Stair cleaning vacuum cleaner

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner having a generally elongated housing having a first housing end and a second housing end, a rear grip located at the first housing end, and an air inlet located at the second housing end. A vacuum fan and a motor are located within the housing and the motor is adapted to drive the vacuum fan to draw a working air flow into the air inlet. A dirt receptacle is operatively associated with the housing and adapted to remove particles from the working air flow. The vacuum cleaner also includes one or more foregrips located on the housing between the rear grip and the air inlet. In various aspects, the foregrips are adapted to: provide a user with multiple hand positions around the perimeter of the housing; simultaneously grasp the rear grip and the one or more foregrips and clean staircase surfaces while remaining substantially upright; and / or hold and operate the vacuum cleaner when the housing is rotated about its longitudinal axis at a first angular position and at a second angular position, the first angular position being approximately 90 degrees or more from the second angular position.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to vacuum cleaners, and particularly to a novel vacuum cleaner adapted for cleaning in stairwells and other confined spaces. BACKGROUND [0002] Vacuum cleaning devices are in widespread use as a tool to clean floors, upholstery, stairs, and other surfaces. Such vacuum cleaners are provided in a number of configurations, such as upright and canister vacuum cleaners, wet extractors, stick vacuums, electric brooms and so on. While these known vacuum cleaner configurations are useful for cleaning various surfaces, it has been found that they are generally better suited for some surfaces than others. For example, upright vacuum cleaners, such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,564,160, and 6,829,804, include a floor-engaging base to which an upright handle is pivotally attached, and are generally best suited for cleaning relatively unobstructed floor spaces. While such upright vacuums may be provided with a recessed grip on...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

As such, while such a grip might improve the user's comfort, various other features endemic to typical upright vacuums still make using them to clean stairs and other elevated surfaces relatively uncomfortable.

Furthermore, even if a grip is provided on a conventional upright vacuum, it typically does not allow easy rotation of the device to clean vertical surfaces or other inclined surfaces, such as stair risers.

When doing so, the user is often faced with the dangerous combination of heightened exposure to a rotating brushroll and unwieldy ergonomics.

However, even these devices suffer from various shortcomings.

However, the canister portion of the device is typically at constant risk of tumbling down the stairs, the user's movement is limited by the device's hose length, and the use of a long hose often results in reduced suction at the nozzle inlet.

Upright vacuums provided with extension hoses for cleaning above the floor also typically suffer from these and other problems.

While some canister vacuums, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,007, include a recess to make them more stable on stairs, such cleaners still must be constantly moved as the user progresses along the length of the stairs and reaches the end of the hose's reach, and they still suffer from potentially reduced suction force.

However, these devices still are not ideally designed for cleaning stairs and vertical surfaces.

Furthermore, even if the stick vacuum is provided with a handle along its length, such devices are not known to include features that allow them to be rotated to clean upright surfaces.

For example, the device of U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,864 includes a handle (item 102 in FIG. 3) located along its length, but it would be difficult for a user to use this handle to turn the device to face a stair riser without holding the device in an unbalanced position.

Stick vacuums are also typically just as long as a conventional vacuum cleaner, which makes them difficult to manipulate in enclosed stairwells, closets, and other confined spaces.

This length also makes it difficult for the user to hold the grip located at the end of the handle when cleaning stairs.

However, even these devices are limited because the handle is located so close to the inlet nozzle, that in many instances the user must kneel or bend to reach the surface being cleaned.

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