WO2002053005A1

WO2002053005A1 - Dust bag for vacuum cleaners and the like and filtering paper for making such a dust bag

Info

Publication number: WO2002053005A1
Application number: PCT/EP2001/015360
Authority: WO
Inventors: Flavia Crema
Original assignee: Flavia Crema
Priority date: 2000-12-29
Filing date: 2001-12-28
Publication date: 2002-07-11
Also published as: ITCO20000028A1

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner bag (1) formed by a conventional single-layer or multiple-layer filtering paper material comprising one or more processing agents for providing an anti-bacteric and/or anti-mite and/or disinfecting and/or fungicidal or the like function to kill bacteria, mite and the like inside the bag is herein disclosed. Thus, a diffusion of allergies and a formation of unpleasant odors is inhibited, while favoring the hygienizing of the environment. The subject pre-processed filtering paper material can be advantageously used in other application fields, such as for motor vehicle anti-pollen filters, air conditioning system filters, protective masks and the like.

Description

DUST BAG FOR VACUUM CLEANERS AND THE LIKE AND FILTERING PAPER FOR MAKING SUCH A DUST BAG

Background of the invention

The present invention relates to an improved bag for vacuum cleaners and the like, and a pre-processed paper for making

10 said bag, according to claims 1 and 2, respectively.

By the words "vacuum cleaner and the like" there are meant domestic and industrial vacuum cleaners, and air cleaners and the like apparatus using, in their inside, a filter paper bag arranged between the sucked air inlet and the air outlet before the

15 motor protective filter, said bags being in turn formed with such a shape and size adapted to allow said bags to be easily arranged in said apparatus, in order to exploit to a maximum the inner spaces of said apparatus for collecting the sucked dirt therein.

As is known, prior bags are made of a single-layer or

20 multiple-layer filtering paper material, having set specifically designed air permeability, mechanical strength, tearing strength and so on characteristics. In operation, the above mentioned prior bags are introduced into the vacuum cleaner and are used up to a full or partial filling-in of said bags, depending on the sucked dirt amount,

25 thereby a filling-in of such a bag can occur only after a given operation time and after several uses of the vacuum cleaner.

Also known is the fact that, as the vacuum cleaner is used, the air entering the bag entrains therewith, in addition to other materials, in particular as the vacuum cleaner is used in a domestic

30 application, skin particles or flakes, powder mites, microbes and so on, which involve several disadvantages. In fact, considering that: - the conventional domestic conditions and presence of persons or animals, such as dogs and cats, constitute an ideal environment for growing powder mite which mainly live on skin particles or flakes, that - said powder mite, with their excrements, diffuse allergies, such as asthma and the like, that

- further allergies are diffused by fungi which find likewise an ideal growth environment under conventional temperature and moisture domestic conditions and which also live on said skin particles or flakes, that

- the metabolism of said mite, fungi or moulds and several microbes present in powder also generate unpleasant odors, in particular in a closed environment such as that of a vacuum cleaner bag, that

- during the operation of the vacuum cleaner the air entering the bag subjected to turbulence the dirt aheady present in the bag and in exiting the bag pores outward entrains a portion of the most volatile particles such as mite, microbes and moulds, it should be clear that

1) a partial recirculation of bacteria, mite, microbes and the like does not allow to obtain those domestic hygienic conditions which could be provided by a vacuum cleaner,

2) said bags constitute an ideal environment for a proliferation of said mites, fungi, microbes and so on,

3) the vacuum cleaner, at the start of its operation, may diffuse unpleasant odors through the environment, and that 4) said partial recirculation of mite, their excrements, moulds, microorganisms and so on contributes to a diffusion of allergies.

It is moreover known that are at present available in the market a plurality of bactericidic, disinfectant, anti-mite, anti-fungi and the like products, the active principles thereof are supported in solutions, creams or gels used for counteracting against said bacteria, mites, fungi or moulds and the like, and killing them, and for inhibiting different form of allergies and generally providing optimum hygienic conditions.

Only by way of an example, are hereinbelow mentioned, as active principles or anti-mite, bactericidic, germicide, fungicide and disinfectant agents: - permetrine, which is a derived of pyrethrin and pertains to the class of the ectoparassiticidal agents, including anti-scabies agents, such as:

- d-phenothrine,

- isothiazolinone, - o-phenylphenol,

- alkyl-benzyl-oleyl-amonium chloride,

- alkyldimethylbenzylamonium chloride,

- benzylamonium chloride, and

- orthophenylphenol. Moreover, it is also known that air conditioning systems are usually affected by bacterium, microbe and germ colonies, as well as mite and fungi which are diffused through the environment by the circulating air. This also occurs in hospitals and operating rooms, in which the surgeons and auxiliary personnel conventional bear protective masks operating as filters. In this connection it should be pointed out that this is a merely mechanic filtering action, which is rather inefficient against bacteria, microbes and the like.

Motor vehicle anti-pollen filters are furthermore known, which are arranged upstream of the air inlets in the motor vehicle compartments and operate to lock, for example by using an activated carbon material, the seasonal pollens. These anti-pollen filters, in particular, are satisfactorily efficient against pollens, but their action is specifically designed only for said pollens. Thus, they are practically inefficient against germs, bacteria, microbes and the like. Summary of the invention

In the light of the above mentioned problems, the aim of the present invention is to improve prior single-layer and multiple-layer filtering paper materials for making vacuum cleaner bags, and the related vacuum cleaner bags, to allow said bags to hold, on a side, their specific operating characteristics unaltered and, on the other side, for allowing them to overcome the drawbacks of prior bags.

Within the scope of the above mentioned aim, a main object of the invention is to broaden the application field of the subject improved filtering paper materials.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the above mentioned aim and objects are achieved by a conventional single-layer or multiple-layer filtering paper material, having the features of claim 1, and by vacuum cleaner bags having the features of claim 2 and by the uses claimed in claims 4 and 5.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

Within the scope of the present application, the above mentioned active principles or agents, as well as any other active principles or agents having like anti-mite, anti-bacterium, fungicide, disinfectant, anti-microbic and the like actions are considered as included in the wordings "processing agents".

Thus, the invention provides a lot of important advantages. At first, by exploiting the anti-bacterium, anti-mite, disinfectant, fungicide and the like action of the used processing agents included in the subject filtering paper materials, or in the bags made thereby, it is possible to directly affect the bacteria, mite and the like entering the bags, to properly kill them. Thus, any allergy formation or actuating risks is obviated. Moreover, any unpleasant odors susceptible to be mainly emitted at the start of the vacuum cleaner operation, is prevented. Moreover, it is possible to greatly hygienize the environment in which is used the vacuum cleaner including the improved bag according to the present invention, and the use condition of the vacuum cleaner operator are further substantially improved. Yet another advantage is that the use of the above mentioned processing agents according to the invention, which are built-in in the subject paper materials, does not hinder or interfere against a conventional operation of prior vacuum cleaner bags made of conventional single-layer or multiple-layer paper materials and, moreover, said use does not require any functional, constructional or designing modifications to the vacuum cleaner disposable bags.

The improved paper materials according to the present invention advantageously provide a barrier action against bacteria, microbes, microorganisms and the like, also in the so-called anti- pollen filters for motor vehicle and protective masks, for example for surgeons, and in air climatization or conditioning depurator or cleaning systems, for example in hospitals, offices, buildings and the like, thereby efficiently contributing to an enhancing of the mechanical filtering provided by said filters and masks, with the addition of an anti-bacterium, anti-microbe, anti-mould and the like action, which substantially improves the hygienic characteristics of the use environment and moreover protect those persons wearing said masks, such as surgeons, persons working in dirt or powdery environments and so on.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics, advantages and details of the improved filtering paper materials and vacuum cleaner bags, masks and filters according to the present invention will become more apparent hereinafter from the following disclosure of an exemplary embodiment of the invention, which is schematically shown in the accompanying drawing, where: Figure 1 illustrates a top view of a prior vacuum cleaner bag; and

Figure 2 shows a bag made by a pre-processed filtering paper material according to the invention.

Description of the preferred embodiment

In the figures, like elements have been marked by like reference numbers.

According to figure 1, the bag 1 has a geometric configuration specifically designed for use in a given model of vacuum cleaner and comprises a bag portion proper 2, made of a suitable prior filtering paper material, either of a single-layer or a multiple-layer type and, preferably, a portion 3 which can be coupled to the body of the vacuum cleaner, not herein shown, in any suitably manner, for example by a die-cut paper board piece 3. According to the invention, with the starting filtering paper and, accordingly, with the paper bag 1 made thereby, are associated one or more processing agents or disinfecting anti- bacteric, anti-mite, fungicide and so on means, which, accordingly, can perform their intended operations directly on the dirt included in the bag 1.

According to the exemplary embodiment shown in figure 2, said processing agents are included in suitable set concentrations, in the form a liquid solution, and they can be directly applied on the prior filtering paper material strip, either of a single-layer or multiple-layer arrangement, for making vacuum cleaner bags, by spraying said liquid solution either on a surface of the strip or on both surfaces of said strip, preferably in an even manner, as shown in dots 4 in figure 2. It should be pointed out that the starting filtering paper material, before processing it by the subject processing agents, and the operating step for making the bags, are fully analogous to those used in prior bag making methods.

In actual practice, the processing agents can be applied to the filtering paper material, in addition to spraying, by any suitable manner, for example by impregnating said agents by causing said paper material to pass through a processing agent baths or by using applying rollers and the like.

With respect to the operation of prior vacuum cleaners and bags therefor, the operation of the invention is differentiated due to the fact that the dirt introduced into and accumulating in said bag is each time processed by said processing agents, thereby killing or neutralizing said bacteria, mites, germs and so on to efficiently prevent any unpleasant odors from forming, while inhibiting any allergic forms and providing a better hygienizing of the working environment, with a great advantages to the health of the vacuum cleaner operator.

The pre-processed filtering paper material according to the invention can be likewise used for forming the above mentioned protecting masks, anti-pollen filters for motor vehicles, filters for air conditioning and cleaning systems and the like, and this either in the form of the single component of said elements and in the form of a filtering paper material associated therewith, for example coupled to or enveloping the conventional filtering paper material used for said filtering elements, in which the application as an envelope or coating can be performed either in an integral manner or only in the inside or outside of said elements.

From the above disclosure it should be apparent that the present invention fully achieves the mentioned aim and objects, and the disclosed advantages.

In practicing the invention, it would be possible to use, as the mentioned processing agents, any suitable disinfecting, anti- bacteric, anti-mite, germicidic, fungicide and so on agents or means, as available on the market, and suitable for killing or neutralizing said mite, bacteria, germs and the like present in the dirt introduced into said bags during the operation of the vacuum cleaner, or present in the air conditioned environment, or operating room, offices, houses and the like. The starting paper material type, in particular, can be freely chosen among a lot of suitable types, for example either single-layer or multiple-layer paper materials, or single processing agents or combination thereof which can be freely selected without exiting the scope of the invention as above disclosed and hereinbelow claimed.

Claims

1. A single-layer or multiple-layer filtering paper material for making vacuum cleaner bags, characterized in that said filtering paper material is a pre-processed paper material and contains built therein, either one or more disinfecting, and/or anti- bacteric, and/or anti-mite, and/or fungicide, and/or germicide and the like processing agents.

2. An improved bag for vacuum cleaners and the like, formed by a filtering paper material and provided as a disposable bag, characterized in that said bag is made of a pre-processed filtering paper material according to Claim 1, wherein said at least one or more disinfecting and/or anti-bacteric, and/or anti-mite, and/or fungicide and the like agents provide their disinfecting and/or anti-bacteric, and/or anti-mite, and/or fungicide or the like action directly on the dirt being introduced into said bag as said vacuum cleaner operates.

3. An improved filtering paper material according to Claim 1, characterized in that said one or more processing agents are provided in the form of a solution, including said agents with any suitable concentrations and being applied on said filtering paper material for example by spraying, impregnating, or other suitable applying method.

4. An improved filtering paper material according to Claims 1 and 3, characterized in that, after having been processes, said filtering paper material, in a strip form, is wound to provide a paper material coil.

5. An protective mask, for example for operating rooms, powdery or unhygienic working environments, characterized in that said protective mask is made, either fully or as an integral coating component, either outside or inside, by an improved paper material according to Claims 1 and 3.

6. An anti-pollen filter for motor vehicle, an air cleaner filter, for air conditioning or climatizing systems and the like, characterized in that said filter is made, either fully or as an integral, outer or inside coating component, of the improved filtering paper material according to Claims 1 and 3.