Carpet sweeper

An improved carpet sweeper includes a handle, an intermediate member having legs at the lower portion thereof, and a plurality of sweeper units, the number of legs being equal to that of the sweeper units. Each of the corresponding legs and sweeper units is connected to provide the assembly of the sweeper units.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a carpet sweeper and more particularly to a 
carpet sweeper which is composed of a plurality of sweeper units. 
In the past, there has been known a carpet sweeper which mainly comprises a 
handle for handling the carpet sweeper, a frame cover with dust 
receptacles pivotally connected with the lower end of the handle, a rotary 
brush positioned between the dust receptacles, rolling wheels to be 
forcedly rotated by contact with the floor, and a driven wheel for 
conveying the rotation of the rolling wheels to the rotary brush as 
disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,268,936 and 3,754,294. 
Such a carpet sweeper can remove dust and dirt from the floor by being 
moved manually forwards and backwards thereon. 
According to the carpet sweeper set forth above, however, it is difficult 
to enlarge the width thereof more than a limited dimension because the 
handling operation becomes worse as it exceeds, for instance, 30 - 40 
centimeters. Therefore, the number of forward and backward movements is 
inevitably increased to sweep a relatively wide floor by the prior art 
carpet sweeper. Further, as a carpet sweeper becomes wider, the more 
difficult it is to find a space in a house to stow it away. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a carpet 
sweeper which as a wider sweeping width so that the number of forward and 
backward sweeping operations is extremely decreased. It is another object 
of the present invention to provide a carpet sweeper which can be 
disassembled into a plurality of sweeper units so that a space to stow 
them away can be easily found in a house. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, a carpet sweeper comprises a handle for 
handling the carpet sweeper, an intermediate member having at least two 
legs at the lower portion thereof and a plurality of sweeper units equal 
in number to the legs of the member, each of the sweeper units comprising 
a frame cover, a pair of dust receptacles positioned at the inner sides of 
the frame cover and a rotary brush provided between the pair of dust 
receptacles. 
According to one feature of the present invention, each of the sweeper 
units may be coupled to the intermediate member by the connection between 
the corresponding legs thereof and fitting rods each pivoted to a 
supporting shaft in a groove of the respective frame cover. 
Accordingly, the provision of the intermediate member allows the assembly 
of a desired number of sweeping units to thereby provide a carpet sweeper 
having a predetermined width. Further, in spite of the increased width 
thereof, the carpet sweeper is easily handled during operation due to the 
structure that rotary brushes are independently suspended in each of the 
sweeper units, so that the carpet sweeper can be handled even on a 
transversely waved carpet .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention will now be explained with reference to embodiments 
illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a carpet sweeper comprising three 
sweeper unit 1, an intermediate member 20 having three legs 22 at the 
lower portion thereof and a single hand or arm 23 at the upper portion 
thereof, and a handle 30 composed of three elements 24, 24a and 24b and 
having a grip 25 at the top thereof. Each of the sweeper units 1 comprises 
a frame cover 1a having an arcuate top plate with a groove 19 and a 
cushion material 18 surrounding outer sides thereof. The frame cover 1a 
may be made of a thin sheet of a suitable metal or plastic material and 
the cushion material 18 may be of a synthetic rubber or foamed plastic. 
The sweeper unit 1 is also provided with brushes 14 at each corner thereof 
and rolling wheels 13 partially exposed therefrom. 
Referring next to FIG. 2, there is shown in more detail the arrangement of 
the sweeper unit 1 illustrated in FIG. 1. The sweeper unit comprises a 
rotary brush 10 positioned at the center thereof, a driven roller 12 
connected with the rotary brush 10 by means of a common shaft 11, rolling 
wheels 13 in friction engagement with the driven roller 12, four brushes 
14 at each corner thereof, a pair of dust receptacles 15, and a cushion 
material 18 therearound. The dust receptacle may have corrugated portions 
17 to reinforce the mechanical strength thereof and a hollow portion 16 
which may be opened by the thumb of an operator. 
In FIG. 3, there is an illustration of the coupling of a sweeper unit 1 
with an intermediate member 20 by the connection between one of legs 22 of 
the intermediate member and a fitting rod 21. The sweeper unit 1, as 
previously mentioned, comprises a frame cover 1a, a rotary brush 10, 
rolling wheels 13, brushes 14, dust receptacles 15 and a cushion material 
18. An elongated groove 19 is provided on the top surface of the frame 
cover 1a to accomodate a fitting rod 21 therein. A leaf spring 41 may be 
loaded in the groove 19 so as to apply a predetermined pressure to the 
bottom end of the fitting rod 21 which is pivotally fixed to a supporting 
shaft 40. In more detail, the bottom end of the fitting rod 21 is shaped 
to be flat such that it make contact with the top surface of the leaf 
spring 41. This allows the fitting rod 21, and therefore the handle 30 as 
shown in FIG. 1, to be self-support at a desired angle to the upright. A 
single hand or arm 23 of the intermediate member 20 is connected with an 
element 24 of the handle in the same manner as described with reference to 
FIG. 1. 
With reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, there are shown two types of 
intermediate members for the assembly of a plurality of sweeper units. In 
FIG. 4A, the intermediate member 20 includes two legs 22 and a single hand 
23. Accordingly, a carpet sweeper is assembled with two sweeper units, by 
use of this type of intermediate member. In FIG. 4B, on the other hand, 
the intermediate member 20 includes three legs 22 and a single hand 23 and 
this construction allows the assembly of three sweeper units. In both 
instances, each of legs 22 may be of a pipe shape so that the respective 
rod 21 can be inserted thereinto. One or more convex or thickened portions 
20a may also be provided on the main body of the intermediate member 20 to 
reinforce the mechanical strength thereof. 
Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a carpet sweeper which comprises two 
sweeper units 1, an intermediate member 20 and a handle 30. The sweeper 
unit 1 comprises a frame cover 1a, a rotary brush 10, brushes 14 provided 
at each corner thereof, a cushion material 18, a supporting shaft 40 and a 
fitting rod 21 pivoted thereto. The intermediate member 20 has a single 
hand 23 and two legs 22 each coupled to a corresponding sweeper unit 1 by 
the connection between the leg 22 and the fitting rod 21. The handle 30 is 
composed of three elements 24, 24a and 24b and a grip 25. 
As clearly seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, the sweeper units 1 may be assembled in 
such a manner that the cushion materials 18 are in a surface to surface 
contact to result in a significant friction engagement therebetween. This 
allows the sweeper units 1 connected to the intermediate member 20 to move 
forward and backward by the manual operation of the handle 30 while the 
sweeper units 1 are prevented from being vibrated under the corresponding 
legs 22. Thus, a carpet may be swept across a width determined in 
accordance with the number of the sweeper units 1. 
In operation, a carpet sweeper according to the present invention is moved 
forward and backward manually. This causes a pair of rolling wheels 13 to 
forcedly rotate by contact thereof with the floor to be swept. The 
rotation of the rolling wheels 13 is conveyed to a driven roller 13 by a 
friction engagement therebetween so that a rotary brush 10 is driven to 
rotate in a predetermined direction and speed. Accordingly, dust and dirt 
on the floor can be efficiently swept off into dust receptacles 15. 
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the 
preferred embodiments thereof, many modifications and alterations may be 
made within the spirit of the present invention.