Vacuum Cleaner Conduit Hinge With Side-Accessible Unlocking Grips
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Solution Overview
Problem
Upright vacuum cleaner conduits are difficult to manipulate due to the hidden unlocking mechanism, making it challenging for users to easily fold and unfold the conduit parts.
Innovation Solution
The vacuum cleaner conduit features a locking member and unlocking member positioned diametrically opposed to the hinge device, with lateral gripping parts that extend beyond a central plane, allowing users to easily access and operate the unlocking mechanism using their fingers, enabling easier folding and unfolding of the conduit parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the unlocking member is located opposite the hinge device in a lower part of the vacuum cleaner conduit, then the structural compactness is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates because the unlocking member is barely visible and difficult to manipulate
Solution Approach 1:
The unlocking member is designed with lateral gripping parts that extend beyond the central longitudinal plane of the conduit, creating a new spatial dimension for user interaction. This allows the unlocking mechanism to be accessed from the side rather than from below, making it visible and manipulable while maintaining structural compactness.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the locking member is positioned diametrically opposed to the hinge device, then the structural balance is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to poor visibility and accessibility
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral gripping parts extend beyond the central longitudinal plane, allowing users to access the unlocking mechanism from the side rather than from the bottom. This dimensional change maintains the diametrically opposed positioning for structural balance while dramatically improving visibility and accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The unlocking member features localized gripping surfaces on its lateral parts that provide enhanced tactile feedback and grip points. This local quality enhancement makes the unlocking mechanism easily identifiable and manipulable without compromising the overall structural balance achieved through diametrically opposed positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
The vacuum cleaner conduit includes first and second rigid conduit parts a hinge device configured to allow a pivoting of the first and second rigid conduit parts about a hinge axis and between unfolded and folded configurations; a locking member configured to lock the first and second rigid conduit parts the unfolded configuration; and an unlocking member including two lateral gripping parts located on either side of one of the first and second rigid conduit parts, each of the lateral gripping parts being intersected by a plane parallel to the hinge axis and containing a central longitudinal axis of the vacuum cleaner conduit in the unfolded configuration of the first and second rigid conduit parts.