed, and the hose is contracted.

  If the space between the hollow portion and the forced contraction means is closed as it is and the hollow portion is kept in a vacuum state, the hollow portion cannot be expanded due to the difference from the atmospheric pressure. Since the expansion hose is in a rigid state by the rigidity force, the extension pipe and the floor nozzle can be held by the rigidity force, so that it can be locked with the main body of the cleaner. A fitting configuration becomes unnecessary, and the troublesomeness at the time of storage set can be saved.

  In the vacuum cleaner of the present invention, the hose becomes a rigid body like a pipe when the vacuum cleaner is housed, so that the tip of the extension pipe can be held as it is in the housed state. A fitting configuration for locking with the machine main body is not necessary, and the troublesomeness at the time of storage set can be saved.

(A) Sectional drawing of expansion-contraction hose in Embodiment 1, (b) Same part sectional drawing of expansion-contraction hose Same as above, configuration diagram of vacuum hose body side end of telescopic hose Same as above, Configuration diagram of the handle part side end of the telescopic hose Sectional view showing the contracted state of the telescopic hose The block diagram of the vacuum cleaner in Embodiment 1 The configuration diagram of the vacuum cleaner stand storage state Configuration diagram of stand-up state of a conventional vacuum cleaner The principal part sectional drawing which shows the latching | locking part of an extension pipe and a main body in the accommodation state of a vacuum cleaner Sectional drawing which showed the structure of the suction means in Embodiment 1 of this invention (A) Sectional drawing of the expansion / contraction hose in Embodiment 2, (b) The principal part sectional drawing which showed the contraction state of the expansion / contraction hose Sectional view showing the contracted state of the telescopic hose (A) The same, sectional drawing of an expansion / contraction hose, (b) The principal part sectional view which showed the contraction state of the expansion / contraction hose (A) The block diagram which showed the state at the time of use of the vacuum cleaner in Embodiment 3, (b) The block diagram which showed the accommodation state of the vacuum cleaner same as the above.

A first aspect of the invention is a telescopic hose having a small diameter comprising a core wire spirally wound at an equal pitch so as to be stretched and biased normally and a covering member covering the outer periphery of the core wire. And the large diameter hose, the small diameter hose is housed inside the large diameter hose, and the space between the small diameter hose and the large diameter hose is the diameter. Forced contraction means configured to form a hollow portion sealed with small and large hose ends, sucking air in the hollow portion and contracting the two telescopic hoses in the tube axis direction Thus, the user can freely adjust the length of the expansion / contraction hose by the entry and exit of air in the hollow space, and can be rigidized and held in a contracted state.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the forced contraction means includes a suction means, a connection portion between the hollow portion and the suction means, and a hermetically-released switchable sealing valve provided in the connection portion. The decompression hose is maintained in a rigid state by maintaining the decompressed state of the hollow part, and thereby the decompressed state of the hollow part is maintained by closing the sealing valve. Thus, the telescopic hose can be held in a rigid state.

  According to a third aspect of the invention, the suction means sucks the air in the hollow portion by the suction pressure of the electric blower and depressurizes it, and thus the main body is equipped with the electric blower like a vacuum cleaner. When the telescopic hose of the present invention is used in an apparatus, it is not necessary to use a new component as a forcing means, and therefore the telescopic hose can be configured at a lower cost.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the suction means sucks the air in the hollow portion by a suction pump and depressurizes it, so that the user can easily operate the telescopic hose by operating the suction pump. Expansion and contraction can be adjusted.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the pitch between the core wires of the small diameter hose is larger than the pitch between the core wires of the large diameter hose. As a result, the shrinkage state is inhibited and a smaller contraction state cannot be obtained, and the large hose contracts to the maximum. In the state, the small-diameter hose is configured to be in a contractible state, and by further depressurizing the hollow portion from the state, the large-diameter hose is deformed in a more contracting direction, The entire expansion hose can be further increased in rigidity.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the winding direction of the core wire of the small diameter hose and the winding direction of the core wire of the large diameter hose are different from each other. The shrink hose can be expanded and contracted more effectively and compactly without being pinched by the peaks of the large diameter hose.

  7th invention utilizes the said expansion-contraction hose as a component of a cleaner, the connection pipe connected with a vacuum cleaner main body is provided in the end of the said expansion-contraction hose, and the said vacuum cleaner main body which connected the said expansion-contraction hose The telescopic hose is rigidly held in the stowed state in the vertical direction in the upright state, so that when the user stores the vacuum cleaner body in the upright state, the telescopic hose is attached to any of the main bodies. It is possible to obtain a neat storage state without being held in this place and without the expansion hose being greatly curved.

According to an eighth invention, in the seventh invention, a hand connecting pipe portion is provided at an end of the telescopic hose opposite to the side to which the cleaner body is connected, and the hand connecting pipe includes the telescopic hose. A connecting pipe and a handle pipe connected to the end of the connecting pipe, and a flexible pipe provided between the connecting pipe and the handle pipe. The connecting pipe and the handle pipe are turned and bent. An engagement portion and an engaged portion for locking the handle tube and the connection tube are connected to each other in a state where the connection tube is disconnected from the handle tube and rotated by 180 °. By providing, when the user stores the vacuum cleaner in a standing state, it can be stored in a more compact state.

(Embodiment 1)
The telescopic hose in the embodiment of the present invention and a vacuum cleaner using the same will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a telescopic hose according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention and a partially enlarged view thereof. As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 (a), the telescopic hose comprises a telescopic hose part 1, a main body side connection part 2 for connecting to other parts at both ends thereof, and a handle side connection part 3, and the hose. The part 1 and each connection part are connected as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, the hose portion 1 has a core wire A4 spirally wound at an equal pitch, a telescopic hose A6 made of a covering member 5 covering the outer periphery of the core wire A4, and a diameter compared to the core wire A4. The core wire B7 is spirally wound at an equal pitch like the core wire A4, and is composed of a stretchable hose B9 composed of a covering member 8 covering the outer periphery of the core wire B7. The stretchable hose A6 is housed inside the stretchable hose B9. It is configured as a double hose with the end fixed as shown in FIG.

  Further, the hollow portion 10 between the expansion / contraction hose A6 and the expansion / contraction hose B9 is in a state of being sealed by a sealing member 11 having a communication portion 12 in the tube axis direction at the main body side connection portion 2, and opening and closing the communication portion 12 The valve 13 that controls the air is configured to control the inflow of external air.

  The communication part 12 communicates with the telescopic hose inner space 14. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the handle side connection part 3 on the handle part 23 side is configured to seal the hollow part 10 with the sealing member 15, and by sucking the air inside the hollow part 10, The hollow portion 10 is in a vacuum state, and the hose portion 1 is in a contracted state as shown in FIG. And the vacuum state of the hollow part 10 is hold | maintained by closing the valve 13 in that state, and the hose part 1 will be in the state solidified like a rigid body.

Next, the structure of the electric vacuum cleaner using this telescopic hose 16 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 5, the electric vacuum cleaner of the present invention includes a vacuum cleaner main body 20 having an electric blower (not shown), a dust collecting portion 21 for storing sucked dust, and a hose positioned in front of the vacuum cleaner main body 20. The extension hose 16 in which the main body side connection part 2 side is connected to the connection part 22 and the hose connection part 22, and the handle in the order of connection to the handle side connection part 3 at the end opposite to the hose connection part 22 of the extension hose 16. It is comprised from the part 23, the extendable extension tube 24, and the nozzle 25 which collects dust.

  The dust collected from the nozzle 25 passes through the inside of the handle portion 23 of the extension pipe 24, and further passes through the expansion hose 16 and through an air passage (not shown) inside the cleaner body 20, and then the cleaner. The dust is collected in a dust collecting unit 21 disposed in the main body 20. Here, the dust collection unit 21 may be either a cyclone type dust collection unit having a dust separation function or a paper pack type dust collection unit containing dust.

  The handle portion 23 is provided with an ON / OFF switch for the electric blower and an open / close switch (not shown) for the valve 13. The valve 13 is closed when the cleaner is driven (when the electric blower is driven). The hollow portion 10 has no air in and out, and the telescopic hose 16 is in a stretched state and is in a flexible hose state.

When the user finishes cleaning and houses the vacuum cleaner, when the valve 13 is opened, the air inside the hollow portion 10 is sucked, the hollow portion 10 is in a vacuum state, and the expansion / contraction hose 16 is moved in the tube axis direction by external pressure. Shrink to. Then, by closing the valve 13 again in the contracted state, the telescopic hose 16 becomes rigid in the contracted state as shown in FIG. 6, and when the vacuum cleaner body 20 is stored so as to be inverted with respect to the floor surface ( Hereinafter, this state is referred to as a stand state), and the handle portion 23, the extension pipe 24, and the nozzle 25 can be held without engaging with any position of the cleaner body 20.

  In general, the vacuum cleaner is configured such that the expansion / contraction hose has a certain length and flexibility so that the cleaner body 20 flexibly follows the movement of the nozzle 25 caused by the operation of the handle portion 23 when in use. However, in such an expansion / contraction hose, as shown in FIG. 7, when the vacuum cleaner is stored in a stand state, the expansion / contraction hose is curved, looks bad, and the storage space increases.

  In addition, as a method for storing a general canister type vacuum cleaner, as shown in FIG. 8 (enlarged view of A part in FIG. 7), the cleaner body 20 is placed on the floor surface and provided in the cleaner body 20. The locking portion 31 provided on the extension pipe or the floor nozzle is fitted into the locking portion 31 and the electric vacuum cleaner is accommodated with the extension pipe and the floor nozzle inverted with respect to the floor surface. When trying to fit the locked portion 32 to the locking portion 31 of the main body 20, the fitting position is separated from the user's eye position, and the locking portion 31 is not large, It is often difficult to fit them well, and it takes time and effort.

  However, in the configuration of the present invention, the telescopic hose 16, the extension pipe 24, and the nozzle 25 can be held in a stand state without engaging with the cleaner body 20, and the telescopic hose 16 is in a contracted state. Since it can be stored in, it can be stored in a small space.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, the structure of this invention is implement | achieved at low cost, without providing a new element by using the electric blower of a cleaner body as air suction means of the hollow part 10. The configuration of the present invention can also be realized by providing a separate suction pump and sucking the air in the hollow portion 10. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, the air passage 17 is provided at the end of the communication portion 12 communicating with the hollow portion 10 in the sealing member 11, and this air passage 17 is connected to the suction pump 18, so that the air in the hollow portion 10 May be aspirated. In this case, the suction pump 18 may be provided in an empty space in the main body.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of the telescopic hose in the second embodiment. As shown in the figure, the pitch of the core wire A4 of the inner diameter small expansion / contraction hose A6 is larger than the pitch of the core wire B7 of the outer diameter large expansion / contraction hose B9.

  In the case of the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, when the expansion / contraction hose 16 contracts, the peak of the inner expansion / contraction hose A6 contracts so that it just fits in the peak of the outer expansion / contraction hose B9. For this reason, there is a case where the thickness cannot be sufficiently shortened by the thickness. Therefore, by making the pitches of the inner telescopic hose A6 and the outer telescopic hose B9 different as in the second embodiment, the peak portion of the inner telescopic hose A6 just fits in the peak portion of the outer telescopic hose B9. Therefore, when the telescopic hose 16 contracts, it contracts sufficiently short.

  Further, by adopting such a configuration, the inner telescopic hose A6 is configured to be in a contractible state while the outer telescopic hose B9 is contracted to the maximum. By decompressing 10, the outer telescopic hose B <b> 9 is deformed in a more contracted direction, and the entire telescopic hose 16 can be further increased in rigidity.

12, the winding direction of the core wire A4 of the inner telescopic hose A6 and the winding direction of the core wire B7 of the outer telescopic hose B9 are different as shown in FIG.
Since the effect that the peak portion of the inner telescopic hose A6 is less likely to fit in the peak portion of the outer telescopic hose B9 is obtained, the telescopic hose 16 can be contracted sufficiently short also by this configuration.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of the electric vacuum cleaner according to the third embodiment. As shown in the figure, a hand connection pipe 26 is provided between the telescopic hose 16 and the handle part 23, and the handle part 23 and the hand connection pipe 26 are connected by a turning bending part 27 so as to turn and bend, A flexible telescopic pipe 28 through which suction air or sucked dust passes is provided between the handle portion 23 and the hand connection pipe 26.

  A resin bellows hose or the like is used as the flexible pipe. With this configuration, when the user stores the vacuum cleaner in a stand state, the handle portion 23 and the hand connection pipe 26 are bent by 180 °, whereby the telescopic hose 16 is It can be shrunk straight in a substantially vertical direction, shortened shorter, and the bent portions are neatly organized as shown in the figure, and the height at the time of storage is low, so that it can be stored more compactly.

  As described above, the expansion / contraction hose according to the present invention has a double structure composed of a small diameter hose disposed on the inside and a large diameter hose disposed on the outside, so that the expansion / contraction can be performed by the air in and out of the hollow space therebetween. The hose is expanded and contracted freely, and it is made rigid and held in a contracted state. By using this expandable hose as a hose for an electric vacuum cleaner, when storing the vacuum cleaner in a stand state, the hose part Can be held in a short, compact and undamaged state, and further, the telescopic hose, extension tube and nozzle can be held without being suspended from the main body, so it can be stored in a compact and space-saving manner. Can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hose part 2 Main body side connection part 3 Handle side connection part 4 Core wire A
5 Covering member (inner telescopic hose)
6 Telescopic hose A
7 Core B
8 Covering member (outer telescopic hose)
9 Telescopic hose B
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Hollow part 12 Communication part 13 Valve 16 Telescopic hose 18 Suction pump 20 Vacuum cleaner main body 22 Hose connection part 23 Handle part 26 Hand connection pipe 27 Turning bending part 28 Telescopic pipe 31 Locking part 32 Locked part

Claims (8)

Usually, it consists of two expansion and contraction hoses of a small diameter and a large diameter composed of a core wire spirally wound at an equal pitch so as to be in an extended biased state and a covering member covering the outer periphery of the core wire,
The small diameter hose is housed inside the large diameter hose, and the space between the small diameter hose and the large diameter hose is sealed by the small diameter and large diameter hose ends. A telescopic hose configured to be a hollow part and provided with a forced contraction means for sucking air in the hollow part and contracting the two telescopic hoses in the tube axis direction. The forced contraction means is composed of a suction means, a communication portion between the hollow portion and the suction means, and a switchable valve in a sealed open state provided in the communication portion, and the decompression state of the hollow portion The telescopic hose according to claim 1, wherein the telescopic hose is held in a rigid state by maintaining The telescopic hose according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the suction means sucks and reduces the pressure of the air in the hollow portion by a suction pressure of an electric blower. The telescopic hose according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the suction means sucks and reduces the pressure of the air in the hollow portion by a suction pump. The telescopic hose according to claim 1, wherein a pitch between core wires of the small diameter hose is larger than a pitch between core wires of the large diameter hose. The telescopic hose according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a winding direction of the core wire of the small diameter hose and a winding direction of the core wire of the large diameter hose are different. One end of the telescopic hose is provided with a connection pipe for connecting to the vacuum cleaner main body, and in the state where the vacuum cleaner main body to which the telescopic hose is connected is erected, the telescopic hose is rigidly held in a stored state in the vertical direction. The vacuum cleaner according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the vacuum cleaner is configured as described above. A hand connecting pipe portion is provided at an end of the telescopic hose opposite to the side to which the cleaner body is connected, and the hand connecting pipe is connected to a short part of the telescopic hose and a handle tube. And a flexible pipe portion provided between the connection pipe and the handle pipe, and the connection pipe and the handle pipe are connected to bend and bend from the handle pipe. 8. An engagement portion and an engaged portion are provided respectively for locking the handle tube and the connection tube in a state where the tube is separated and rotated by 180 °. The vacuum cleaner described.