JPH07253118A - Shaft receiver for vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To rapidly attach and detach a rotary bearing to and from a chassis by providing a flange of circular arc shape on the outer peripheral surface of an annular sleeve so as to extend radially outward, and providing the flange with a thin-walled web part in a position close to the outer peripheral surface of the sleeve, and a thick-walled head part radially outward. CONSTITUTION: A bearing 16 is provided with a sleeve 42. The sleeve 42 is an annulus ring of rectangular cross section, and a flange 48 of circular arc shape is projected radially outward from a part of the sleeve 42. The flange 48 has a thin-walled web part 50 and a thick-walled head part 52. A circumferentially extending slot 60 is formed at a saddle 38 of a chassis 22. The thickness of the slot 60 is larger than the thickness of the web part 50 to permit the web 50 to be inserted in the slot 60 and smaller than the thickness of the head part 52 to impede the passage of the head part 52 through the slot 60. With this constitution, the rotary bearing 16 can be rapidly connected to the chassis 22 and released from the chassis 22 by rotating the rotary bearing by an angle smaller than 180 deg. with respect to the chassis 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary bearing, and more particularly to a rotary bearing for a cleaner used in a household cleaner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vertical vacuum cleaners usually have a motor / fan unit formed by combining a motor and a fan. The motor / fan unit is attached to an upright handle bag unit of a vertical cleaner and is rotatably stored in a chassis unit mounted on the floor. The motor / fan section is for blowing air containing dust directly from the fan chamber to the handle bag section. Since the motor / fan unit and the handle are fixed to each other, a fixed air passage is formed between them. The inner wall of the air passage has a smooth shape so that dust in the air passing therethrough is unlikely to adhere to the inner wall. The handle and the motor / fan unit attached thereto are usually rotatable by about 90 ° with respect to the chassis. Here, an air inlet to the fan chamber is formed at one axial end of the motor / fan unit, and a rotary output shaft for driving the rotary brush is provided at the other end.

In a conventional vacuum cleaner, a pair of known journal bearings are used to rotatably attach the motor / fan part to the chassis. More specifically, a pair of journal bearings are provided at both ends of the motor fan in the axial direction so as to be coaxial with the axial direction. In the chassis,
A pair of webs were formed having a semi-cylindrical saddle sized appropriately for mounting each journal. A pair of semi-cylindrical caps are fixed to the pair of webs by a known tightening member such as a screw. The semi-cylindrical saddle and the semi-cylindrical cap attached to the semi-cylindrical saddle form a cylindrical bearing surface, which rotatably supports the journal of the motor / fan unit. Vacuum cleaners of the above type are described, for example, in U.S. Patent No. 4,637,092,
4,996,737 and 5,056,175, and U.S. registered design No. 301,648.

[0004]

However, according to the bearing mechanism of the type described above, when the journal of the motor / fan unit is mounted on the chassis, the journal is placed on the chassis and then the tightening member such as a screw is mounted. Needed to fix the cap to the chassis. Further, when removing the journal from the chassis, the cap had to be removed from the chassis with a tool such as a screwdriver, and then the journal had to be removed from the chassis. Therefore, there is a problem in that the process of attaching the journal and eventually the motor / fan unit to the vertical cleaner becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a bearing mechanism that can be quickly attached to and detached from a vertical cleaner without using a tightening member or a tool. That is. Another object of the present invention is a bearing mechanism for rotatably connecting a motor / fan unit to a chassis of a vertical cleaner, the bearing mechanism being made of a material different from that of the chassis. Therefore, it is to provide a bearing mechanism formed of a material more expensive than the material of the chassis and having excellent wear resistance and smoothness. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bearing mechanism capable of visually inspecting whether or not it is fixed to the chassis, and capable of being quickly attached to and detached from the chassis.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an annular sleeve and an arc shape for rotatably connecting a journal of a motor / fan unit to a chassis of a vertical cleaner. A rotary bearing for a vacuum cleaner having a flange, wherein the annular sleeve is provided with a substantially cylindrical inner peripheral surface for rotatably supporting a journal of a motor / fan unit and a radial separation from the inner peripheral surface. An arcuate flange formed on the outer peripheral surface of the annular sleeve such that the arcuate flange extends radially outward from a limited portion of the circumference of the annular sleeve. A thin web portion is provided at a position close to the outer peripheral surface of the annular sleeve, and a thick head portion is provided radially outward of the web portion, and is provided on the chassis of the vertical cleaner. Placed in the formed arc-shaped slot It provides a rotary bearing for a vacuum cleaner which is rotatably connected. Here, it is preferable that the arcuate flange has a T-shaped cross section. Further, the arc-shaped flange is approximately 1 on the circumference of the annular sleeve.
It preferably extends over 80 °. further,
A restricting means for restricting relative rotation between the rotary bearing and the chassis preferably extends from the arcuate flange. Here, the arc-shaped flange has an end portion facing the restriction means, and latch means for detachably latching the rotary bearing with respect to the chassis to restrict relative rotation between the rotary bearing and the chassis, It is preferably provided at the end.

Further, the present invention is a rotary bearing / chassis device comprising a rotary bearing and a chassis for rotatably holding a relatively rotatable journal, wherein the rotary bearing has an outer peripheral surface and the journal. An annular sleeve having a substantially cylindrical inner peripheral surface for rotatably supporting it and an arcuate flange fixed to the annular sleeve are provided, and the chassis holds the journal rotatably. A semi-cylindrical saddle arranged coaxially with the central axis of the journal, and by relatively rotating the rotary bearing and the chassis about the central axis of the journal by less than 180 °. There is provided a rotary bearing / chassis device including means for detachably connecting the arcuate flange of the rotary bearing to the chassis. Here, it is preferable that the arcuate flange has a T-shaped cross section. In addition, the arc-shaped flange has a diameter of about 18 on the circumference of the annular sleeve.
It preferably extends over 0 °. Further, it is preferable that the restricting means for restricting relative rotation between the rotary bearing and the chassis extends from the arc-shaped flange. Here, the arc-shaped flange has an end portion facing the restriction means, and latch means for detachably latching the rotary bearing with respect to the chassis to restrict relative rotation between the rotary bearing and the chassis, It is preferably provided at the end.

[0008]

The rotary bearing of the present invention is for rotatably and detachably connecting the journal of the motor / fan unit to the chassis of the vertical cleaner. To connect the motor / fan journal to the chassis, first,
Fit the journal into the annular sleeve of the rotating bearing. The annular sleeve has a cylindrical inner peripheral surface of a size suitable for rotatably supporting the journal, so that the journal is rotatably supported in the annular sleeve. . Next, the arcuate flange formed on the outer peripheral surface of the annular sleeve is detachably connected to the slot formed on the chassis. As a result, the journal of the motor / fan unit is rotatably connected to the chassis. On the other hand, when removing the journal of the motor / fan unit from the chassis, first, the arc-shaped flange of the rotary bearing is opened from the slot of the chassis, and then the journal is removed from the annular sleeve.

[0009]

The present invention will be described in detail below.

The rotary bearing of the present invention is for rotatably connecting the journal of the motor / fan unit to the semi-cylindrical saddle formed on the chassis. The rotary bearing includes an annular sleeve having an inner peripheral surface of a size suitable for rotatably supporting the journal. The outer circumferential surface of the annular sleeve is provided with an arcuate flange extending radially outward from a limited portion of the circumferential surface. The arcuate flange is formed with a thin web portion and a head portion provided radially outside the web portion. The thickness of the head portion is larger than the thickness of the web portion. The flange having the web portion and the head portion is connected to an arc-shaped slot formed on the semi-cylindrical saddle. The rotary bearing having such a structure is quickly connected to the chassis without using a tightening member or a tool,
Also, it is removed more quickly than on the chassis. Therefore, such a rotary bearing is particularly suitable for mounting the motor / fan part of the vertical cleaner on its head chassis.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cleaner 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This vacuum cleaner 10 includes a head unit 1 placed on the floor.
Equipped with 2. The handle bag portion 14 is the head portion 1.
It is attached so as to be rotatable with respect to 2. That is, the handle bag portion 14 is rotatable from the upright state shown in FIG. 1 to the rearwardly inclined state which is usually adopted when using the cleaner. The rotary bearing mechanism of the present invention is for rotatably connecting the handle bag portion 14 to the head portion 12.

FIG. 2 shows a part of the vacuum cleaner disassembled to show the members related to the operation of the rotary bearing mechanism 16 of the present invention. The motor / fan unit 18 is laterally (axially)
It has an electric motor mounted so as to extend and a fan driven by the electric motor. The electric motor and fan are housed in a rigid plastic housing. A fan chamber having an air inlet extending in the axial direction and an air outlet 24 extending in the tangential direction is formed in the housing. Here, the air inlet is
It communicates with the vacuum chamber 20 formed in the chassis 22. Further, the air outlet port 24 communicates with the handle bag portion 14. The motor / fan unit 18 extends along a horizontal shaft 26 that extends in the horizontal direction, and rotates about the horizontal shaft 26 with respect to the chassis 22 of the head unit 12. A pair of journals 28 and 30 are provided at both ends of the motor / fan unit 18 in the horizontal direction 26. It is preferable that the pair of journals 28 and 30 have a substantially cylindrical shape, and that they are integrally molded with a plastic housing to form a part of the motor / fan unit 18.

On the other hand, the chassis 22 is formed with a pair of webs 32 and 34 at both ends on the horizontal axis 26 thereof. A pair of semi-cylindrical concave saddle surfaces 36 and 38 are formed on the pair of webs 32 and 34. Here, the motor / fan unit 18 is rotatably connected to the chassis 22 by a conventional journal bearing mechanism on the left side of FIG. More specifically, the bearing cap 40 is fixed on the web 32 by a conventionally known pair of fastening members such as screws. The inner wall of the bearing cap 40 has a semi-cylindrical shape having a mirror image relationship with the corresponding semi-cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the saddle portion 36. Therefore, the cap 40 and the saddle 36 form a cylindrical inner peripheral surface that completely surrounds the journal 28. A sufficiently large clearance is formed in the radial direction between the cylindrical inner peripheral surface and the journal 28, and the motor / fan unit 18 is rotatably supported by the chassis. A conventionally known seal member (not shown) prevents leakage of air at the connecting portion between the motor / fan unit and the chassis.

The motor / fan unit 18 is further connected to the chassis 22 by the bearing 16 of the present invention on the right side in FIG. By using this bearing 16, the motor / fan unit 18 can be quickly attached / detached to / from the chassis 22 without using a fastening member or the like. When attaching the motor / fan unit 18 to the chassis 22, first, the bearing 16 is attached to the motor / fan unit 18
Fit in the journal 30 of. Then, the bearing 16
Is placed on the saddle 38 as shown in FIG. 3, and is then rotated counterclockwise by a half turn. As a result, the motor / fan unit 18 is connected to the chassis via the bearing 16. FIG. 3 shows the bearing 16 connected to the chassis. In this state, the motor / fan unit 18 (that is, the journal 30) is rotatable about the horizontal shaft 26 with respect to the bearing 16.
That is, it is rotatable in both directions shown by the arrow in FIG.

The structure of the bearing 16 and the saddle 38 formed on the chassis 22 to support the bearing 16 will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a side view of the bearing 16. As is clear from this figure, the bearing 16 comprises a sleeve 42. This sleeve 42
A cylindrical inner peripheral surface 44 and a cylindrical outer peripheral surface 46 are formed on the inner surface. The sleeve 42 has a substantially annular shape with a substantially rectangular cross section. An arcuate flange 48 projects outward in the radial direction from a part of the annular sleeve 42. This arc-shaped flange 48 is provided with a thin web portion 50.
And a thick head portion 52. The flange 48 is also formed with a cantilevered first end 54. The first end 54 has a latch portion 5 shown in FIG.
6 is formed. A second end 59 is formed on the side of the flange 48 opposite the first end 54. The second end portion 59 is formed with a stop portion 58 extending outward in the radial direction. As shown in FIG. 6, it is preferable that the flange 48 has a T-shaped cross section.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the saddle 38 formed on the chassis 22 has a slot (long hole) 60 extending in the circumferential direction thereof. This slot 60
Is wider than the thickness of the web portion 50 so that the web portion 50 of the flange 48 can be inserted into the slot 60. The width of this slot is also such that the flange head portion 52 cannot pass through the slot.
It is smaller than the thickness of the head portion 52. On the other hand, the thickness of the material forming the saddle 38 is somewhat smaller than the radial length of the web portion 50. Therefore, the head portion 52 is located on the rear side (outside) of the saddle constituent material, as shown in the sectional view of FIG.

The rotary bearing 16 and the slot 60 having the above-mentioned structure constitute a plug-in type engagement mechanism capable of quick connection and disconnection. That is, in the plug-in type engagement mechanism composed of the rotary bearing 16 and the slot 60, the rotary bearing 16 is attached to the chassis 1
The rotary bearing 16 is connected to the chassis by a simple operation of rotating it by an angle smaller than 80 °,
It can also be released from the chassis. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the insertion type engaging mechanism is constituted by the flange having a T-shaped cross section and the slot having a simple arc shape, but it may be constituted by other structures. For example, the insertion type engagement mechanism may be configured by a flange having an L-shaped cross section. Further, a plurality of flange portions may be formed at positions separated from each other on the circumference of the annular sleeve to form a plug-in type engagement mechanism. With such a structure, the same effect as in the case of the above embodiment can be expected. In the present invention,
In any case, it is possible to switch from the open state shown in FIG. 5 to the connected state shown in FIG. 4 simply by rotating the rotary bearing with respect to the chassis. When the rotary bearing 16 is in the open state shown in FIG. 5, the rotary bearing 16 can be slid in the axial direction with respect to the journal 30 and can be removed from the journal. Further, the motor / fan unit 18 and the bearing 16 can be integrally lifted from the chassis 22 and removed from the saddle.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, a large size opening 62 is formed at one end of the slot 60. Therefore, when connecting the rotary bearing 16 to the chassis 22, first, the head portion 52 of the flange 48 of the rotary bearing 16 is inserted into the opening 62. Then, from this state (state shown in FIG. 5), the bearing 16 is rotated counterclockwise. As a result, the head portion 5 of the flange 48 is
2 passes through the opening 62 and the web portion 50
Move inside. When the bearing 16 is rotated counterclockwise, the stop portion 58 comes into contact with the chassis 22 and the bearing 16 cannot be rotated any more. In this manner, when the bearing 16 reaches the state shown in FIG. 4, the latch portion 56 formed on the first end portion 54 of the flange 48 engages with the shoulder portion 64 formed on the chassis 22. As a result, the bearing is prevented from being accidentally disengaged from the chassis. In this way, the bearing 16 becomes the chassis 2
It is connected and fixed to 2. On the other hand, when removing the bearing 16 from the chassis, first, the latch 56 is elastically distorted outward by a thumb nail or a screwdriver, and the latch 56 is removed from the shoulder portion 64. Then, the bearing 16 is rotated clockwise from the connected state of FIG. 4 to the opened state of FIG.

According to the bearing mechanism of the present invention described above, the bearing 16 can be made of a material different from the material of the chassis 22. That is, chassis 22 is generally made of an extruded plastic material having high strength. It can be produced at low cost. On the other hand, the bearing 16 can be made of a material which is different from the material of the chassis and which has the best wear resistance and smoothness for the purpose of bearing. For example, AB
Bearings can be made of S and nylon, as well as many other readily available injection molded plastic materials. In this case, a high performance bearing can be manufactured at low cost.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various improvements and changes can be made within the scope of technical matters described in the claims. For example, although the above embodiments relate to vertical vacuum cleaners, the bearing mechanism of the present invention can be used in a variety of other devices.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above, according to the rotary bearing of the present invention, the journal of the motor / fan part can be quickly attached / detached to / from the chassis of the vertical cleaner without using a fastening member or a tool. be able to. Further, the rotary bearing of the present invention can be made of a material different from the material of the chassis. Therefore, by forming the bearing with a material that is more expensive than the material of the chassis, it is possible to form a bearing having optimal wear properties and smoothness as a bearing. Further, according to the rotary bearing of the present invention, it is possible to visually inspect whether or not the rotary bearing is securely fixed to the chassis, so that the rotary bearing can be quickly attached to and detached from the chassis.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vertical cleaner of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a portion of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state when the members shown in FIG. 2 are assembled.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a state where the bearing mechanism is in an open state.
FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the rotary bearing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Vertical Vacuum Cleaner 12 Head Part 14 Handle Bag Part 18 Motor / Fan Part 16 Bearing 22 Chassis 30 Journal 38 Saddle 48 Flange 50 Web Part 52 Head Part 56 Latch Part 58 Stop 60 Slot

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary bearing for a cleaner having an annular sleeve and an arc-shaped flange for rotatably connecting a journal of a motor / fan part to a chassis of a vertical cleaner, the annular sleeve. Has a substantially cylindrical inner peripheral surface for rotatably supporting the journal of the motor / fan part and an outer peripheral surface formed to be separated from the inner peripheral surface in a radial direction, and the arc-shaped flange , Provided on the outer peripheral surface of the annular sleeve so as to extend radially outward from a limited part on the circumference of the annular sleeve, and at a position close to the outer peripheral surface of the annular sleeve. It has a thin web portion and a thick head portion radially outward of the web portion, and is detachably connected to an arc-shaped slot formed on the chassis of the vertical cleaner. Characteristic rotary bearing for vacuum cleaner .