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US 10,238,251 B2Granted
Vacuum cleaner with height adjustment of suction nozzle
AssigneeBISSELL Homecare, Inc.
InventorTodd Richard VanTongeren
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vacuum cleaner includes a suction nozzle defining a nozzle inlet, a manual nozzle height adjustment assembly for adjusting the height of the nozzle inlet relative to a surface to be cleaned, and a bleed valve fluidly connected to a working air path of the vacuum cleaner to selectively open to reduce suction at the nozzle inlet. The bleed valve is incorporated with the nozzle height adjustment assembly such that movement of the nozzle height adjustment assembly between different height settings will automatically open or close the bleed valve.
Claims17
A vacuum cleaner, comprising:
- a working air path that extends from an air inlet to an air outlet;
- a suction nozzle having a nozzle inlet defining the air inlet;
- a suction source configured to generate a working airstream through the working air path;
- a manual nozzle height adjustment assembly for adjusting the height of the nozzle inlet relative to a surface to be cleaned;
- a bleed valve fluidly connected to the working air path and comprising:
- a leak hole in fluid communication with ambient air;
- and
- a valve body configured to selectively cover or uncover the leak hole, wherein when the valve body uncovers the leak hole, the leak hole is in fluid communication with the working air path and suction at the nozzle inlet is reduced;
- and
- a common actuator for the nozzle height adjustment assembly and the bleed valve, wherein the valve body is provided on the common actuator and wherein movement of the common actuator to adjust the height of the nozzle inlet relative to the surface to be cleaned also moves the valve body to cover or uncover the leak hole.
7 more elements
A vacuum cleaner, comprising:
- a working air path that extends from an air inlet to an air outlet;
- a suction nozzle having a nozzle inlet defining the air inlet;
- a suction source configured to generate a working airstream through the working air path;
- a manual nozzle height adjustment assembly for adjusting the height of the nozzle inlet relative to a surface to be cleaned, and comprising an actuator for manually actuating the nozzle height adjustment assembly to adjust the height of the nozzle inlet relative to the surface to be cleaned;
- and
- a bleed valve fluidly connected to the working air path and configured to selectively open to reduce suction at the nozzle inlet;
- wherein the bleed valve is integrated with the actuator of the nozzle height adjustment assembly and wherein the actuator is operable to selectively open the bleed valve to reduce suction at the nozzle inlet upon movement of the actuator to adjust the height of the nozzle inlet relative to the surface to be cleaned.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.