WO2007019604A1

WO2007019604A1 - Portable blower with dust suppression

Info

Publication number: WO2007019604A1
Application number: PCT/AU2006/001135
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Arthur Notaras; Angelo Lambrinos Notaras
Original assignee: John Arthur Notaras; Angelo Lambrinos Notaras
Priority date: 2005-08-19
Filing date: 2006-08-16
Publication date: 2007-02-22

Abstract

A method and apparatus for reducing dust created by hand held blowers are disclosed. The blower (10) has a lance (14, 14A, 14B) which terminates in a nozzle (15) via which air exits the blower. A water tank (20) has a tube (23) which has an outlet positioned in the air stream of the blower to entrain water droplets therein. Insecticides, fungicides, and the like can be included in the water to permit the blower (10) to also function as a sprayer.

Description

PORTABLE BLOWER WITH DUST SUPPRESSION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the cleaning of paved surfaces in a domestic situation by the use of a portable and hand held blower to move debris to an acceptable location.

Background Art

The best way of cleaning paved services in a domestic situation is to use a hose to wash the paved surface down. The hosing of driveways and foot paths is particularly useful since the jet of water transports both large debris such as fallen leaves, and small debris such as dirt and dust particles. Furthermore, such small debris are included within the flow of water and accordingly no dust is generated as would be the case if the footpath were swept with a broom, for example.

However, the increasing need of many municipalities to reduce water consumption, and the prospect of more frequent and prolonged droughts consequent upon global warming, means that hosing of driveways and foot paths is either no longer acceptable, or in times of water shortage is actually banned.

As a consequence of being unable to utilise the preferred cleaning method of hosing, many householders have been obliged to utilise portable hand held air blowers to clean external paved surfaces such as driveways and foot paths. Such blowers are generally preferred over vacuum cleaner like devices which suck up debris and provide a bag in which such debris is deposited. Such vacuum cleaner like devices generate substantial amounts of fine dust which swirl around the operator and which because of their fine particle sizes, are not completely trapped in the fabric bag provided for the collection of debris. In addition, the fabric bag must be emptied from time to time and this is an additional chore.

For these reasons portable hand held blowers are preferred. However, these blowers are not perfect in that although the dust stirred up by such blowers is directed away from the operator, substantial amounts of dust are created and this can be disadvantageous, especially where family members or neighbours are asthmatics or suffer from other respiratory complaints.

The genesis of the present invention is a desire to enable portable hand held blowers to be used to clean paved surfaces in a domestic situation, but to reduce, or at least ameliorate, the amount of air borne dust generated by such use.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a portable hand held blower with dust suppression capability, said blower comprising a portable engine coupled with a fan having an air inlet and an air outlet through which air flows, a portable water reservoir associated with said blower and having a water outlet tube leading into said air flow, and water injection means to inject water out of said outlet tube to thereby generate a dust suppressing mist of water entrained with said flow of air.

According to second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed in a portable hand held blower having an air outlet arranged to provide an air flow which blows debris over or along a hard surface, the improvement comprising a portable water reservoir associated with said blower, having a water outlet tube leading into said air flow, and water injection means to inject water into said water outlet tube to generate a dust suppressing mist of water entrained with the flow of air exiting from said air outlet.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of entraining a dust suppressing mist of water into the flow of air exiting an air outlet of a portable hand held blower, said method comprising the step of: (i) injecting water into said air flow.

According to a still further aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of using a portable blower with dust suppression capability to spray herbicide, fungicide and/or insecticide, said method comprising the steps of:

(i) adding said herbicide, fungicide and/or insecticide to the water normally used for dust suppression, and

(ii) manipulating said blower to direct the entrained water spray thereof onto the object or objects to be sprayed.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a portable and hand held sprayer for insecticides, fungicides, and the like and comprising the abovementioned portable hand held blower.

Brief Description of the Drawings A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the portable hand held blower of the preferred embodiment looking from the front and from the left-hand side (the references to left and right being with respect to the left and right hands of the operator during use) Fig. 2 is a side view of the blower looking from the right,

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the blower, Fig. 4 is a front view of the blower, Fig. 5 is a side view of the blower looking from the left, Fig. 6 is a plan view of the blower, Fig. 7 is an inverted plan of view of the blower, and

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view through the blower outlet and to an enlarged-scale.

Detailed Description As seen in the drawings, the portable hand held blower 10 has a housing 11 within which is located a small internal combustion engine and a centrifugal fan (both not illustrated). The housing 11 has a handle 12 by means of which the blower 10 can be held and orientated. The blower 10 also has a U-shaped foot 13 which enables the blower 10 to be supported on a flat surface in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1. In the above respects the blower 10 is substantially conventional.

The blower 10 also has a lance 14 which is fabricated in two sections 14A and 14B each of which is alike and each of which has a thread at either end which enables the two sections to be threadably engaged. In addition, the lance has an output nozzle 15 which concentrates the flow of air as it exits the lance 14.

The lance 14 and output nozzle 15 are able to be threadably engaged with, and disengaged from, the remainder of the blower 10. In addition, the lance is able to be disassembled into three sections thereby enabling the blower and lance to be packed within a compact cardboard box. If desired, none, one or two sections (or more) of the lance 14 can be used. With none the nozzle 15 attaches directly to the housing 11.

Also provided is a separate water reservoir 20 which has a lid 21 which is releasably secured to the body of the reservoir. Passing through the lid 21 is an air pump handle 22 and extending from the reservoir is an output tube 23. A carry strap 24 enables the water reservoir to be carried by the operator in addition to the operator holding the blower 10 in one hand. A suitable candidate for the reservoir 20 is a conventional air pump action insecticide or herbicide sprayer with its sprayer removed.

The tube 23 is attached to the housing 11 and extends along the top of the lance 14 and into the output nozzle 15. As best seen in Fig. 8, the tube 23 terminates in an opening which functions to some extent as a Venturi and which is directed towards the open end of the output nozzle 15. As a consequence, water which is pumped from the reservoir 20 through the tube 23 exits from the tube in the same direction as the air exits from the output nozzle 15. This has the result that the water is entrained in the air exiting from the lance 14 as a mist of fine water droplets. The fineness of the mist increases as the speed of the blower 10 increases.

To operate with dust suppression, the pump handle 22 is reciprocated so as to pressurise the air within the water reservoir 20 and above the water contained in the water reservoir 20. The operator then starts the internal combustion engine of the blower 10, normally with the blower 10 positioned on the ground. Then the operator places the carry strap 14 over his right shoulder so as to place the water reservoir 20 adjacent his left hip. The operator then holds the blower 10 by the carry handle 12 and uses it to steer the blower 10 so as to direct the output from the lance 14 to the footpath or driveway to be cleaned.

Exiting from the nozzle 15 of the lance 14 is a concentrated flow of air including an entrained water mist. This combined flow not only removes major debris such as leaves from the pathway, but also wets fine particles such as dust which are then sufficiently heavy to fall immediately to the ground. The result is that the major debris such as leaves are blown to their intended destination with a minimum of airborne dust.

The water reservoir 20 typically has a volume of approximately 5 L. Typically, about 1 L of this is used to sweep a footpath wide enough for single file movement (eg 1 metre in width) having a distance of approximately 50 m. As a consequence, the volume of water consumed in sweeping the paths and driveway(s) of a domestic home is very small and very much less than the volume of water which would be used to hose down the same paths and driveway(s).

In addition to using the above described apparatus to sweep foot paths and simultaneously suppress dust, the present applicants have discovered that the same apparatus can be used by a home owner for the second purpose of spraying insecticides, fungicides or herbicides. For example, one or more fruit trees (or a bed of tomato plants) in a backyard garden can be quickly sprayed by the above- mentioned apparatus by adding some insecticide (or fungicide etc) to the water located within the reservoir 20. It will be appreciated in this connection that the entire blower 10 is preferably manipulated, for example preferably by holding both the handle 12 and foot 13, in order to be able to direct the spray to the desired tree or garden. Alternatively, only a single hand on the handle 12 can suffice.

This is to be contrasted with various backpack or knapsack type sprayers where a handheld rigid spraying arm device, or handheld nozzle, is connected to the remainder of the apparatus by means of a flexible tube. In this prior art, the unit on the operator's back does not move in response to an intended change in the direction of the spray. Instead, only the handheld rigid sprayer arm device, or handheld nozzle, is moved so as to point the spray nozzle in the desired directions corresponding to the objects to be sprayed. In the present case the entire hand held blower must be manipulated with its rigid lance 14 and nozzle 15 which are all pointed in the direction of each object to be sprayed. In this connection, holding both the handle 12 and foot 13 is a substantial advantage. Although somewhat cumbersome for a full- time professional, this simple and low-cost arrangement does enable a dual purpose to be achieved with the one item of equipment. As a consequence, many households will be able to economise by purchasing only the apparatus of the present invention and thereby avoid the additional expense of having to purchase a separate blower and a separate insecticide sprayer.

It has been found that for insecticide spraying a water volume of approximately 2 L is convenient. Consequently, the water reservoir 20 can be sized to suit the application concerned. For some applications, a large water reservoir 20 which can be carried from place to place, but not always supported from the operator's shoulder, can be used.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the small appliance arts, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the water reservoir 20 can be provided with a small battery-powered electric water pump. Similarly, the blower 10 can be powered by an electric motor rather than an internal combustion engine.

The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "including" or "having" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of.

Claims

1. A portable hand held blower with dust suppression capability, said blower comprising a portable engine coupled with a fan having an air inlet and an air outlet through which air flows, a portable water reservoir associated with said blower and having a water outlet tube leading into said air flow, and water injection means to inject water out of said outlet tube to thereby generate a dust suppressing mist of water entrained with said flow of air.

2. The blower as claimed in claim 1 wherein said water injection means includes said water outlet tube terminating in said air outlet.

3. The blower as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said water injection means includes a pressure means to pressurize the water in said reservoir.

4. The blower as claimed in any one of claims 1 -3 wherein an elongate lance includes said air outlet.

5. The blower as claimed in claim 4 wherein said lance is comprised of a plurality of cascade connected sections.

6. In a portable hand held blower having an air outlet arranged to provide an air flow which blows debris over or along a hard surface, the improvement comprising a portable water reservoir associated with said blower, having a water outlet tube leading into said air flow, and water injection means to inject water into said water outlet tube to generate a dust suppressing mist of water entrained with the flow of air exiting from said air outlet.

7. The improvement as claimed in claim 6 wherein said water injection means includes said water outlet tube terminating in said air outlet.

8. The improvement as claimed in claim 6 or 7 wherein said water injection means includes a pressure means to pressurize the water in said reservoir.

9. The improvement as claimed in any one of claims 6-8 wherein an elongate lance includes said air outlet.

10. The improvement as claimed in claim 9 wherein said lance is comprised of a plurality of cascade connected sections.

11. A method of entraining a dust suppressing mist of water into the flow of air exiting an air outlet of a portable hand held blower, said method comprising the step of:

(i) injecting water into said air flow.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 including the further steps of: (ii) associating a portable water reservoir with said blower, and

(iii) providing a water outlet from said reservoir leading into said air outlet.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 including the further step of: (iv) terminating said water outlet in said air outlet.

14. The method as claimed in any one of claims 11-13 including the further step of:

(v) controlling the volume of water injected in step (i).

15. A method of using a portable blower with dust suppression capability to spray herbicide, fungicide and/or insecticide, said method comprising the steps of: (i) adding said herbicide, fungicide and/or insecticide to the water normally used for dust suppression, and

16. A portable and hand held sprayer for insecticides, fungicides, and the like, said sprayer comprising the blower as claimed in any one of claims 1-10.