US2543342A - Suction cleaner with switch circuit - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 27, 1951 o. w. TIMM SUCTION CLEANER WITH SWITCH CIRCUIT Filed Aug. 21, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I/vvE/v T02 'OrTo W 77mm m w e E m a & no 2 i, mr s 5 F w W HnFP/s, 2E

Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 12 Claims.

My invention relates to the suction cleaner art and, more particularly, to a suction cleaner adap ed for household or hotel use or the like and haw ing a number of improvements over standard types of such devices.

It is common in the art to provide a vacuum cleaner of the suction type with a motor and a dust collecting chamber enclosed in a housing, the device having supporting runners and adapted to be moved from place to place in operation by a suction hose connected to the suction opening of the device. Such suction cleaners common- 1y are provided with the motor and dust chamber in horizontal axial alignment, which provides a very low construction which is awkward for an operator to pick up, as must frequently be done in moving the device from room to room for operation. It is therefore an object of my present invention to provide a wholly enclosed suction cleaner or" sufficient height to permit the handle thereof to be grasped by an operator without requiring a substantial steoping movement of the operator, thus relieving the physical effort required to move many of the suction cleaners of the prior art. I prefer to accomplish this object by providing an enclosed housing separated by a partition into a vertical motor chamber and a vertical filter chamber, a motor and fan unit 12 ing disposed in the motor chamber and a vertical filter bag being disposed in the filter chamber, and this is a further object of the invention.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a suction cleaner in which dust and foreign materials are filtered from incoming air on the outside or a suitable filter bag, with improved means provided for agitating the bag as desired to remove dust therefrom and thus clean the filtering surface.

A further object is to provide such a device in which the filter bag is agitated by agitating mechanism contained within the bag, preferably including an auxiliary electric motor for actuating the agitating mechanism. To accomplish this purpose, the elements of the agitating mechanism, described hereinafter, are of significance.

A further object of my invention is to provide, with a suction cleaner having a main motor for drawing air through the device and an auxiliary motor for agitating a filter bag to remove dust from the filtering surface thereof, an electric circuit whereby the auxiliary motor is energized only when the main motor is deenergized. I prefer to provide such a circuit whereby the auxiliary motor is so energized for a predetermined period. and then i automatically deenergized, and this is another object of the invention.

Other objects of the invention reside in additional construction features to be pointed out hereinafter, and will be evident from the following specification and the drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only and in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical view, partly in cross section, taken through my suction cleaner;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on the line '22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of Fig. illustrating a working position of the shaker mechanism shown in Fig. 2; and

l is a diagrammatic view of the electrical circuit of my invention.

Referring to the drawings, I show a housing it divided by a vertical partition wall [2 into a motor chamber 53 and a filter chamber it, the upper ends of which communicate through an upper chamber l5 of the housing. Disposed in the motor chamber 13 is an electric motor i'I, constituting the main motor unit of the invention, and disposed in the filter chamber I4 is a filter unit [8.

The electric motor I! is vertically disposed in the motor chamber i3, being supported by a bearing H on a circular plate 26, which in turn is supported by a resilient rubber washer H on the upper end of a reel shaft 22 which engages a detachable bottom wall 23 of the housing It. The electric motor I! is enclosed by a cylindrical porous filter element IS. The upper end of the electric motor I! is provided with an annular collar 25 which engages an annular sealing ring 26, preferably formed of rubber or other resilient material, which in turn engages an annular collar 2'5 formed on a horizontally disposed flange 28 which is suitably secured to the inner wall of the housing Hi and to the partition wall i2, as by welding or otherwise. As will be evident, the rubber washer 2i and the sealing ring 25 provide a resilient mounting for the electric motor I1, adapted to absorb vibration thereof. As will also be understood, the drive shaft (not shown) of the electric motor I! extends downwardly into the vertical filter element i9 and is provided with suitable fan blades (not shown) thereon adapted to draw air from the upper chamber l5 and through the motor chamber l3 to expel it from 3 a suitably disposed discharge opening 29 formed in the lower portion of the housing ill, the filter element 19 removing any traces of dust from the air circulated therethrough.

In the motor chamber l3 beneath the electric motor I? is a reel device 3i, which may be of any form well known in the art, which is rotatably mounted on the reel shaft 22 and is adapted to carry a power cord 32, one end of which extends out of the housing through a suitable power cord opening 33, the power cord being of the conventional form consisting of two wires 3 and one of which is connected electrically to an inner collector ring and the other of which is electrically connected to an outer collector ring 23?, as is well known in the art. The collector rings 36 and 3?, which are fixed to the reel device 39 and rotate therewith relative to the housing i@, are engaged by conventional brushes 3E and 39,

respectively. The brush 3B is connected by a wire 4| to a pole of a single-pole, double-throw main switch 52, as best shown diagrammatically in Fig. i, the contacts of which are connected by wires 43 and i l to an auxiliary switch The auxiliary switch 55 includes a housing provided with electrical contacts 1-3 and ll) to which the wires ii and 44 are connected, respectively. The housing ll is also provided with electrical contacts 59 and 5|. The contacts ll? and 5i are connected by a resistance wire 52, which, when current is flowing therethrough, is designed to heat a bimetal strip 53 connected to the electrical contact so as to bend the bimetal strip so that a contact 55 thereon engages the lower end of a contact screw 55 electrically connected to the electrical contact 5; Also provided in the housing ll is a stop adapted to prevent engagement of the bimetal strip 53 with the resistance wire 52.

The electrical contact 59 is connected by a wire 58 to one side of an auxiliary electric motor unit 59, the other side of which is connected by a wire 59 to the brush 39, the brush 39 also being connected by a wire 9i with one side of the main electric motor ii. electric motor ll is connected by a wire '52 to the electrical contact ill of the auxiliary switch Integrally connected with the top of the vertical partition Wall E? is a horizontal plate B l provided with a rectangular opening 55, the inner edge of the plate being curved to form a lip adapted to be engaged by a sealing ring preferably formed of rubber or other resilient material, which is supported in a cupped flange 63 of rectangular shape, which, together with the sealing ring 51, closes the rectangular opening 65, the fiange being provided with openings 39 and ill at each end thereof and being secured to the auxiliary electric motor unit 59, preferably by screws ll, as best shown in Fig. 2.

The auxiliary electric motor unit 59 is of any suitable design, including a vertical drive shaft 713 and an electric motor (not shown in detail) connected tothe upper end of the drive shaft. The auxiliary electric motor unit 58 is provided with a pair of electrical contacts "i and i5 supported on insulated contact arms E6, the electrical contacts l4 and ":5 being adapted to engage contacts 'l'i' and iii supported by a bracket "13 suitably secured to the inner wall of the top of the housing Hi, the contacts ll and '53 being electrically connected to the wires 89 and. 58, respectively. The auxiliary electric motor unit 59, together with the cupped flange secured thereto. is suspended by means of a screw 80 from The other side of the main the housing Hi. It will thus be observed that upon removal of the screw 89 and the removable bottom wall the filter unit i8 may be removed downwardly through the housing which breaks the electrical connection between the contacts i l and ii and the contacts '15 and "it, to permit the auxiliary electric motor unit 53 and its associated mechanism to be readily rcmoved from the housing for cleaning or repair, and this is a feature of the invention.

Secured to and depending from the cupped flange 58 is a bag member 82, comprising a portion of the filter unit I8, and preferably formed of a filter fabric material suitable for filtering dust and dirt from air passing therethrough. Disposed in the hollow bag member 82 is the agitating means 83 of the invention, which includes a framework 84 consisting of four vertical members 85 interconnected by four brace members 89, the lower ends or" which are secured to a rectangular flange member 81 having a circular central opening 88 therein. The members and 86 are preferably made of resilient material, such as spring steel, and the uppe ends thereof are secured to four depending ears 89 preferably integrally formed on the cupped flange 58. Rigidly secured to the rectangular flange member 81 is an agitator element 9! comprising vertical end members 92 and 93 and a pair of bottom straps 95 and 95. As will be apparent, the agitator element 9| is spaced but slightly from the inner wall of the bag member 82, so that upon lateral movement of the agitator element it will contact the bag member to agitate the same.

Connected to the drive shaft 13 of the auxiliary electric motor unit 59 by a resilient coupling 91, preferably formed of rubber or other resilient material, is a vertical rotatable shaft 98 which paszes through a bearing 99 and has secured to the lower end thereof a cross-pin I09, to be outer end of which is fastened an eccentric weight Nil. The bearing 99 is supported in a resilient diaphragm I03, preferably formed of rubber or other resilient material, which snaps into the central opening 88 of the rectangular fiange member 81.

Disposed in the filter chamber [4 below the filter unit 18 is a removable tray I04 which passes through a rectangular opening H05 in the housing ill. Also communicating with the filter chamber i4 is a suction opening I06, and between the suction opening Hi6 and the filter unit 18 is disposed a deflection plate member Hi1 which directs air entering the filter chamber around the inner wall thereof and prevents it from impinging directly upon the bag member 82.

In operation, which will be best understood by preliminary reference to Fig. 4, when the main switch 32 is clozed so as to close the circuit between the wires 4i and 14, current flows therethrough, through the resistance wire 52, and the wire 92 to the main electric motor H to energize the same, the other side of the motor being at all times connected by the wire 6! to the power supply. When the main electric motor I! is energized, the blower unit connected therewith (not shown) draws air through the suction opening W6 into the filter chamber 14, through the filter unit 58 to filter all dust and dirt particles therefrom, through the upper chamber 15 and the motor chamber l3, through the motor 11, and forces it through the filter element l9 and out through the discharge opening 29. As will be apparent, when the main electric motor I! is thus energized, current flowing through the resistance wire 52 will cause it to heat substantially, to heat the bimetal strip 53, causing the bimetal strip to bend upwardly until the contact 54 thereof engages the lower end of the contact screw 55 to close an electrical circuit between the wires 43 and 58 leading to the auxiliary motor 59. However, obviously, so long as the main switch 42 is in its closed position just described, in which the main electric motor H is energized, no current will flow through the switch 42 to the wire 43, and, consequently, the auxiliary electric motor 59 will not be energized.

As soon as the main electric witch 42 is opened, i. e., moved to the dotted line position illustrated in Fig. 4, after having actuated the main electric motor ll for a sufiicient period of time to close electrical contact between the contact 54 and the contact screw 55, current can then pass from the wire 4i through the main switch 42 to the wire 43,

from which it flows through the contact 48, the.

bimetal strip 53, the contact 5%, the contact screw 55, the contact 55, and the wire 58 to the auxiliary electric motor 59 to energize the same, the other side of the electric motor as being connected at engages and agitates the inner wall of the bag member 82. Such agitation of the bag member 82 shakes the dust accumulated on the outside thereof, the dust settling into the removable tray lo l. Cooling of th resistance wire52, due to the deenergization thereof, allows the bimetal strip 53 i to cool, and after a short predetermined period of time, such as, for example, fifteen seconds, the bimetal strip moves downwardly to engage the stop 55, thus breaking electrical contact between the contact 5:; and the contact screw 55, which breaks the circuit to the auxiliary electric motor 59 to deenergize the same. Upon again operating the main switch 2, to close the circuit between the wires ti and 4d, the cycle of operation of the device is repeated.

The cycle of operation just described is of primary importance in the invention, although it is to be understood that it may be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. Due to the relatively small surface area of the bag member 52, it will rapidly become clogged with dust during operation unless the dust is removed therefrom at relatively frequent intervals. Although separate manually operable switche may be provided for the main electric motor ll and the auxiliary electric motor unit 59, I have found that the average housewife will either forget to operate the auxiliary motor at sufficiently close intervals to maintain the surface of the bag member 82 adequately free from dust, or will merely neglect to do so, or will operate it for an unnecessarily long period when she does operate it. Since in normal household use an electric suction cleaner is frequently energized and deenergized, and since in my invention the bag member 82 is agitated every time that the main motor is deenergized, it will be apparent that dust deposited on the outer surface of the bag member will be shaken oil and collected in the tray m4 almost as soon as deposited on the bag member, thus The eccentric weight it! un- ,y,

maintaining the bag member adequately pervious to the air stream fiowing therethrough. Also, since the auxiliary electric motor unit 59 is actuated in each instance for a predetermined time interval, it is insured that the bag member 82 is shaken suniciently to accomplish this purpose, but substantially no more. Thus, the present invention provides means for automatically maintaining the filter unit 58 in satisfactory operating condition over long periods of use, the only requirement on the user being that the tray I04 must be emptied of its collected dust and dirt at intervals.

The construction of the agitating means 33 is also a particularly important feature of the invention, as it provides efficient means for agitating the bag member 82 as desired. Flexibility of ire-framework. 8 t permits the agitator element e: to oscillate smoothly in response to the unbalanced oscillation of the rotatable shaft 98 caused by the eccentric weight iill, which contributes to the desired result.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many of the elements of my device, as illustrated and described hereinabove, may be replaced by other elements having substantially the same mode of operation without departing from the spirit of my invention, and consequently I do not desire to be limited to the specific form illustrated and described, but desire to be afforded the full scope of the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air, between said openings and through said filter m ans; an auxiliary electric motor in said housing and adapted when energized to agitate said filter means; means for energizing said main motor device; and means for energizing said auxiliary motor automatically when said main motor device is deenergized.

2. In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said filter means; an auxiliary electric motor in said housing and adapted when energized to agitate said filter means; means for energizing said main motor device; and means for energizing said auxiliary motor automatically for a predetermined period of time after said main motor device is deenergized.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of: filter means for filtering a flow of ai passing therethrough; electrical power means for causing a flow of air through said filter means; electrical agitating means for agitating said filter means; a first electrical circuit adapted to supply current to said power means, including a main switch; and a second electrical circuit connected to said main switch and adapted to supply current to said agitating means, said second circuit including auxiliary switch means adapted to be closed in response to a flow of current through said first circuit, said first and second circuits being selectively energizable by operation of said main switch.

4. In a suction cleaner, the combination of an. enclosed housing having, a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said filter means; an auxiliary electric motor in said housing and adapted when energized to agitate said filter means; a first electrical circuit connected with said main electric motor means and adapted to supply current thereto, including a main switch; and a second electrical circuit connected withsaid auxiliary electric motor and adapted to supply current thereto, including auxiliary switch means adapted to be closed in response to a flow of current through said first circuit, said first and second circuits being selectively energizable by operation of said main switch.

5 In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said filter means; an auxiliary electric motor in said housing and adapted when energized to agitate said filter means; a first electrical circuit connected with said main electric motor means and adapted to supply current thereto, including a main switch; and a second electrical circuit connected with said auxiliary electric motor and adapted to supply current thereto, including auxiliary switch means adapt ed to be closed in response to a flow of current through said first circuit, said auxiliary switch means being of the thermally responsive type, said first and second circuits being selectively energizable by operation of said main switch.

6. In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means suspended in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said-filter means, said filter means including a hollow, placid bag formed of filtering material; agitating means in said bag, including a framework formed of resilient material and a rotatable shaft fiexibly connected thereto, adapted in'response to rotation of said shaft to agitate said bag; and an auxiliary electric motor flexibly connected to said shaft and adapted to rotate and fies; the same.

'7. In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means suspended in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said filter means, said filter means including a hollow bag formed of filtering material; agitating means in said bag, including a rotatable shaft having an eccentric weight connected thereto, adapted in response to rotation of said shaft to agitate said bag; and an auxiliary electric motor flexibly connected to said shaft and adapted to rotate and flex the same.

8. In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebtween; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said filter means, said filter means including a hollow bag formed of filtering material; agitating means in said bag, including a framework and a rotatable shaft connected to said framework and having an eccentric weight connected thereto, adapted in response to rotation of said shaft toagitate said bag; and an auxiliary electric motor connected to said shaft and adapted to rotate the same.

9. In a suction cleaner, the combination of a housing; a filter bag depending in said housing; means for conveying dust-laden air through said filter bag; agitating means, including an electric motor, a resilient framework, and means fiexibly connecting said motor to said framework so as to agitate said framework, said framework being adapted to extend downwardly into said filter bag; and means for suspending said agitating means as a unit from said housing.

10. In a suction cleaner, the combination of t a housing; a filter bag depending in said housing; means for conveying dust-laden air through said filter bag; agitating means, including an electric motor, a resilient framework, and means flexibly connecting said motor to said framework so as to agitate said framework, said framework being adapted to extend downwardly into said filter bag; means for forming a fluid-tight seal between said framework and said housing and so as to support said filter bag; and means for suspending said agitating means as a unit from said housing.

11. In a suction cleaner, the combination of: an enclosed housing having a suction opening and a discharge opening; filter means in said housing between said openings and adapted to filter air passing therebetwcen; a main electric motor device in said housing and adapted when energized to move air between said openings and through said filter means; an au 'liary eiectri motor in said housing and adapted when. gized to agitate said filter means; a first electrical circuit connected with said main electric motor device and adapted to supply current thereto, said first electrical circuit including a main switch having a first contact and a second contact and a movable element adapted to be engaged selectively with either of said contacts, said element and said first contact being connected in said first circuit; an electrical heater element connected in said first circuit and adapted to be heated by current flowing therethrough when said first circuit is closed; and a second electrical circuit connected between said second contact and said auxiliary electric motor, said second circuit including a contact element and a bimetal strip disposed between said contact element and said heater element and adapted to flex into engagement with said contact element in response to heat generated by said heater element so as to allow closing of said second circuit when said movable element is disengaged from said first contact and engaged with said second contact to open said first circuit, said bimetal st p being adapted to remain flexed in engagement with said contact element for a predetermined period of time following de-energizing of said heater element, due to stored up heat therein, and being adapted to straighten when the stored up heat is dissipated so as to open said second circuit.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Plaisted Oct. 19, 1920 Name Date Mullen May 13, 1924 Merrell et a1. May 27, 1930 Hornbrook May 4, 1943 Forsberg Apr. 3, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Jan. 5, 1922 Great Britain 1.. July 23, 1928 Germany Nov. 27, 1935

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