Vacuum and pressure pickup device for home and commercial vacuum cleaners

Claim 1

A carriage for moving over surface for collecting dirt and the like comprising: a housing defining a cavity having an opening outward of the side of said housing juxtapositioned to said surface and having forward and rearward walls, inlet and outlet conduits connected to said cavity of said housing, one of said conduits being connected to a source of pressure and the other of said conduits being connected to a vacuum producing means, said inlet conduit being conducted to a jet producing device arranged within the cavity of said housing laterally of the direction of movement of said carriage and spacedly arranged between the forward and rearward walls of the cavity, said device defining a plurality of nozzles spacedly arranged along the length of the device for directing jets of air under pressure outwardly of said opening of said opening of said cavity, said outlet conduit opening into said cavity so as to produce a vacuum around said nozzle device, said jets of air being directed substantially perpendicularly to said surface for blasting dirt from said surface into the space of said cavity under the influence of the vacuum of said outlet conduit, a comb mounted on said jet producing device adjacent said nozzles, said comb comprising a plurality of teeth bent to extend at least partially along its length outwardly of said opening in the direction of movement of said carriage while said carriage is moving in one direction only.