Patent Publication Number: US-2002011054-A1

Title: Bagless canister vacuum cleaner

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/457,613 filed Dec. 8, 1999. This application incorporates the entirety of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/457,613 by this reference. 
    
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] This invention relates generally to vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to bagless vacuum cleaners.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] Bagless vacuum cleaners have become very popular over the last several years. such vacuum cleaners. In old style cloth bag-containing vacuum cleaners, dust and dirt removal is a difficult and awkward process, frequently requiring the user to extend his or her hand into the cloth bag to physically disengage dust clumps. Vacuum cleaners using disposable liner bags minimize the problems associated with cloth bags, but the use of such vacuum cleaners requires the continuous replenishment and installation of disposable liner bags. (Also, owners of older model disposable liner bag-containing vacuum cleaners often find it difficult to locate a source of properly sized replacement liner bags.)  
       [0004] Contrary to these problems associated with bag-containing vacuum cleaners, dirt and dust vacuumed up using bagless vacuum cleaners is conveniently deposited into an easily removable permanent container, from which dust and dirt can be disposed of without the effort associated with cloth bag-containing vacuum cleaners and without having to continually purchase and reinstall disposable liner bags.  
       [0005] Bagless vacuum cleaners of the prior art, however, have not been fully satisfactory. Most bagless vacuum cleaners have not demonstrated the ability to fully disengage dust and dirt from the vacuum air stream. Those prior art bagless vacuum cleaners which have been reasonably successful in disengaging dust and dirt from the vacuum air stream have required a high degree of mechanical complexity. Such mechanical complexity has tended to make those prior art bagless vacuum cleaners unduly expensive to manufacture and maintain.  
       [0006] Accordingly, there is a need for a bagless vacuum cleaner which avoids these problems with the prior art.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0007] The present invention is essentially the same invention as that which is set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/457,613, except that the chasse and housing unit is configured in a canister-style as illustrated in the drawings. 
     
    
    
     DRAWINGS  
     [0008] These features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying figures where:  
     [0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner having features of the invention;  
     [0010]FIG. 2 is a top view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;  
     [0011]FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;  
     [0012]FIG. 4 is a top view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;  
     [0013]FIG. 5 is a first side view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;  
     [0014]FIG. 6 is a second side view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;  
     [0015]FIG. 7 is front view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1; and  
     [0016]FIG. 8 is a cross sectional diagram showing the internal components of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0017] The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention and several variations of that embodiment. This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments. Practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well.  
     [0018] The detailed description of the invention is essentially the same as that which is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/457,613 the contents of which are incorporated herein, in their entireties, by this reference. The differences between that which is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/457,613 and the present invention is that the internal components disclosed in the &#39;613 application are housed in the present invention in a chasse and housing unit having the shape and the configuration as shown in the drawings.  
     [0019] The invention has been found to provide a vacuum cleaner with all the conveniences of prior art vacuum cleaners, but with increased dust removal efficiency and without excessive mechanical complexity and resulting expense of manufacture.  
     [0020] Having thus described the invention, it should be apparent that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope and fair meaning of the instant invention as set forth hereinabove and as described hereinbelow by the claims.