US20050251950A1

US20050251950A1 - Hand vacuum cleaner with dry & wet switcher

Info

Publication number: US20050251950A1
Application number: US10/842,459
Authority: US
Inventors: Chih Hsu
Original assignee: Zweita International Co Ltd
Current assignee: Zweita International Co Ltd
Priority date: 2004-05-11
Filing date: 2004-05-11
Publication date: 2005-11-17

Abstract

A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher that operates in dry or wet mode without any external attachment is comprised of an elevation deck adapted with a water curette provided at the nozzle of the dust receiver; the knob being turned to control the ascending or descending of the elevation deck to change the openness of the nozzle; larger openness of the nozzle allowing dry operation mode and smaller openness to fully expose the water curette thus to operate in wet mode at the highest vacuuming velocity.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher, and more particularly, to one that has its elevation deck provided with a water curette that can be adjusted to change the openness of the nozzle for switching between the dry and wet operation modes.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A wet/dry dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner of the prior art has to be adapted with an external rubber hose or any other attachment exclusively for wet operation mode to clean water, milk, other types of liquid or mixture of liquid and solid. Those extra external attachments require additional storage space, make the handling for storage of the vacuum cleaner more troublesome, and are vulnerable to get lost to fail the wet operation mode. Furthermore, it's not handy and much time may be wasted in replacing the external attachments in switching for another operation mode.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a dry and wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner adapted with a switcher that does not require any external attachments to change the operation between wet and dry modes, thus to eliminate the problems of storage or making shift as found with the prior art, promote the operation efficacy of the cleaner as a whole, and simplify the switching process between two operation modes. To achieve the purpose, an elevation deck adapted with a water curette is provided at the nozzle of the dust receiver with the openness of the nozzle adjustable by ascending or descending the elevation deck from turning a knob to fast switch between both operation modes.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a dry and wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner adapted with a switcher. Wherein, a guidepost is erected on the nozzle of the dust receiver, and a corresponding guidepost is disposed at the elevation deck to help facilitate the ascending or descending of the elevation deck.
Another purpose yet of the present invention is to provide a dry and wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner adapted with a switcher. Wherein, the water curette incorporated by insertion to the elevation deck is replaceable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing primary members of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing that an elevation deck is separated from the nozzle.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a knob, a lid and the elevation deck of the present invention as assembled.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing that the openness of the nozzle of the present invention is at its maximal status.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing that the openness of the nozzle of the present invention is at its minimum status.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing that the present invention is switched to wet operation mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a dry/wet dual-purpose hand vacuum cleaner of the present invention is comprised of a body 1 and a dust receiver 2 provided at the front end of the vacuum cleaner. The body 1 also includes a strainer, a fan, a motor, a switch, a handle, and/or a charging base of the prior art and will not be elaborated herein. The switcher of the present invention is provided at the tip of the dust receiver 2 and essentially comprised of an elevation deck 3 adapted with a water curette 31 at a nozzle 21 of the dust receiver 2, a lid 4 and a knob 5.
Wherein, the nozzle 21 provided at the front of the dust receiver 2 extends inwardly to define an inner tube 22 to suck into the dust through the nozzle 21 when the vacuum cleaner is started. A water retainer 23 and a strainer cover 24 are disposed in sequence at the rear end of the dust receiver 2. The peripheral of the water retainer 23 is sealed with a watertight strip 231 to define an enclosed space 25 to accommodate the water stains, liquid, or mixture of liquid and solid with good watertight result when the water retainer 23 is stuffed into the dust receiver 2 as also found in the prior art. However, in the present invention, a recessed space 26 is provided in the front of the nozzle 21 to accommodate the elevation deck 3, the lid 4 and the knob 5. A retaining plate 221 extends from the inner wall of the recessed space 26. One guidepost or multiple guideposts plate 222 is disposed on the retaining plate 221, and a longitudinal plate 223 is disposed in the middle of the retaining plate 221.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the elevation deck 3 related to a deck with its cross section indicating an L shape is adapted to the recessed space 26 of the dust receiver 2. The replaceable water curette 31 is inserted to the front of the elevation deck 3. A spiral post 32 is provided at the center of the elevation deck 3 and a retaining plate 33 extends from the wall at the rear end of the elevation deck 3. One guide hole or multiple guide holes 331 is provided on the retaining plate 33 and a slot 332 is longitudinally provided in the middle of the retaining plate 33. Both of the guide hole 331 and the longitudinal slot 332 are merely located at where corresponding to the guidepost 222 and the longitudinal plate 223 that penetrate through the recessed space 26 to help guide the elevation deck 3 to achieve smooth ascending or descending.
The lid 4 incorporated by insertion to where above the recessed space 26 of the nozzle 21 has at its end surface provided with an opening 41.
The knob 5 provided in the opening 41 of the lid 4 has its upper end disposed with a rotation plate 51 and its lower end an inner spiral tube 52. The inner spiral tube 52 screwed to the spiral post 32 of the elevation deck 3 is provided with a threaded inner tube, and one or multiple inverse insertion plate 521 is provided by punching on the external wall of the inner spiral tube 52. Both of the inverse insertion plate 521 and the wall of the opening 41 lock the knob 5 in position by holding against the when the knob 5 is inserted into the opening 41 of the lid 4 as illustrated in FIG. 4 without the risk of falling off. The knob 5 when incorporated to the spiral post 32 of the elevation deck 3 can only be turned without being moved. When the knob 5 is turned, it drives the elevation deck 3 to either ascend or descend.
By turning the knob 5 clockwise or counter-clockwise, the elevation deck 3 produce the displacement of ascending or descending. Once the elevation deck 3 ascends to its upper limit as illustrated in FIG. 5, the nozzle 21 is given its maximal openness to permit the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in dry mode. On the contrary, when the elevation deck 3 descends to its lower limit as illustrated in FIG. 6, the nozzle 21 is given its minimum openness thus to fully expose the water curette 31 for the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in wet mode. With the minimum openness, the hand vacuum cleaner is at its highest vacuuming velocity to fast remove water stains, liquid or mixture of liquid and solid into the enclosed space 25 in the dust receiver 2 in the route as indicated by the arrow illustrated in FIG. 7.
With the inner spiral tube 52 screwed to the spiral post 32 of the elevation deck 3 to the full extent of lock up for the elevation deck 3 to ascend to its upper limit. When the knob 5 is turned counter-clockwise to its extreme, the retaining plate 33 of the elevation deck 3 and the retaining plate 221 in the recessed space 26 are in the status of full retaining.
The peripheral wall of the recessed space 26 in the nozzle 21 is provided with one or multiple locking slots 261, and one or multiple locking plates 42 is provided at where in relation to the peripheral wall of the lid 4. The locking plate 42 and the locking slot 261 are interlocked to each other in position for the lid 4 to be firmly secured at where above the recessed space 26 of the nozzle 21.
Now referring to FIG. 5, the water curette 31 provided at the front of the elevation deck 3 is completely hidden to the inner wall of the nozzle 21 when the elevation deck 3 ascends to its upper limit to allow the maximal openness for the nozzle 21 for the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in dry mode.
Additional to the inverse insertion plate 521 provided by punching on the wall of the inner spiral tube 52 of the knob 5, two or more than two slots 522 are provided at the opening of the inner spiral tube 52 to permit proper flexibility to the opening of the inner spiral tube 52 for fast insertion into the spiral post 32 incorporated to the elevation deck 3.
It is to be noted that the preferred embodiment disclosed above is not used to restrict the teaching of the present invention. Any other equivalent replacement and/or substitution art shall be deemed as falling within the scope of the specification of the present invention. For example, if and when required, the lid 4 may be integrated to the above of the nozzle; or the water curette 31 may be adapted to the elevation deck 3 by locking or any other equivalent means.
The present invention by simply turning a knob achieves the easy switching between the dry and wet operation modes for the hand vacuum cleaner without any external attachments allows easy use and discloses an innovative and justified structure. Therefore, this application for a utility patent is duly filed accordingly.

Claims

1. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher comprised of a body of the cleaner, a dust receiver disposed at the tip of the body, an elevation deck adapted with a water curette being provided to a nozzle of the dust receiver, a lid, and a knob is characterized by that: the dust receiver having its nozzle to extend inwardly to define an inner tube, an enclosed space being defined in the dust receiver, and a recessed space being disposed at the front of the nozzle to accommodate the elevation deck, the lid and the knob; the elevation deck adapted in the recessed space of the dust receiver having been inserted at its front the water curette, and a spiral post being disposed in the middle of the elevation deck; the lid provided at where above the recessed space of the nozzle having at its end surface provided with an opening; the knob secured in the opening of the lid having at its lower end provided with an inner spiral tube to be screwed to the inner spiral post disposed on the elevation deck; the ascending and descending of the elevation deck being controlled by turning the knob to change the openness of the nozzle; the larger openness of the nozzle allowing the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in dry mode; and the smaller openness of the nozzle allowing the hand vacuum cleaner to operate in wet mode by exposing the water curette.

2. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, a retaining plate extends from the inner wall of the recessed space of the nozzle, one or multiple guidepost being provided on the retaining plate, a longitudinal plate being provided in the middle of the retaining plate, another retaining plate extending from the real end wall of the elevation deck, one or multiple guide holes being provided on the retaining plate and a slot being longitudinally disposed in the middle of the retaining plate; and the guide hole and the longitudinal slot being merely provided in relation to the guidepost and the longitudinal plate penetrating into the recessed space.

3. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, a rotation plate is provided on the top of the knob.

4. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, one or multiple locking slots is provided on the peripheral wall of the recessed space in the nozzle; one or multiple corresponding locking plates is provided on the peripheral wall of the lid; and the locking slot and the locking plate are interlocked to each other in position.

5. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the lid is integrated with the nozzle at where above the nozzle.

6. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the elevation deck relates to a deck with a cross section of an L shape.

7. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the inner spiral rube at the lower end of the knob is formed by punching one or multiple inverse insertion plates.

8. A hand vacuum cleaner with a dry/wet switcher as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the knob is provided with two or more than two slots at the opening of the inner spiral tube.