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US 6,662,394 B2Granted
Automatic cleaners for cleaning swimming pools
AssigneeZoltans Pool Products PTY Ltd.
InventorZoltan Balint
Life of this patent
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AssigneeZoltans Pool Products PTY Ltd.
InventorZoltan Balint
Estimating the term…
An automatic pool cleaner of the type having an elongated body (11) with an inlet, a flexible seal (32) mounted on an end of the elongated body to bear against the surface of the wall or floor of the pool, a flip-flop valve (25) positioned adjacent the inlet (21) of the elongated body (11) and capable of moving back and forth between two extreme positions for controlling the flow of water through the elongated body and in so doing producing a “water hammer effect” which acts on the automatic pool cleaner to propel it across the surface and wherein the flip-flop valve includes a substantially wedge shaped hammer (25) formed by two spaced substantially triangular sides interconnected by a central body narrower than the sides and a continuous end surface (61) connecting respective ends of the substantially triangular side pieces such that the hammer has continuous sides and cavities between the sides due to the central body being narrower than the sides, the continuous end surface (61) having indentations (65) to be engaged by flow of water around the hammer (25) and into the inlet (21) of the elongated body (11) to aide the flip-flop action.
An automatic pool cleaner of the type having an elongated body with an inlet, a flexible seal mounted on an end of the elongated body to bear against a surface of a wall or floor of a pool, a flip-flop valve positioned adjacent the inlet of the elongated body and capable of moving back and forth between two extreme positions for controlling water flow through the elongated body and in so doing producing a “water hammer effect” which acts on the automatic pool cleaner to propel it the surface and wherein the flip-flop valve includes a substantially wedge-shaped hammer valve member formed by two spaced, substantially triangular sides interconnected by a central body narrower than the triangular sides and an end surface connecting respective ends of the substantially triangular sides such that the hammer valve member has continuous sides and cavities between the triangular sides due to the central body being narrower than the triangular sides, the end surface having indentations to be engaged by flow of water around the hammer valve member and into the inlet of the elongated body to aid flip-flop action achieved by the hammer valve member upon exposure to the water flow, said indentations are substantially hemispherical such that their depth is of the order of about their radius.
A flip-flop valve able to be used in an automatic pool cleaner of the type having an elongated body with an inlet, a flexible seal mounted on an end of the elongated body to bear against a surface of a wall or floor of a pool, wherein the flip-flop valve can be positioned adjacent the inlet of the elongated body and move back and forth between two extreme positions for controlling water flow through the elongated body of the automatic pool cleaner and in so doing producing a “water hammer effect” which acts on the automatic pool cleaner to propel it across the surface and wherein the flip-flop valve includes a substantially wedge-shaped hammer valve member formed by two spaced substantially triangular sides interconnected by a central body narrower than the triangular sides and an end surface connecting respective ends of the substantially triangular sides such that the hammer valve member has continuous sides and cavities between the triangular sides due to the central body being narrower than the triangular sides, the end surface having indentations to be engaged by flow of water around the hammer valve member and into the inlet of the elongated body to aid flip-flop action achieved by the hammer valve member upon exposure to the water flow, wherein the indentations are about 9 to 10 millimeters in diameter with a depth in the order of 5 to 10 millimeters.
A flip-flop valve according to claim wherein the hammer valve member has cavities between the triangular sides due to the central body being narrower than the triangular sides.
An automatic pool cleaner of the type having an elongated body with an inlet, a flexible seal mounted on an end of the elongated body to bear against a surface of a wall or floor of a pool, a flip-flop valve positioned adjacent the inlet the elongated body and capable of moving back and forth between two extreme for controlling water flow through the elongated body and in so doing producing a “water hammer effect” which acts on the automatic pool cleaner to propel it across the surface and wherein the flip-flop valve includes a substantially wedge-shaped hammer valve member formed by two spaced, substantially triangular sides interconnected by a central body narrower than the triangular sides and an end surface connecting respective ends of the substantially triangular sides such that the hammer valve member has continuous sides and cavities between the triangular sides due to the central body being narrower than the triangular sides, the end surface having indentations to be engaged by flow of water around the hammer valve member and into the inlet of the elongated body to aid flip-flop action achieved by the hammer valve member upon exposure to the water flow, said indentations are substantially hemispherical.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.