Hand-held vacuum cleaner

Claim 1

A battery powered hand-held vacuum cleaner comprising a first unit including a housing enclosing motor, fan and batteries and having power switch means for controlling the motor and vent means for exhausting air, and a second unit partially covering and projecting in front of the first unit and including a hollow dustreceiving cup upstream of the fan, an intake mouth at the front end of the cup, the spatial relationship and geometry of the elements of the sweeper units being defined in reference to the operational orientation of the sweeper when a front to rear axis of the sweeper is generally horizontal and the intake mouth is arranged to effectively sweep a horizontal surface, said units being connected by releasable latch means, a stationary fan intake throat at the front end of said housing and communicating with the interior of the dust cup, a stationary fan cover extending outwardly and rearwardly from the fan intake throat to the remainder of said housing, sealing means between respectively the outer and inner peripheries adjacent respectively the front and rear ends of the first and second units for sealing against air by-pass or leakage between said units or from the exterior to either of said units, said releasable latch means being located in the first unit rearwardly of said sealing means whereby the interengaging and moving parts of said releasable latch means are protected from dust caught within said second unit, storage bracket means mountable on a wall for engaging and storing the cleaner in upright position with said intake mouth pointed upward, said bracket means including a base and a pair of re-entrant flanges spaced outwardly from said base, said first unit tapering rearwardly for a majority of its length but with two grooves formed therein, said flanges keying into said grooves when said rearwardly tapered length of the first unit is lowered over said bracket means, power connector socket means at the rear end of said first unit, upwardly facing plug means mountable in fixed position on the bracket means at the bottom end thereof and adapted to engage in said socket means when the first unit is lowered over the bracket means to be engaged thereby, a wall-mountable charger connected to said plug means by a power line, said plug means being liftable from its mounting when said first unit is raised from said interengagement to allow said plug means, power line and charger to be removed from association with said bracket and used with said cleaner independently of said bracket means, a dust bag hanger extending from one or more sides of the fan intake throat into the interior of the dust cup, a dust bag mounted to extend from the front end of the housing into the interior of the dust cup in covering relationship with the hanger and having an open bag mouth presented toward the fan intake, and means for holding the bag in mounted position, a re-entrant lip extending across said intake mouth at its bottom side, said lip being faired to slant upwardly and inwardly, to an inner shoulder, a valving flap pinned to said inner shoulder and itself slanting upwardly and inwardly toward the top side of the dust cup, the housing of the first unit being formed of two halves divided generally along a vertical plane extending along the length of the housing, said power switch means including a switch body and a sliding thumbpiece, said switch means being retained by interlocking engagement with said two halves of said housing when said halves are assembled together, said thumbpiece being in sliding overlying position relative to said latch means when the parts are assembled, said latch means being retained by interlocking engagement with said two halves of said housing and the underside of the latch means when the parts are assembled, pairs of posts extending transversely from the outer side walls of the two housing halves into mating and end-abutting relationship with each other, fastener means within the mating ends of each said pair to hold them in such relationship, the edges of the walls of said housing halves abutting at the region of said plane to close off the interior of the first unit, each housing half having interior stiffening ribs integrally formed with its walls and projecting beyond its said wall edges into supporting contact with the inside of a wall of the other housing half.