Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SELF-EVACUATING VACUUM CLEANER
FOR CLEANING PONDS OR SWIMMING POOLS
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
This disclosure relates generally to vacuum
cleaners, and more particularly, to a self-evacuating vacuum
cleaner for cleaning ponds or swimming pools.
BACKGROUND
Tank-type self-evacuating vacuum cleaners
typically have the capability to vacuum debris and liquid
material into a holding tank, and pump liquid material out
of the holding tank. Such vacuum cleaners have a filter to
prevent the collected debris from entering the motor
assembly. If the vacuum cleaner is used to collect dry
debris, such as dust, a user can open the tank and empty the
collected dust out of the tank. However, when vacuuming
liquid material or continuously vacuuming and pumping liquid
material, the debris that is flowing with the liquid
material or floating therein will be sucked into the holding
tank with the liquid material and pumped out of the tank
with the liquid material. Thus, the debris that is in the
liquid material is not collected to effectively filter the
liquid material.
An aspect of the invention provides a wet/dry
vacuum cleaner for cleaning debris from a surface wetted
with liquid material comprising: a tank having an inlet for
receiving the liquid material and an outlet for disposing
the liquid material; an air impeller housing having an
opening in air flow communication with the tank interior; an
air impeller disposed inside the air impeller housing to
create low pressure in the tank; a motor disposed inside a
motor housing and operatively coupled to the air impeller;
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an inlet hose removably connected to the inlet; a nozzle
removably attached to the inlet hose and adapted to engage
the surface for dislodging the debris from the surface, the
debris and liquid material being passed through the inlet
hose; and a filter disposed in the inlet hose and adapted to
remove debris from the liquid material; wherein the nozzle
dislodges debris from the surface, and the debris and the
liquid material are pulled through the inlet hose.
Another aspect of the invention provides a wet/dry
vacuum cleaner for cleaning debris from a surface wetted
with liquid material comprising: a tank having an inlet for
receiving the liquid material and an outlet for disposing
the liquid material; an air impeller housing having an
opening in air flow communication with the tank interior; a
pump impeller in communication with the tank and the outlet;
a motor disposed inside a motor housing and operatively
coupled to the pump impeller; an outlet hose removably
connected to the outlet; and a filter disposed in the outlet
hose and adapted to remove debris from the liquid material;
wherein the liquid material including debris in the tank are
pumped through the outlet hose.
A further aspect of the invention provides a
wet/dry vacuum cleaner for cleaning debris from a surface
wetted with liquid material comprising: a tank having an
inlet for receiving the liquid material and an outlet for
disposing the liquid material; an air impeller housing
having an opening in air flow communication with the tank
interior; a vacuum impeller disposed inside the air impeller
housing to create low pressure in the tank; a pump impeller
in communication with the tank and the outlet; a motor
disposed inside a motor housing and operatively coupled to
the vacuum impeller and the pump impeller; an inlet hose
removably connected to the inlet; an outlet hose removably
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connected to the outlet; a nozzle removably attached to the
inlet hose and adapted to engage the surface for dislodging
the debris from the surface, the debris and liquid material
being passed through the inlet hose; and a filter disposed
in one of the inlet hose or the outlet hose and adapted to
remove debris from the liquid material; wherein the nozzle
dislodges debris from the surface, and the debris and the
liquid material are pulled through the inlet hose and
disposed through the outlet hose.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a
first example of the teachings of the instant disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a
second example of the teachings of the instant disclosure.
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a filter housing in
accordance with the teachings of the instant disclosure.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, a vacuum cleaner 10 in accordance with
the teachings of the present disclosure is generally shown. The vacuum cleaner
10
includes a tank 12 and an upper vacuum assembly, indicated generally at 14.
The
tank 12 further includes casters 13 that may be used to move the tank 12 on a
surface.
In a first example of the present disclosure, liquid material is filtered
prior to being
drawn into the tank 12, to then be pumped out of the tank 12. In a second
example of
the present disclosure, liquid material is drawn into the tank 12 and is
filtered when
being pumped out of the tank 12.
The upper vacuum assembly 14 includes a lid 22 releasably attached to the
tank 12. Attached to the lid are a cover 20, a motor housing 24, and a baffle
25. A
motor 23 is disposed inside the motor housing 24. The lid 22 makes up the
bottom of
the upper vacuum assembly 14 and may carry one or more latches 23 for
attaching the
upper vacuum assembly 14 to the tank 12. The motor housing 24 is disposed
between
the lid 22 and the cover 20. When a user wishes to connect the upper vacuum
assembly 14 to the tank 12, the user lifts the upper vacuum assembly 14 above
the
tank 12, aligns the latches 23 with latch recesses (not shown) formed in the
tank,
lowers the upper vacuum assembly 14 until the lid 22 rests on top of the tank
12, and
then, fastens the latches to the tank 12. A handle 28 is provided on the upper
vacuum
assembly for facilitating transportation of the assembled vacuum cleaner 10.
Disposed in the upper vacuum assembly 14, among other things, are an air
impeller
33 and a pump impeller 35. The motor 23 drives both the air impeller 33 and
the
pump impeller 35. The tank 12 includes an inlet 40 and an outlet 42, which are
both
in fluid communication with the tank. One of ordinary skill in the art will
appreciate
that the inlet 40 can be disposed either on the tank 12 or on the upper vacuum
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assembly 14. Similarly, the outlet can be disposed either on the tank 12 or on
the
upper vacuum assembly 14. The air impeller 33 creates a low pressure in the
tank
when driven by the motor 23. The low pressure creates suction at the inlet 40
to draw
liquid material into the tank 12. The pump impeller 35 ejects liquid material
out of
the tank 12 throughthe outlet 42 when operating by the motor 23.
Referring to FIG. 1, the first example of the vacuum cleaner 10 in accordance
with the teachings of the present disclosure is shown. The vacuum cleaner 10
includes an inlet hose 50 having an inlet end 52 and a nozzle end 54. The
inlet end 52
is removably connected to the inlet 40, and a cleaning tool 55 removably
connects to
the nozzle end 54. The vacuum cleaner 10 also includes an outlet hose 56
having an
outlet end 58 and a disposal end 60. The outlet end 58 of the outlet hose 56
removably connects to the outlet 42. A filter housing 70 is disposed in the
flow path
of the inlet hose 50. Accordingly, the inlet hose 50 includes two sections=-a
first inlet
hose section 72 that fluidically connects the inlet 40 to a filter housing
outlet 74, and a
second inlet hose section 76 that fluidically connects the cleaning tool 55 to
a filter
housing inlet 78. Thus, during the operation of the vacuum cleaner 10, liquid
material
flows through the cleaning tool 56 and the second inlet hose section 76 before
entering the filter housing 70 from the filter housing inlet 78. The liquid
material then
flows out the filter housing 70, through the first inlet hose section 72, to
be deposited
into the tank 12 from the inlet 40.
Referring to FIG. 3, the filter housing 70 includes a filter housing lid 80
and a
filter 82 that removes debris from the liquid material. One or ordinary skill
in the art
will appreciate the numerous possible filter types and configurations that are
well
known in the art for removing debris from liquid material. In the disclosed
examples,
the filter 82 includes a mesh material (shown in FIG. 3) disposed in the flow
path
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between the filter housing inlet 78 and the filter housing outlet 74 to
intercept any
debris that may be in the liquid material. One of ordinary skill in the art
will
appreciate that the smaller the mesh density of the filter 82, the smaller the
size of
particles the filter 82 can intercept. However, a filter 82 that has a very
fine mesh can
impede the flow of liquid material from the filter housing inlet 78 to the
filter housing
outlet 74. Conversely, a filter 82 that has a very coarse mesh will only
intercept very
large debris and allow smaller sized debris to pass through. Accordingly, the
filter 82
can include a mesh material from a range of mesh densities to provide desired
filtering of the debris from the liquid material without impeding the flow of
liquid
material through the filter housing 70.
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate: that the filter 82 may be
constructed from a variety of materials, including metal and plastic. However,
the
mesh material of the filter 82 is preferably constructed from a plastic
inaterial to
prevent corrosion thereof as a result of continuous and repeated contact with
liquid
material. Furthermore, the mesh material of the filter 82 is preferably
constructed
from a flexible plastic material to facilitate easy removal of the filter 82
from the filter
housing 70 for cleaning.
Referring to FIG. 2, the second example of the vacuum cleaner 10 in
accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure is shown. In this
embodiment,
the filter housing 72 is disposed in the flow path of the outlet hose 56.
Accordingly,
the outlet hose 56 includes two sections--a first outlet hose section 84 that
fluidically
connects the outlet 42 to a filter housing inlet 78, and a second outlet hose
section 86
that fluidically connects the filter outlet 74 to the disposal end 60. Thus,
during the
operation of the vacuum cleaner 10, liquid material flows from the outlet 42
through
the first outlet hose section 84 before entering the filter housing 70. The
liquid
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material then leaves the filter housing 70 through the filter housing outlet
74 for
ejection from the disposal end 60.
When operating the vacuum cleaner 10, the rate at which liquid material is
drawn into the tank 12 may not be equal to the rate at which the liquid
material is
pumped out of the tank 12. Accordingly, to provide for continuous operation of
the
vacuum cleaner 10, and to synchronize the in-flow of liquid material into the
tank 12
with the out-flow of liquid material from the tank 12 (i.e., a one-to-one
ratio), the
vacuum cleaner 10 may include a metering device 90 (shown in FIG. 2). The
metering device 90 regulates the in-flow of liquid material into the tank 12.
Accordingly, the metering device 90 can be disposed anywhere in the flow path
of the
liquid material prior to entering the tank 12. In the first example of the
vacuum
cleaner 10 shown in FIG. 1, the metering device 90 is disposed in the filter
housing 70
(shown in Fig. 1). In the second example of the vacuum cleaner 10 shown in
FIG. 2,
the metering device 90 is disposed in the flow path of the inlet hose 50.
One of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that any one of the
described first and second examples of the disclosed vacuum cleaner 10 can be
optionally practiced by a user. For instance, if a user chooses to operate the
vacuum
cleaner 10 in accordance with the first example, he can place the filter
housing 70 in
the flow path of the inlet hose 50 by connecting the first and second inlet
hose
sections 72 and 76, respectively, to the filter housing 70. Alternately, the
user can
operate the vacuum cleaner 10 in accordance with the second example by placing
the
filter 70 in the flow path of the outlet hose 56 between the first outlet hose
section 84
and the second outlet hose section 86. To facilitate the alternate filter
house positions,
releasable couplings may be provided between the first and second inlet hose
sections
72, 76 and the first and second hose sections 84, 86. One of ordinary skill in
the art
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will further appreciate that the inlet hose sections 72 and 76 can be
identical to the
outlet hose sections 84 and 86. Accordingly, a user can simply use these hose
sections interchangeably to easily and optionally practice the above-described
first
and second examples.
The cleaning tool 55 can be one of many vacuum cleaning tools that are well
known to those of ordinary skill in the art. However, to clean contoured
surfaces of
ponds or swimming pools, a head 57 of the cleaning tool 55 is preferably
flexible to
conform to the contour of the surface to be cleaned. Further:more, the
cleaning tool 55
can be constructed in a non-linear shape, such as a curved shape, to closely
match the
contour of the surface to be cleaned. As is well known to those of ordinary
skill in the
art, the bottom surfaces of ponds or swimming pools need to be cleaned
occasionally
to remove a variety of debris and deposits therefrom. To dislodge such debris,
the
cleaning tool 55 can include a scrubbing brush 59.
When cleaning the bottom surface of a pond or a swimming pool, a user can
dislodge debris from the bottom surface by scrubbing the cleaning tool 55 on
the
bottom surface. The dislodged debris and the surrounding water are then drawn
into
the inlet hose 50. If the filter housing 70 is attached to the inlet hose 50
in accordance
with the first example of the present disclosure, the debris is removed from
the water
prior to reaching the tank 12. The filtered water is then pumped out of the
tank 12
and back into the pond or swimming pool through the outlet hose 56. If the
filter
housing 70 is attached to the outlet hose 56 in accordance with the second
example of
the present disclosure, the debris and water are deposited into the tank 12.
Prior to
being ejected from the disposal end 60 of the outlet hose 56, the debris.is
removed
from the water by the filter 82. A user can also remove debris that is
floating in the
water in a pond or swimming pool by simply placing the nozzle end 54 of the
inlet
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hose 50 (if no cleaning tool 56 is attached, or the cleaning tool 56 if it is
attached to
the nozzle end 54) near the debris to draw the debris and the surroundinQ
water into
the inlet hose 50. As shown in FIG. 3, the user can at anytime or when
necessary
clean the filter 82 by opening the lid 80 of the filter housing to either
remove the
debris from the filter housing 70, or take the filter 82 out of the filter
housing 70 to
clean.
One of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the inlet hose
sections 72 and 76, the outlet hose 56 or the outlet hose sections 84 and 86,
the filter
housing 70, and the metering device (not shown) can be used with any self-
evacuating
tank-type vacuum cleaner, as long as the inlet hose 50 and the outlet hose 56
are sized
to provide removable connection to the vacuum cleaner's inlet and outlet,
respectively. Accordingly, any tank-type self-evacuating vacuum cleaner can be
modified to provide the function of pond or swimming pool cleaning.
Although certain apparatus constructed in accordance with the teachings of the
invention have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is
not
limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all embodiments of the
teachings
of the invention fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either
literally
or under the doctrine of equivalents.
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