EP3107437B1

EP3107437B1 - Dual purpose suction head

Info

Publication number: EP3107437B1
Application number: EP14833201.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paolo Spinelli
Original assignee: Spival SpA
Current assignee: Spival SpA
Priority date: 2014-02-17
Filing date: 2014-12-11
Publication date: 2018-03-21
Anticipated expiration: 2034-12-11
Also published as: EP3107437A1; WO2015121718A1

Description

Technical field

The present invention belongs to the sector of the air and liquid suction brushes to be used in conjunction with suction systems and, preferably, with integrated suction and steam production systems.
Specifically, the head according to the present patent application can be advantageously used both for a simple suction and as a glass-wiper, or better for cleaning surfaces by means of a brushing profile, hereafter generically referred to as blade.

State of the art

The manual suction systems, be they industrial or civil, are based on the use of brushes to suck the substances to be removed from the surfaces. These brushes can be of different shapes but, in general, they perform a dual function, namely: widening the operating area, i.e. the suction opening with respect to the cross-section of the duct, and to provide the desired sucked flow vacuum level or speed in every point.
Brushes also differ from each other on the basis of the auxiliary elements associated with the suction opening, like blades, bristles, or others.
In the simplest case, i.e. in sucking air or liquids from soft surfaces, the suction opening does not have any accessories, i.e. it is the box-shaped body of the head that gets in contact with the surface to be cleaned. The edges of the opening are usually made of a rigid material and, by operating on soft surfaces, make it also possible to suck liquids. Conversely, brushes featuring rigid edges are not suitable for operating on hard surface, for instance glass surfaces.
The glass-wiper accessories use soft blades, generically made of flexible rubber, which allow to delimit the suction area, thus facilitating suction of liquids. For instance patent application US 5497530A shows a glass-wiper accessory that facilitates liquid suction by means of a brushing blade, while patent application US 2003145425 A1 discloses a glass-wiper assembly which is removably connected to the box-shaped body of the suction head. Liquid suction can be further facilitated by increasing the speed of the fluid, which can be obtained by reducing the passage cross-section in the terminal part of the suction duct, next to the blade.
Better effects can be obtained by using two blades, located at a short distance from each other, so as to create such a narrow passageway as to make the speed of the flow locally increase.
Blades have been developed which present a number of indentations on the outer edge; by facing one of said blades with a smooth blade a plurality of narrow passageways are created, one each per indentation, inside which the air flow is further accelerated.
Hereafter such a blade will be referred to as ruled blade. Glass-wiper heads are often used in conjunction with integrated cleaning systems, providing both suction and steam production, to suck the liquid produced by the condensation of water vapor. A similar application is disclosed, for instance, in patent application EP 0827709 A2 which comprises a cleaning head with at least one steam delivery nozzle, brushing-profile means to wipe off a surface from the condensed steam, and sucking means associated with said brushing-profile means.
Conveniently the integrated, steam and suction, cleaning systems comprise heads with a steam diffuser collector, generally associated with a row of nozzles, which diffuses the steam onto the surface to be cleaned in front of the blade, the latter being mounted behind said steam diffuser. Blades which, as already said, are very useful to suck the condensed steam, are a hindrance whenever the vacuum cleaner is used for normal cleaning operations because they could get dirty or scratch and damage the surfaces they get in contact with. As a matter of fact, condensed steam tends to leave the initial parts of the suction opening humid and consequently these are more susceptible of accumulating dirt.
However, changing over a suction head requires at least two heads to be available and causes wastes of time and risks for user's safety, especially because the steam duct might cause high temperature drops and vapors to leaks.
These problems are there even in the case that the head is equipped with dismountable elements.
The just described problems have been partially dealt with by patent application EP1880651 A2 . Here, a head is disclosed comprising an auxiliary suction opening for cleaning different surfaces. Said auxiliary opening is permanently coupled with the suction head and is capable of rotating with respect to the latter so as to only engage the suction opening when it is necessary to suck liquids on smooth surfaces.
Even though the solution proposed in the European patent application offers two operating modes in one head, however it entails a number of drawbacks.
As a matter of fact it is evident that the presence of an external adapter reduces the handiness of the head, not only because its overall dimensions increase, but also because it is impossible to operate the suction opening with certain angles. Also the blades the adapter is equipped with, being permanently exposed to the external agents when they are not used to suck liquids, can easily get dirty or damage.
The problem dealt with by EP1880651 A2 finds a surprising solution in the head according to the present patent application. Being not equipped with any external adapter makes its use easy in any operating conditions and facilitates further specific solutions which offer important advantages that solve the problems identified in the state of the art.

Purposes and summary of the invention

The suction head according to the present patent application makes it possible to easily implement a single accessory for a vacuum cleaner, capable of performing the functions of both a traditional rigid-edges opening and a glass-wiper.
As a matter of fact, this suction head is a rigid-edges opening one, but it comprises an auxiliary device inside which performs the function of a glass-wiper assembly, with a spout, comprising at least one blade, suitable for sucking liquids on hard surfaces; taking the auxiliary device out transforms the suction head into a glass-wiper. Having taken the internal glass-wiper assembly out, the free section through which air passage takes place becomes much smaller, and consequently the air speed must increase. The presence of a glass-wiper assembly inside the suction duct entails a number of problems. For instance, whenever the glass-wiper assembly is in its rest position, inside the head, it tends to obstruct the suction duct and to get dirty.
Also, in any operating conditions, the movement of the internal glass-wiper assembly shall not interfere with head handiness, therefore solutions that increase the overall dimensions of the suction head, for instance solutions using external auxiliary devices, are not acceptable.
The areas next to the suction opening shall be free and they shall not comprise bodies that increase their overall dimensions, so as to remain as much similar as possible to the traditional glass-wipers or heads. Likewise, also the means used to hold the internal glass-wiper assembly in the desired position shall not interfere with the normal operation of the head.
The solutions developed in the suction head according to the present patent application overcome the problems that would make it disadvantageous to use a dual-purpose head. Specifically, in the solution according to the present patent application the glass-wiper assembly is movable from a first retracted rest position to at least one extracted working position. In its retracted rest position the glass-wiper assembly leaves the suction opening of the head completely unobstructed, thus enabling the suction steam to freely pass through towards the suction duct; in its extracted working position the same glass-wiper assembly engages the suction opening, thus making the sucking flow pass through internally thereto.
In its rest position the glass-wiper assembly is held adjacent to the inner surface of the head so as to leave the remaining section completely unobstructed and let the flow pass through.
To move the glass-wiper assembly from its retracted rest position to its extracted working position, and vice versa, different solutions are possible, which can also face the problem of holding the auxiliary element in position, both when extracted and retracted inside the sucking head. According to a particularly simple and effective embodiment, this movement can be controlled manually, by acting onto a cursor that protrudes from the sucking head on the top, whereas it is integrally connected to said glass-wiper assembly at the bottom.
According to a comfortable embodiment said cursor is free to move inside a seat properly machined in the box-shaped body of the sucking head, in particular said cursor can be made slide along said seat, thus displacing the glass-wiper assembly between the two extreme positions.
In order to hold the device still in either extreme position, different arrangements can be adopted, one of the most advantageous ones consisting of equipping the glass-wiper assembly with one or several projections, suitable for engaging two or several corresponding hollows machined in the thickness of the box-shaped body. A disengagement of said projections from said hollows, as necessary to make movements possible, can take place by acting onto the cursor orthogonally with respect to the normal sliding direction.
In other words the operator shall push the cursor towards the inside of the box-shaped body so as to disengage the projections from the hollows, afterwards the cursor is made slide internally to its seat until the projections are received inside the hollows dedicated to the other position; such an arrangement will enable the cursor to go up outwards.
Specially provided elastic means prevent the cursor from coming down, in order to hold the projection engaged in their respective hollows until a sufficient pressure is exerted onto the cursor; then the same elastic means enable the glass-wiper assembly to go up again when the projections are in correspondence with the hollows again. The constructional solutions adopted make it possible for the glass-wiper assembly to move and be held in position in a very simple way and strongly limit the negative impact onto the suction flow internally to the sucking head.
An undesired disengagement of the glass-wiper assembly, for instance following an overturning of the head or a pressure exerted onto the blade, is prevented by said elastic means, which prevent the projection from disengaging its respective hollow.
Advantageously can said elastic means be directly associated with the movements of the cursor so as to obtain a compact, effective, and simple solution.
In its rest position the dirtying of said glass-wiper assembly, though fostered by the humidity possibly accumulated, is reduced or even eliminated thanks to the presence of an element that is interposed between the glass-wiper assembly and the suction duct. Advantageously the positioning of said glass-wiper assembly near to the box-shaped body makes it possible to derive said element directly from the inner surface of said box-shaped body. Should the head be used in the glass-wiper mode, combining the adopted solution with the classic arrangements adopted to accelerate the air flow next to the surface to be wiped off makes it possible to achieve surprising effects.
First of all, in order to prevent any blow-by that would reduce the effectiveness of the suction operation, the glass-wiper assembly, when set to its working position, completely obstructs the suction opening, all along its perimeter, thus obliging the whole sucking flow to pass through internally thereto.
The suction spout of said glass-wiper assembly can be so shaped as to gradually increase the section that the flow goes through, starting from the inlet section next to the blade, along the suction way, up to the back of the glass-wiper assembly itself.
Specifically, a particularly effective embodiment supports the use of a second blade, tilted with respect to the brushing blade, so as to minimize the inlet section and maximize the speed of the flow next to the surface.
Advantageously can the glass-wiper assembly be equipped with a ruled blade which amplifies the just described effect.
Further on the glass-wiper assembly possibly comprises other systems to make the reduction of the passage section gradual, for instance a plurality of canalizations.
Thanks to the solutions adopted, the overall dimensions of the head are identical in all operating conditions and are extremely small, i.e. fully similar to those of the traditional suction glass-wiper heads.
Special advantages can be achieved in terms of ease of use and cleaning capability if this head also comprises at least one nozzle to diffuse steam, whereby surface cleaning is achieved in one pass only. However, the head might even be associated with independent steam diffuser devices.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 shows an axonometric top view of the box-shaped body (1) featuring a connector (2) to connect to the suction duct. The suction head is shown here, the glass-wiper assembly being set to its working position. The figure clearly shows a cursor (5), comprising a push-button (51) and a slide (52), a smooth blade (41), and the tracks of the cross-sectional planes according to figures 5 thru 7.
Fig. 2 shows an axonometric view of the suction head in which one can identify a suction opening (3), a connector (2) to the suction duct, nozzles (8), hollows (16), and the seat (17) of the cursor. Both the latter and the glass-wiper assembly have been removed to make the otherwise covered areas, visible.
Fig. 3 shows an axonometric view of the glass-wiper assembly (4) which comprises:
- a smooth blade (41);
- a ruled blade (42) featuring a longitudinal relief (43);
- a central element (44);
- a lower rule (45) and an upper rule (46).
Fig. 4 is an axonometric view of the glass-wiper assembly (4) which shows, in addition to the elements described in Fig. 3, two projections (47).
Fig. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the invention, according to the track of the cross-sectional plane V shown in Fig. 1. In embodiment here represented, the suction head comprises an upper half-shell (11) and a lower half-shell (12) which determine an inner surface (13) and an outer surface (14) of the box-shaped body. On the upper half-shell there are two hollows for engaging a projection (47): the former (15) corresponds to the rest position whereas the second (16) determines the working position. The glass-wiper assembly is shown here in its extracted working position. The figure also shows the axis (Y) of the stem of the push-button, a slide (52), an abutting element (7), the longitudinal relief (43), the central element (44), and the connector (2).
Fig. 6A shows a cross-sectional view of the invention according to the track of the cross-sectional plane VI shown in Fig. 1. This view shows the stem of the push-button (51) which crosses a through-hole machined in the glass-wiper assembly while this one is set to its retracted rest position. In this figure and in the following one, the connector (2), the elastic means (6), the axis (Y) of said stem, and the longitudinal relief (43) are visible.
Fig. 6B shows the same cross-sectional view of Fig. 6A, the glass-wiper assembly being set to its extracted working position. In particular, it can be noted that in the technical representation, in a preferred embodiment, the longitudinal relief (43) overlaps the inner profile of the openings. However, in fact, said longitudinal profile (43) bends backwards and is consequently squeezed by the lower rule against said inner profile. In order to make the drawings more understandable, Figs. 5 and 7 show a relief having smaller dimensions; however in a similar solution said relief would be called back by the suction and could not be capable of obstructing the passage section completely.
Fig. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of the invention according to the track of the cross-sectional plane VII shown in Fig. 1, which allows to emphasize the abutting element (7) and the elastic means (6) supported by the slide (52). In the embodiment here represented the elastic means consist of leaf springs which the push-button (51) operates onto.

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention

In a particularly complete embodiment, the suction head according to the present patent application comprises a box-shape body (1) formed of an upper half-shell (11) and a lower half-shell (12). These determine a volume for the passage of the sucked flow which penetrates inside the head, coming from the suction opening (3) and directing to a connector (2) and from here to the suction duct.
Whereas the embodiment here described comprises a connector (2), separate from the shell, the connection area to the suction duct might be derived directly from said half-shells (11, 12), by shaping them appropriately. In this case the connector (2) would consequently be integral with said half-shells (11, 12).
The suction head also comprises a duct for the passage of the steam which, next to the suction opening (3), goes out through a number of nozzles (8).
In order to render the head simpler to operate it is advisable that the handle be tilted with respect to the suction opening, hence, very conveniently, the passage sections of the opening suction (3) and of the connector (2), crossed by the flow, are placed on two planes tilted with respect to each other.
Further on, the surfaces of said two half-shells (11, 12) feature a first diverging section, downstream the section opening (3), in which the sucking flow expands and decelerates. As it will be evident in the rest of this description, the volume formed by said divergency makes also it possible to house a movable glass-wiper assembly (4) .
This special arrangement very advantageously presents the greatest overall dimensions in areas where they do not bother the operator, being far from the operational component parts, for instance the suction opening or the handle.
These advantages and others have been achieved owing to a solution that retains the same ease of use as the already known heads, the operational parts being unchanged.
As mentioned above, the head comprises, internally thereto, a glass-wiper assembly (4) equipped with a specific spout for sucking liquids on hard surfaces, also thanks to the use of a brushing blade placed transversally to the direction in which the head moves on the surface to be dried.
Said glass-wiper assembly (4) is movable with respect to the box-shaped body (1); the operator shall operate by pushing a cursor (5), this way shifting the glass-wiper assembly from its retracted rest position to its extracted working position.
In its rest position said glass-wiper assembly (4) is fully contained inside the box-shaped body (1) and allows a free passage of the suction flow through the suction opening (3) .
In its working position, said glass-wiper assembly (4) fully engages said suction opening (3) and externally protrudes therefrom so as to clean the surface.
The extrados of said glass-wiper assembly (4) features two projections (47) which, in the rest and working positions, alternatively engage two pairs of hollows (15, 16) present on the inner surface (13) of the box-shaped body (1). The engagement of said projections is made stable by elastic means (6) interposed between the glass-wiper assembly and the box-shaped body; in the embodiment here described, said elastic means operate onto said glass-wiper assembly via said cursor (5).
The latter is integrally connected to said glass-wiper assembly (4) and is capable of sliding within a seat (17) machined in said box-shaped body (1). Specifically, the cursor (5) comprises a push-button (51), whose stem is integrally connected to said glass-wiper assembly (4), and a slide (52) inside which said push-button (51) slides. From the outer end of said push-button (51), which can be operated manually, a stem extends which first crosses said seat (17), then a through-hole machined in said glass-wiper assembly (4). Said stem, featuring a cylindrical shape, widens in its terminal part, such flare preventing it from disconnecting from the glass-wiper assembly.
In order to make its construction and assembling easier, said push-button (51) is possibly made up of several component elements. For instance, Figs. 6A and 6B describe a solution whereby a hole is machined in the stem for connecting to a countersunk head screw introduced from the bottom.
The slide (52) is slidingly supported by the outer surface (14) of said upper half shell (11) and comprises a seat to accommodate said elastic means (6). This way, the latter operate between said slide (52) and the outer end of said push-button (51), thus tending to pull the latter away from the box-shaped body and, consequently, catering for the engagement of said projections (47) inside their respective hollows. Hence said elastic means (6) cater for the engagement of the projections in normal operating conditions and, at the same time, make their disengagement possible by exerting such a pressure onto the push-button as to overcome the contrasting elastic force.
This way, the rest and working positions are guaranteed to be stable even in the case of an overturning of the head or should a pressure be applied onto said glass-wiper assembly (4) .
On the contrary, it is possible to exert a simple pressure onto the push-button (51), to vary the position of the glass-wiper assembly (4), by first releasing and then pushing it toward the desired position, by making the push-button (51) slide onwards or backwards.
The constructional solutions adopted operate in such a way that, in its rest position, said glass-wiper assembly (4) is near to the inner surface (13) and allows a free passage of the sucked flow from the opening (3).
Further on, the head comprises, internally thereto, an abutting element (7) against which the glass-wiper assembly (4) is positioned in its retracted rest position; said abutting element, often shaped as a wing in practice, completely obstructs the passage internally to the glass-wiper assembly (4) hence reduces the flow resistance internal to the head and also prevents dirt from settling on the glass-wiper assembly (4) while the latter is not in operation. As a matter of fact, the back of the glass-wiper assembly, by moving toward the retracted rest position, gets in contact with said abutting element (7) which completely or almost completely closes it. Advantageously can said element (7) be directly obtained by using the same molding as used to mold said half-shell (11).
In the embodiment here described, said glass-wiper assembly (4) comprises a smooth blade (41), a ruled blade (42), a central element (44), a lower rule (45), and an upper rule (46). The liquid suction spout is defined by the two blades (41, 42), between which the central element (44) is interposed. The latter is provided with a number of channels which make the air flow pass through and have the further effect of reducing the passage cross-section near to the inlet section. Further on, the two blades (41, 42) are tilted with respect to each other and get in touch at the end so as to reduce the inlet section of the spout down to the only spaces left between the indentations of the ruled blade (42). Said tilt is determined by the progressive thinning of the side walls of the channels of the central element (44), the height of which tends to gradually decrease as moving toward the inlet section.
The two rules (45, 46) enclose the blades (41, 42) like a parcel, the central element (44) being located in the midst, and are interconnected by a number of hollow cylindrical stems which extend from the upper rule (46) and engage corresponding through-holes present in the central element (44); inside said hollow cylindrical stems a number of screws are engaged which also cross the lower rule (45), in which recesses can be advantageously machined to receive the heads of said screws.
The central element (44) is truncated-wedge-shaped, so that the two blades (41, 42) lay on its side surfaces and extend the wedge.
In order to prevent the blades from slipping off from the so formed parcel, they are advantageously provided with a cylindrical thickening on the inner edge. The cylindrical thickening of every blade engages a corresponding groove, one located on the central element and the other on the rule. Both the thickening and the grooves possibly transversally cross the whole head or alternatively are limited to some sections thereof only.
The two projections (47) described above are derived on that face of the rule (46) which is opposite to the central element (44). The two rules and the central element also present a through-hole to receive the stem of said push-button (51).
In order to maximize suction in the working position, said glass-wiper assembly (4) engages the suction opening (3) completely. For this purpose, the ruled blade features a longitudinal relief (43) which, in its extracted working position, gets in contact with the lower inner profile of the suction opening (3), thus completely obstructing the passage section.
This longitudinal relief extends all over the length of the blade, transversally with respect to the head.
As already emphasized when describing the figures, in a preferred embodiment said longitudinal relief (43) bends whenever the glass-wiper assembly (4) is going to reach the extracted working position, being countered by the inner profile of the suction opening. This solution makes it possible to neutralize the effects of suction which, if such bending was not there, would call said relief back, thus zeroing the complete obstruction to the passage, and quite the opposite would draw dirt next to the relief.
The embodiment of the suction head here described is easy to produce by means of plastic material molding processes. However, even though this is evident to those experts in the sector, it is worth to further point out that the processes and the materials used in the sector might allow to obtain other embodiments of the head that are apparently different, but in fact are functionally wise fully equivalent to those here described. For instance, the two rules (45, 46) and the central element (44) might be molded in one piece.

Claims

A suction head for vacuum cleaner, comprising a box-shaped body (1) including a connection area to connect to a suction duct and a suction opening (3) to vacuum the surfaces to be cleaned, characterized in that it accommodates inside said box-shaped body (1) a glass-wiper assembly (4), with a nozzle to vacuum liquids, movable between a retracted rest position, in which it is completely inside said box-shaped body (1), whereby it allows an unobstructed passage of the suction flow through the suction opening (3), and an extracted working position, in which said glass-wiper assembly (4) engages said suction opening (3) and at least partially projects therefrom, so as to clean up and/or dry the surface.
A suction head (1) according to the previous claim, characterized in that said glass-wiper assembly (4) is integrally connected to at least one cursor (5) sliding within a seat (17) machined on the box-shaped body (1).
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that in said rest position said glass-wiper assembly (4) is located adjacent to the inner surface (13) of the box-shaped body, thus making the flow free to pass through in the remaining part of said box-shaped body (1).
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that, by moving towards the retracted rest position, the rear part of said glass-wiper assembly (4) gets in contact with an abutting element (7) which closes, or strongly limits, the passage of the air flow inside said glass-wiper assembly (4).
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that on the extrados of said glass-wiper assembly (4) there is at least one projection (47) suitable for engaging one of at least two hollows (15, 16) machined inside said box-shaped body, so as to render the glass-wiper assembly stable in the retracted position or in the extracted position respectively.
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that it comprises elastic means (6), interposed between said glass-wiper assembly (4) and said box-shaped body (1), which contrast the coming out of said at least one projection (47) from the hollow in which it is engaged.
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that the lowering of said cursor (5) with respect to said box-shaped body (1) results in said at least one projection (47) coming out from said one of at least two hollows (15, 16), thus allowing said glass-wiper assembly (4) to translate.
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that said cursor (5) comprises a slide (52), sliding on the outer surface of said box-shaped body (1), internally to which a push-button (51) longitudinally slides whose stem makes up the element to engage said seat (17) and said glass-wiper assembly (4).
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that the cross section where air passes through inside said liquid suction nozzle decreases as moving towards the inlet section, so as to accelerate the flow near to the surface to be wiped up.
A suction head according to one or several of the previous claims, characterized in that in said working position, said glass-wiper assembly (4) fully engages said suction opening (3), since it comprises a blade which features a longitudinal relief (43) which, in the extracted working position, transversally closes the inner profile of the suction opening (3), thus guaranteeing a complete obstruction of the passage section.