Patent Publication Number: US-2003221281-A1

Title: Vacuum cleaner having a brush with a floor cloth

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates generally to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a brush for a vacuum cleaner having a floor cloth capable of rotating a rotating body to which the floor cloth is attached using a turbine driven by the external air sucked into the brush without using any additional power source.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] Generally, a vacuum cleaner is an apparatus for removing substances, such as dust, off the floor by sucking the external air including the substances such as dust and passing them through a filter using the rotary power of a pan motor.  
       [0005] The above mentioned vacuum cleaner generally comprises a pan motor, a dust collecting receptacle, a body including an internally disposed filter, and a hose connected with the body. At the end of the hose, a handle including a driving switch for power on/off and an extension pipe extended from the handle and connected with the brush are disposed.  
       [0006] When the pan motor of the vacuum cleaner&#39;s body is driven, negative air pressure is generated in the dust collecting receptacle, and accordingly, external air including substances, such as dust, is flown into the dust collecting receptacle of the body through the extension pipe and the hose, after being flown into the inside of the brush passing through the suction port of the brush. The flown-in external air is discharged outside through the exhaust grill at the rear side of the body after removal of the unwanted impure substances, which occurs in the air passing through the dust filter.  
       [0007] The vacuum cleaner can remove dust and impure substances off the floor but cannot easily remove stubborn dirt and stains.  
       [0008] Therefore, recently a vacuum cleaner having an attached floor cloth has been developed to remove stubborn dirt and stains as well as dust and impure substances off the floor. Such vacuum cleaner removes stubborn dirt and stains by rotating the rotating body to which floor cloth is attached by using a driving motor connected to a separate power source. Using a separate power source and a driving motor made the volume of the brush case excessively large and the vacuum cleaner heavy and therefore it becomes inconvenient for a user to carry around the vacuum cleaner and do the cleaning work.  
       [0009] In addition, providing such brush for a vacuum cleaner is expensive, is likely to have problems in parts and has a low power transmission torque.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010] The object of the present invention for overcoming the above mentioned problems is to provide a brush for a light, small, and cheap vacuum cleaner by rotating the rotating body with floor cloth attached using the kinetic energy of the external air flow into the vacuum cleaner without requiring a separate power supply means and a motor inside the brush of the vacuum cleaner having an attached floor cloth.  
       [0011] In order to achieve the above described object, the present invention is developed to provide a brush for a vacuum cleaner comprising a brush case, a driving means disposed inside the brush case and being driven by the kinetic energy of the external air being sucked inside, a power transferring gear disposed at both sides of the driving means and orthogonally transferring rotary power received from the driving means, and a rotating body connected with the power transferring gear having floor cloth attached.  
       [0012] It is preferable that the brush case is comprised of an upper case and a lower case and the power transferring gear is comprised of a worm and a worm gear.  
       [0013] It is preferable that the driving means disposed inside the brush case and driven by the kinetic energy of the external air being sucked inside is a turbine.  
       [0014] It is preferable that the brush comprises an air guide for intensively guiding the external air sucked into the brush in the direction of the turbine.  
       [0015] According to the present invention, the vacuum cleaner can be reduced in volume, weight and price, and troubles in parts can also be significantly reduced as the turbine is driven using the kinetic energy of the external air flow without requiring a power driving means such as a separate power supply means and a motor. Moreover, since a separate power source is not supplied, the energy efficiency of the vacuum cleaner having an attached floor cloth can be increased. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0016] The aforementioned object and characteristic of the present invention will be more apparent by describing a preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
     [0017]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a brush for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;  
     [0018]FIG. 2 is a cutaway plan view of a brush for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;  
     [0019]FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a power transferring gear mechanism;  
     [0020]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the connection of a power transferring gear of the present invention and a rotating gear. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0021] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0022]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a brush for a vacuum cleaner of the present invention. As shown, the vacuum cleaner brush of the present invention having an attached floor cloth has an upper case  18  and a lower case  20  and a turbine  10  is rotatable around turbine axes  13  and disposed around the supporting bar  26  inside the upper and lower cases. In addition, a pair of worm gears  12  is orthogonally engaged with a pair of worm wheels  14  at each side of the turbine axes  13  in order to transfer power. A hollow shaft  16  is attached at the bottom face of each worm wheel  14  and is connected with a pair of rotating bodies  29  on the underside of the lower brush case  20  having an attached floor cloth  22 , the connection being effected through a pair of bushes  28  formed on the lower brush case  20 . An air guide  15  is established in front of the turbine  10  for guiding external air into the turbine  10 .  
     [0023] The external air flown in through the air suction port  24  positioned in front part of the lower brush case  20  is concentrated as it passes through the air guide  15  and causes the turbine  10  to rotate. Accordingly, the pair of worm gears  12  connected with the turbine axis  13  at each sides of the turbine rotates and the torque is orthogonally transferred to the pair of worm wheels  14  engaging the worm gear  12 . The rotating body  29 , to which floor cloth  22  disposed on the underside the lower brush case  20 , is connected with the hollow shaft  16  connected with the bottom of the worm wheel  14  so as to remove stain and stubborn dirt off the floor while rotating.  
     [0024]FIG. 2 is a cutaway plan view of a brush for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention. The arrows shown in FIG. 2 indicate the flow of air during operation. In other words, the external air sucked through the air suction port  24  centralizes and is compressed as it passes through the air guide  15 , as is indicated by the arrows in the drawing, and rotates the turbine  10  and finally flows out through the extension pipe  36  of the vacuum cleaner.  
     [0025]FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the power transferring gear mechanism. As shown in FIG. 3, as the external air hits the turbine wings  11  and causes the turbine  10  to rotate, the worm gear  12  connected with the turbine axis  13  rotates and the worm wheel  14  engaged with the turbine axis  13  also rotates, thereby transferring the torque towards the bottom.  
     [0026]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the connection of a power transferring gear according to the present invention and a rotating body. The hollow shaft  16  of the worm wheel  14  is disposed being inserted inside the extension pipe  27  on the top of the rotating body  29 . When the worm wheel  14  forced by the power received from the worm gear  12  rotates, the hollow shaft  16  connected to the bottom of the worm wheel  14  correspondingly rotates and accordingly the extension pipe  27  of the rotating body  29  connected to the hollow shaft  16  rotates and therefore the impure substances or stubborn stains on the floor is removed through the action of the rotation of the cloth  22  attached to the wheels  29  (FIG. 1).  
     [0027] The present invention is not limited to the above-described preferred embodiment and may be modified in various ways without changing the scope of the present invention.  
     [0028] That is, not only a worm and worm wheel but also a bevel gear may be used for power transferring means.  
     [0029] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention should not be limited to the described preferred embodiments. Various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.