Floor care apparatus with multiple agitator speeds and constant suction power

A floor care apparatus, comprising:

• a suction fan motor for providing a suction airflow during use:
• a nozzle assembly in fluid communication with the suction fan motor, an airflow path existing from said nozzle assembly to said suction fan motor;
• a first and second agitator in said nozzle assembly;
• at least one motor, separate from the suction fan motor, for driving at least one of the first and second agitator;
• an agitator motor control circuit to drive said first agitator at a first and second speed and said second agitator at a first and second speed, said first and second speeds of each of said first and second agitators being one of the same speed and a different speed.

A vacuum cleaner, comprising:

• a suction fan motor for providing a suction airflow during use;
• a nozzle assembly in fluid communication with the suction fan motor, an airflow path existing from said nozzle assembly to said suction fan motor;
• at least one agitator in said nozzle assembly;
• an agitator motor coupled to said at least one agitator for driving said agitator at two or more speeds;
• a switch with at least two positions for a user to indicate a mode-of-operation preference thereby indicating a preference of said two or more speeds;
• and
• an agitator motor control circuit responsive to said switch and coupled to supply at least two signals to said agitator motor in accordance with said speed preference wherein one of the two signals has a fixed duty cycle of less than 1.0.

A vacuum cleaner, comprising:

• a suction fan motor for providing a suction airflow during use;
• a nozzle assembly in fluid communication with the suction fan motor for sucking up dirt and debris from a surface to be cleaned, an airflow path existing from said nozzle assembly to said suction fan motor;
• at least one agitator in said nozzle assembly;
• an agitator motor coupled to said at least one agitator for driving said agitator at two or more speeds, said agitator motor not existing in said airflow path;
• a switch with at least two positions for a user to indicate a mode-of-operation preference thereby indicating a speed preference of said two or more speeds;
• and
• an agitator motor control circuit responsive to said switch and coupled to supply at least two signals to said agitator motor in accordance with said speed preference, wherein one of said two signals has a substantially repeating rectangular voltage waveform with a fixed duty cycle and the other of said two signals has a substantially constant voltage level.