Patent Publication Number: US-2007095031-A1

Title: Mounting collar for a filter bag

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The present invention relates to filter bags for vacuum cleaners.  
     BACKGROUND  
      A vacuum cleaner generates an air flow that carries dirt from a household surfaces into a filter bag. The filter bag has a mounting collar with an opening that provides access to the interior of the bag. The bag is removably mounted on a fill tube of the vacuum cleaner by insertion of the fill tube through the opening in the collar.  
     SUMMARY  
      A filter bag apparatus includes a filter bag and a panel. The panel is adhered to the bag and has an opening configured to receive a fill tube for the fill tube to exhaust dirt laden air into the bag. The opening has notches configured to pass over ears of the fill tube and then rotate out of alignment with the notches to capture the panel behind the ears to mount the bag to the fill tube. The panel has a longest dimension and a shortest dimension perpendicular to the longest dimension.  
      Preferably, the panel has only one longest dimension. The longest dimension is inclined with respect to both the length and the width of the bag. The longest dimension is parallel to an axis about which each notch is centered. The panel opening is centered on an axis about which each notch is centered. The outer edge of the panel has opposite straight sections that are parallel with the longest dimension. The outer edge of the panel is rounded outward at each of its most distantly separated points. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view a filter bag assembly and a vacuum cleaner fill tube used with the assembly; and  
       FIG. 2  is a front view of the bag assembly.  
    
    
     DESCRIPTION  
      The apparatus  1  shown in  FIG. 1  has parts that are examples of the elements recited in the claims. The apparatus thus includes examples of how a person of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the claimed invention. It is described here to meet the requirements of enablement and best mode without imposing limitations that are not recited in the claims.  
      The apparatus  1  includes a disposable vacuum cleaner filter bag assembly  10 . The assembly  10  has a filter bag  12 , of paper-like porous filter material, and a mounting collar  14  adhered to the bag  12 . The collar  14  has an opening  17  that provides access to the interior  19  of the bag  12 . The bag assembly  10  is removably mounted on a fill tube  20  of a vacuum cleaner by insertion of the fill tube  20  through the collar  14 .  
      The fill tube  20  includes a front opening  22  through which the vacuum cleaner exhausts dirt laden air into the bag  12 . The fill tube  20  further includes a cylindrical outer surface  24  centered on an axis  25 . A back plate  26  extends radially outward from the cylindrical surface  22  about the full circumference of the cylindrical surface  22 . Upper and lower ears  31  and  32  project radially outward from diametrically opposite sides of the cylindrical surface  22 .  
      The collar  14  has a rigid panel  60  formed of two paperboard plates  61  and  62  adhered together, with an elastic diaphragm  70  sandwiched in-between. The diaphragm  70  has an S-shaped slit defining the bag opening  17 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 2 , the panel  60  is located on perpendicular longitudinal and transverse axes  71  and  73  that intersect at a center point  75 . The panel  60  is elongated along the longitudinal axis  71 .  
      The panel  60  has a generally round opening  100  that is centered on the center point  75  and has first and second longitudinally opposite notches  101  and  102 . The notches  101  and  102  are identical and mutually symmetric about the center point  75 . Each notch  101  and  102  is symmetric about the longitudinal axis  71 .  
      The opening  100  is defined by a closed inner edge  110  of the panel  60 . The inner edge  110  has two longitudinally opposite rectangular sections  111  and  112  respectively defining the two notches  101  and  102 . Each rectangular section  111  and  112  consists of three straight edges  113 . The inner edge  110  further has two transversely opposite circular sections  121  and  122  that are identical and mutually symmetric about the center point  75 . The circular sections  121  and  122  define a circular shape that is centered on the center point  75  and diametrically larger than the cylindrical surface  24  ( FIG. 1 ) of the fill tube  20 . Each circular section  121  and  122  extends from the first notch section  111  to the second notch section  112 .  
      The panel  70  further has a closed outer edge  150 . The outer edge  150  has first and second straight sections  151  and  152  that are parallel with the longitudinal axis  71 . It also has third and fourth parallel straight sections  153  and  154  that meet the first and second straight sections  151  and  152  at 135° angles, and fifth and sixth parallel straight sections  155  and  156  that meet the first and second straight sections  151  and  152  at 135° angles. None of the straight sections  151 - 156  is parallel with the transverse axis  73  or extends along longitudinally outermost locations  157  and  158  of the panel  60 . The outer edge  150  is outwardly rounded at the longitudinally outermost locations  157  and  158 .  
      A longest dimension LD of the panel  60  is defined by the most-distantly-spaced pair of parallel borderlines  161  that border the panel  60  without intersecting it, with the longest dimension LD extending perpendicularly from one borderline  161  to the other. Similarly, a shortest dimension SD of the panel  60  is defined by the least-distantly-spaced pair of parallel borderlines  162  that border the panel  60  without intersecting it, with the shortest dimension SD extending perpendicularly from one borderline  162  to the other. In this example, there is only one longest dimension LD and only one shortest dimension SD. The longest dimension LD is perpendicular to the shortest dimension SD. The longest dimension LD is parallel with the axis  71  about which the panel opening  100  and each of its notches  101  and  102  are centered. The longest dimension LD is inclined relative to the length L and width W of the bag  12 , preferably at an angle of about 45° relative to the length L of the bag  12 .  
      With reference to  FIG. 1 , the bag assembly  10  can be mounted on the fill tube  20  as follows. First, the panel  60  is positioned in front of the fill tube  20 , with the panel opening  100  facing the fill tube opening  22  and the notches  101  and  102  circumferentially aligned with the ears  31  and  32 . Next, the ears  31  and  32  pass through the notches  101  and  102  as the fill tube  20  is inserted through the panel opening  100  and the diaphragm opening  17  into the bag  12 . The panel  60  is then rotated about its axis  75  relative to the fill tube  20  to rotate the notches  101  and  102  out of alignment with the ears  31  and  32 , for the panel  60  to be captured between the ears  31  and  32  and the back plate  26 . The diaphragm  70  forms a seal with the cylindrical surface  24  about the full circumference of the surface  24 . The bag assembly  10  is thus mounted condition on the fill tube  20 .  
      In this mounting procedure, rotation of the collar  14  relative to the tube  20  is equivalent to rotation of the tube  20  relative to the collar  14 . When the notches  101  and  102  are aligned with the ears  31  and  32 , the bag&#39;s length L is inclined at a 45° angle and the collar&#39;s longitudinal axis  71  is vertical. After the bag  12  is brought into its mounted position, the bag&#39;s length L is vertical and the collar&#39;s longitudinal axis  71  is inclined at a 45° angle.  
      The bag assembly  10  can be removed from the fill tube  20  by rotating the collar  60  until the notches  101  and  102  are aligned with the ears  31  and  32 . The ears  31  and  32  can then pass through the notches  101  and  102  as the tube  20  is withdrawn from the panel opening  100 .  
      The procedures for mounting and removing the bag assembly  10  are facilitated by the features described above relating to the longest dimension LD. Relative to conventional mounting collars, the present mounting collar  10  is easier to grasp and overcome friction of the diaphragm  70  with the fill tube  20  when forcing the collar  14  over the fill tube  20  and rotating the collar  14  about the fill tube  20 . The orientations of the straight sections  151 ,  152 ,  153 ,  154 ,  155  and  156  relative to each other and to the long dimension LD minimizes the clearance required between the collar  14  and adjacent vacuum cleaner parts for rotating the collar  14 . Since the length L and width W of the bag  12  are inclined at a 45° angle relative to both the longest dimension LD of the collar  14  and the fill tube ears  131  and  132  when the collar  14  is being mounted, the longest dimension LD of the collar  14  is aligned with the ears  31  and  32  when the collar  14  is being mounted.  
      This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.