A pool cleaner debris bag includes a body having a debris collection cavity, an upper end and a lower end, the lower end coupled to the pool cleaner to receive debris from the pool ejected by the cleaner into the bag. The bag further includes a float positioned outside the debris collection region of the bag.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    This invention relates generally to the field of automatic swimming pool cleaners, and in particular to a bag designed to collect the refuse and debris from the pool cleaner during operation of the unit.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Automatic swimming pool cleaners for cleaning the floor and sidewalls of a swimming pool are well known.  
           [0005]    There are generally four types of pool cleaners in the pool cleaning market: pressure or return side cleaners; suction cleaners; electric cleaners and in-floor cleaners.  
           [0006]    Pressure or return side cleaners use a debris bag to collect debris in the pool. Water from a pump is fed into the cleaner to sweep and collect debris into the bag carried by the cleaner. This means that the bag itself has a weight, buoyancy, and a weight factor that changes when debris is collected in the bag. The cleaner must be able to traverse the entire pool without being toppled. Weight is added to the bag when debris is collected in the bag, changing the weight of the bag as the cleaner moves in the pool. In addition, when empty the bag may topple over to one side, and various methods of attaching the bag to the water supply have heretofore been used to ensure the bag remains upright so as not to impair performance of the cleaner.  
           [0007]    In a pressure cleaner, the influx of water into the cleaner affects the manner in which the cleaner acts under water. The buoyancy of objects is also a significant consideration in developing pressure cleaners and is affected by the component in the cleaner and the water inflow and action of the water within the cleaner.  
           [0008]    One particular type of known automatic pressure cleaner having four wheels is shown and described in co-pending U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,188, and another three-wheel version in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,754, 3,936,899, and 4,558,479.  
           [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 shows, by way of example, a first embodiment of an automatic swimming pool cleaner  10 , such as that shown in U.S. Ser. No. 5,893,188, suitable for use with the present invention. Cleaner  10  includes a frame  12  on which a housing, consisting of an upper housing shell  14  and a lower housing shell  16 , is mounted. An open suction mast  18  for vacuuming debris from beneath the cleaner  10  extends through an opening  20 , generally in the middle of the upper housing shell  14 , and a collection bag  22  is attached to the suction mast, over a flapper valve  24  positioned on the upper end of the suction mast, to collect the debris. A pair of opposing jets, located inside the suction mast  18  near its inlet at the bottom of the cleaner  10 , induce a flow of water upwardly through the suction mast and into the collection bag  22  in well-known manner. When the cleaner  10  is operating, the force of the water pushes open the flapper valve  24 ; when the cleaner ceases operating, the flapper valve closes by virtue of gravity to keep the debris in the collection bag  22  from failing back into the swimming pool through the open suction mast  18 .  
           [0010]    Although not shown in FIG. 1, the bag  22  may be coupled to line  32  by a loop of material in order to keep the bag in the position generally shown in FIG. 1. Nevertheless, the bag may still have a tendency to flop over to one side or another. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved debris bag adapted for submerged travel in a pool with a pool cleaner. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.  
           [0011]    Numerous improvements have been implemented in pool cleaner debris bags in order to make the use of the bag more efficient.  
           [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,885 discloses pool cleaner debris bag comprising a body having an upper end and a lower end, the lower end coupled to the pool cleaner to receive debris from the pool ejected by the cleaner into the bag, and a float positioned in the bag. This bag is suitable for many applications.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    The present invention, roughly described, pertains to a pool cleaner debris bag. The bag includes a body including a debris collection cavity, the body having an upper end and a lower end, the lower end coupled to the pool cleaner to receive debris from the pool ejected by the cleaner into the bag. The bag further includes a float positioned outside the debris collection region of the bag.  
           [0014]    The float may take many forms and be constructed of numerous types of material, such as foam, plastic, and the like.  
           [0015]    Multiple floats may also be provided.  
           [0016]    The invention improves on the prior art by providing a float which does not interfere with emptying debris from the debris bag. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    The invention will be described with respect to the particular embodiments thereof. Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the specification and drawings in which:  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of an automatic swimming pool cleaner of the present invention, with a portion of the collection bag shown in phantom for purposes of illustration.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3A is a cross-section along line  3 - 3  in FIG. 2 of a first alternative arrangement of the float of FIG. 2.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 3B is a cross-section along line  3 - 3  in FIG. 2 of a second alternative arrangement of the float of FIG. 2.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 6A is a cross-section along line  6 - 6  in FIG. 5 of a first alternative arrangement of the float of FIG. 5.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 6B is a cross-section along line  6 - 6  in FIG. 5 of a second alternative arrangement of the float of FIG. 5.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a yet another embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 8 is a cross-section along line  8 - 8  in FIG. 7 of a first alternative arrangement of the float of FIG. 7.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an additional embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a still further embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 12 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 13 is a cross-section along line  13 - 13  in FIG. 13 of an arrangement of the float of FIG. 12.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a first side bag embodiment of the bag of the present invention.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a second side bag embodiment of the bag of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0035]    [0035]FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a first alternative embodiment of the present invention. Bag  100  is substantially constructed of a porous material  110  which is chosen such that it is sufficiently porous to allow water or other liquid to pass therethrough relatively easily, while restricting the flow of most debris collected by pool sweeps and pool cleaners. The main portion of pool sweep bag  100  is constructed of a single piece of porous material  110  which is folded along the left side  112  and seamed and sewn together to form a vertical form  113  along right side  114 . It should be noted that vertical seam  114  could be constructed to allow opening or closing thereof, however in this embodiment, vertical seam  114  is sewn and horizontal seam  120  constructed with velcro closures to allow opening thereof to remove debris.  
         [0036]    Seam  120  is positioned at a top portion  122  of pool bag  100 . Seam  120  is constructed by utilizing a velcro hook-type material or equivalent and a velcro loop-like material or equivalent to facilitate opening and closing thereof. Top portion  120  includes a strap  124  positioned to allow an individual to remove bag  100  from the pool sweep or cleaner by simply inserting a finger through the strap  124  and lifting. At bottom portion  130 , a snout portion  132  is provided. A bottom sea, not shown in FIG. 2, is constructed of a folded, sewn layer of the porous material. In FIG. 2, snout portion is shown as mounted in a coupling  140  to allow bag  100  to be easily coupled to and decoupled from the pool sweep or pool cleaner. Bag  100  may optionally include a second loop  142  to allow the bag to be coupled to the feed hose  32  of the cleaner such as that shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0037]    When constructed as described above, the bag includes an interior debris collection region  175  defined by the material, seams, top portion and side portions. Debris is fed from the cleaner into the interior debris collection region via the coupling.  
         [0038]    Also shown in FIG. 2, and in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, is a float unit  200  secured adjacent to the top portion  120  and right side  114  of bag  100 .  
         [0039]    Float  150  may be comprised of any suitably buoyant material, or constructed as rubber or plastic, molded, sealed or otherwise joined or constructed, air-filled float. In one embodiment, a particularly desirable float material comprises a closed-cell foam material which has a buoyancy sufficient to support bag  100  under water in pool cleaning applications.  
         [0040]    Innumerable materials may be utilized as the float material of float  150 . A closed-cell material is desirable since it can be punctured without loosing buoyancy, allowing easy use of a securing strap piercing the float without generally affecting the buoyancy of float  150 . However, any number of suitable buoyant materials may be utilized so long as the buoyancy is sufficient to support the weight of the bag under water. Moreover, the size of the float may vary in accordance with the particular application, and again is easily empirically determined. All such various embodiments are contemplated as being within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIGS. 3A and 3B show two alternatives for securing the float to bag  100 . In FIG. 3A, an interior porous material sack  310  is sewn into the bag and the float  200  secured within the sack  310 . In FIG. 3B a porous material sack  320  is sewn to the outside of bag  100 . It should be recognized that a further alternative embodiment is to make sack  310  or  320  two sided, and constructed out of a watertight material containing a pocket with air or another buoyant material, and sew or otherwise attach the sack itself, (without a separate float) to the outside or inside of bag  100 . It should be recognized that while the float is shown in FIG. 2 as being on the right portion of the bag  114 , the float could be positioned on the left side of the bag  112  as well.  
         [0042]    In alternative embodiments, the float may be positioned at alternative locations in the bag, depending on the shape of the bag and construction of the cleaner. It should be recognized that it would be relatively easy to empirically determine optimal placement of the float in the bag depending upon the shape of the bag, the shape and size of the float, and the manner in which the bag is coupled to the cleaner.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention wherein two floats  200 ′ and  200 ″ are used in bag  100 .  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of an externally mounted float  500 . In this embodiment, the float is shown as circular in cross-section as illustrated in FIG. 5; however it should be understood that the particular cross-section of the float shape is not important to the nature of the invention.  
         [0045]    As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, float  500  secured to the bag  100  by a strap attachment  510 . In FIG. 6A, attachment  510  is shown as looping through a hole  512  in float  500 . Attachment  510  may be plastic, rubber, string, rope, nylon, synthetic fiber, natural fiber, wire, polypropylene, kelvar, or any suitably strong material. The attachment may be secured through a re-enforced hole  155  in bag  100 .  
         [0046]    In the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 6B, the attachment includes a securing portion  520  which may be molded or formed to prevent float  500  from leaving the attachment, requiring only a single sided attachment  515  passing through hole  155 .  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 7 shows another alternative embodiment wherein a float  500  is positioned outside the debris collection region of the bag. In FIG. 7, a float  700  is positioned in an attachment bag  710  formed of the same porous material as the bag  100 . The attachment bag  710  may be sewn, glued or otherwise attached to the upper portion of the bag  100 . While shown on the right side of the bag  100  in FIG. 7, the float could be positioned on the left side  112  (as shown in FIG. 9) or at any position between the right and left sides.  
         [0048]    [0048]FIGS. 7 and 8 show a square float formed in the manner as those set forth in the prior embodiments, but it should be recognized that any shaped float is within contemplation of the principles of the invention.  
         [0049]    Yet another alternative is shown in FIG. 10 wherein two floats  700 ″ and  700 ″ are used on bag  100 . The floats  700 ′ and  700 ″ are positioned in attachment bags  710 ′ and  710 ″.  
         [0050]    [0050]FIG. 11 shows an elongated float  1100  positioned in an attachment sack  1110  as provided in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. The elongated float increases the area available for air or another buoyant material within the float, and thereby the buoyancy of the float and the bag. It will be apparent to one of average skill in the art that any number of different shapes and sizes of floats may be used depending on the quantity and location of the buoyancy desired.  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 12 shows another alternative embodiment of the present invention where an elongated float similar to that shown in FIG. 12 is positioned on the exterior of the bag  100 . Float  1100  may be attached at its base by directly attaching the float to the bag at one or more points using a connector  1250  made of plastic, rubber, wire, nylon or other suitable material, as shown in FIG. 13, or may be provided in a exterior attachment sack such as that shown in FIG. 8.,  
         [0052]    [0052]FIG. 14 shows a side mounted bag  160  having a hose attachment positioned at the top portion of the bag. The bag is designed to be carried sideways (so that the top portion  122  is generally perpendicular rather than parallel to the pool floor during operation). In this embodiment, a float  1400  is positioned at a first side of the bag in a attachment sack  1410  and a weight  1430  is positioned in a second portion in a second sack  1440 . The weight  1430  and float  1400  maintain the orientation of the bag so the bag does not become twisted about the coupling.  
         [0053]    The embodiment of FIG. 16 includes a bag with no hose attachment. The weight  1430  and float  1400  combination is particularly useful in this arrangement wherein the hose is not used to stabilize one part of the bag  160 . Such a bag may be used with cleaners which are powered by electricity or other means and no feeder hose is used, as in pressure cleaners like that shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0054]    The foregoing detailed description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.  
         [0055]    One modification concerns the shape of the float. In the present description, floats having a triangular, square, rectangular and oblong shape are shown. The shape of the float is not germane to the scope of the present invention in that any shape of float is considered to be within the scope of the present invention. Another modification is the number and position of the float. Yet another is the composition of and relative buoyancy of each float.  
         [0056]    The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto.