Patent ID: 9668628
Date: 2017-06-06
CPC Classifications: A47L

Claim:
1. A vacuum cleaner for removing debris from a surface to be cleaned, comprising: a housing comprising a suction nozzle defining a suction chamber having an inlet opening and an outlet opening, wherein the suction nozzle comprises a forward wall at a forward portion of the housing and the forward wall comprises a lower edge spaced from the surface to be cleaned; a roller chamber defined by: an agitator provided in the suction chamber rearward of the roller chamber; a passageway at the forward portion of the housing and in fluid communication with the suction chamber; a suction source fluidly connected to the suction nozzle for generating a working air stream through the suction nozzle; and a roller mounted to the housing in the roller chamber, below the lower edge of the forward wall, for rotation about a rotational axis and having multiple radially-spaced sealing elements defining debris chambers between adjacent sealing elements; wherein, upon the rotation of the roller about the rotational axis, the sealing elements sequentially form a temporary seal between the passageway and the surface to be cleaned such that a corresponding debris chamber is fluidly coupled to the suction chamber and debris in the corresponding debris chamber is ingested through the passageway; wherein at least one of the sealing elements seals against the curved top wall and wherein at least another one of the sealing elements seals against the curved rear wall.