CA1173606A - Agitator for a cleaner or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

Canadian Case 2185 ABSTRACT
An agitator for a floor care appliance or the like is disclosed having integral beater bars. The agitator may be of plastic.

Description

Canadia~ Case 2186 ;~'73~ 6 The in~ention relates to floor care appliances or the like and, more specificallyD relates to a particularized a~itator for such a -Eloor care appliance~
Unitary molded plastic agitators ~or use with floor care appliances or the like are known heretofore to our knowledge to include integral beater bars~ Obviously~ the furnishing of a molded plastic agitator would be advantageous, while the presence of beater bars would aid i~ the efficient pickup of dirt by the floor care appliance.
Accordingly~ it is an object of the invention to pro-vide an improved unitary molded plastic agitator with integral beater bars.
The invention can be characterized as an agitator of molded plastic including; the plastic being foamed, and integral beater bars formed in the molded plastic agitatorO
It can be additionally characterized as an agitator body having beater bars; the beater bars being short, and the beater bars angled relative to the vertical.
The invention can be further characterized as an agi~
tator having brush strips and small D shor-t abbreviated beater bars including; the small~ short beater bars disposed around the agitator and angled vertically~ the brush strips having a chevron pattern being offset at at ].east one of its peaks~ the offset peak being located at the suction port of a cleaner~ the small, short beater bars being paired in vertical.ly angled, spiralling fashion, and the beater bars being angled towards the suction port.
~ eference may now be had to the accompanying drawings for a better understanding of the invention~ both as ~o its organization and function~ wi-th the illustration being only e~emplary, and in which:

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Canadian Case 2186 ~ 36q~6 Figure 1 is a plan view of a developed agitatox body sur~ace embodying ~he i~vell-tion, Figure 2 is a cross section of a beat~r bar taken on line A-A of F.igure 1, Figure 3 is a perspective and view of one o-E the beater bars of our invention;
Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of a cleaner main body showing the elongated agitator of the invention in operative po-sition;
Figure 5 is a cross sectional view of the pulley sec-tion around which the agitator of the invention is molded; and Figure 6 is a similar viewing of a shortened agitator in operatlve positionO
In Figure 1 it is seen that there is a developed agi-tator body suxface 10 which includes in its showing a short agitator 12 indicated by dimension lines and a longer agitator 14 also indlcated by dimension lines~ These agitators can pre-ferably be molded from foamed plastic such as pol~propyleneO
In each of the agitators it can be seen that a series of beater bars 16~ 16 are disposed angularly rela-tive to the vertical some in paired configuration to increase beater bar area and still permit moldabilit~. These beater bars are relatively shor-t and are molded integrally into the agitator body 18 (Figures 2 and 3) and have a truncated triangular cross section 20 with a slightly curved top 22. The ends of each of the beater bars 16 are equal~
ly curvilinear in nature having curvilinear sides 24~ 24 to fur nish a finalized smooth contourO
Short beater bars were selected over elongated bars be~
cause of the general molding considerations~ The beater bars 16D
16 are also angulated re1a-tive to the vertical rather than placed horizontal since a similar noise e~fect occurs with hori7.0ntal . --2~

Canadian C~se 2186 ~L73~
positioning. Also~ althou~h beat~r bars exactly vertical would generate low noise they would do very little working action on the rug so an angular positioning of the beaker bar 16 was se-lected as idealO Thi~ angle can be best defined by an angle 26 of 20 to 25 from the circumference since this permits molding of the agitator body l8 but still provides a working action of the beater bars 16 in the rug or floor covering~
A series of brush-strips 28, 30~ 32 and 34 ~elonga-ted agitator 14) are disposed on the agitator body surface 10~ with these brush strips taking an angle 36 of 20 -to 26 to the axis of the body to provide a spiral of some steepness to insure that a relatively large amount of brush strip is on the floor a-t any one timeO This limits the beater bar ac-tion of these brush strips and lessens the noise generated by the agitatorD The brush strips 283 30, 32 and 34 are arranged in a chevron pattern in that the brush strips 28 and 32 tend to peak along the agitator body 10 and simi-larly brush strips 30 and 34 also tend to peakO This can be seen in Figure 4 wherein the brush strips 28 and 30 peak along their spiralling path on the elongated agitator 14 and the brush strips 28 and 30 also peak along their spiralling pa-th while the brush strips 32~ and 34~ while even of abbreviated length tend to pro-vide chevron design along their spiralO
The brush strips 28 and 30 are offset respectivelyJ from the brush strip 32 or brush strip 32 D and the brush strip 34 of brush strip 34t~ generally at a suction opening 36 of the cleaner leading from a duct 38 in a cleaner body 40~ The duct 38~ of course~ leads to a motor-fan system (not shown) to provide suction to the opening 36~ when the agitator 12 or agitator 14 is disposed in an agitator chamber 42 or agitator chamber 42~ in the main body 40 or main body 40~ respectively~ With~ essentially~ a peak of the chevron design (oEfset) of the brush strips of the agitators 12 and 14 located at the suction opening 36 D there is a tendency ~7~ Canadian Case 2186 for dirt to be moved along the rug or ~loor covering sur~ace as the agitator 12 or 14 rotates during the cleaning process towards the suction opening 360 This aids in the cleaning function for the cleaner for which agitator 12 or agitakor 14 is a sub-as.sem~
bly. ~t the same time~ the o~set of the chevron tends to permit easy location of the short beater bars 16~ on the long portion o the agitator 12 or the agitator 147 a~gled towards t~e suction opening and with the beater bars 16 on the short portion of the agitator 12 or -the agitator 14 also angled towards the suction openingO Again this tends to screw or move the dirt and entrained debris in the rug or -Eloor covering being cleaned towards the suction opening 36~
A pulley section 44 (Figure 5) is Eormed as a molded part and integrated into the agitator 12 or agita-tor 14 by either of these agitators being molded around itD a groove 46 being pro~
vided for this purpose~ A groove 48 is also disposed on the agi~
tator 12 or 14 to provide clearance for the agitator at a bottom plate cross piece 500 It should be clear rom the foregoing description that a novel agitator arrangement has been provided which fulEills the functions of the invention set outO It should Eurther be obvious that only a preferred embodiment has been shown and that many mo~
difications could be made to it which would still fal.1 within the spirit of the invention.

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Claims (8)

Canadian Case 2186 The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An agitator having brush strips and small, short abreviated beater bars including, a) said small, short beater bars disposed around said agitator and angled vertically, b) said brush strips having a chevron pattern, with said che-vron pattern being offsets at at least one of its peak, c) said offset peak being located at the suction port of a cleaner, d) said small, short beater bars being paired in vertically angled, spiralling fashion, and e) said beater bars being angled towards said suction port

2. An agitator of molded plastic including;
a) said plastic being foamed, and b) integral beater bars formed in said molded plastic agitator.

3) The agitator of claim 2 wherein;
a) said molded plastic is polypropylene

4. An agitator body having beater bars;
a) said beater bars being short, and b) said beater bars angled relative to the vertical.

5. The agitator body of claim 4 wherein;
a) said beater bars spiralling around said agitator body.

6. The agitator body of claim 4 wherein;
a) at least some of said beater bars are paired.

7. The agitator body of claim 4 wherein;
a) said beater bars are disposed substantially at an angle of 20° to 25° from the vertical.

Canadian Case 2186

8. The agitator body of claim 4 wherein;
a) brush strips are provided along said agitator body, b) said brush strips being disposed at an angle of substantially 20°to 26° from the axis of said agitator body.