Patents Examined by Marc Carlson
  • Wide-area vacuum nozzle
    Patent number: 11071425
    Abstract: A wide-area vacuum nozzle includes a body having a first surface, a second surface, a leading edge, and a trailing edge, where the leading edge and trailing edge form an outer periphery of the body. The outer periphery includes a first juncture and a second juncture disposed between the leading edge and the trailing edge. An aperture formed through the first surface and second surface of the body is disposed between the leading edge and the trailing edge. A fitting is connected to the aperture and adapted for connection to vacuum source. The leading edge forms an arc extending between the first juncture and the second juncture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: SHOP VAC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kurt Westbrook
  • Upright vacuum cleaner including main body moving independently of wand to reduce movement of main body center of gravity
    Patent number: 11064853
    Abstract: A vacuum cleaner may include a surface cleaning head, a wand pivotally coupled to the surface cleaning head, and a rotatable canister mount. The rotatable canister mount may include a support through which at least a portion of the wand extends such that the canister mount rotates relative to the wand in response to the wand pivoting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: David S. Clare, Mingshun Su, Ming Yao
  • Cleaner attachment device
    Patent number: 11064854
    Abstract: Embodiments of this disclosure include a cleaner attachment device, and may include a device for attachment to a vacuum or pressure cleaner. Embodiments may include an attachment for cleaning behind water heaters or in other narrow spaces and may include an elongate body with a plurality of apertures arranged helically along the body, and a plurality of resiliently deformable portions arranged along the body and extending from the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: DARIUS DEVELOPMENT LIMITED
    Inventor: John Eugene Downing
  • Systems and methods for providing a wand for a floor cleaning apparatus
    Patent number: 11058275
    Abstract: Systems and methods for providing a wand that is configured to clean a surface, such as carpeting and rugs, are disclosed herein. While the described wand can comprise any suitable component that allows it to be used to clean a surface, in some cases, the wand includes a wand head having a shroud, with a jet orifice and a vacuum port being disposed within the shroud. In some such cases, the vacuum port includes a breaker bar that is recessed within the shroud such that a portion of the shroud extends past the breaker bar. Additionally, in some cases, the shroud further includes one or more rollers that are optionally adjustable in height such that the wand head can is useable by operators of varying heights. In some cases, the wand head is coupled to a vacuum tube that attaches to a vacuum. Additional implementations are also described herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Z Intellectual Property Holding Company, LLC
    Inventors: John M. Hopkins, Gaylord M. Karren, James K. Stone, William R. Shupe
  • Adaptive brush holder kit
    Patent number: 11058213
    Abstract: A configurable holding set that includes a handle element having a common end that extends into an elongated linear section having a receiving end. That common end further extends into a curvilinear section that forms a handle. Also included are a first linear element having two ends that form a friction fit with the receiving end, a second linear element that is longer than the first linear element, a third linear element that is longer than the third, at least a first elbow having ends that form friction fits with the ends of the first, second, and third.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Inventor: Susan C. Macrina
  • Robotic apparatus, method, and applications
    Patent number: 11058270
    Abstract: A robotic vacuum cleaner equipped with a holonomic drive that can drive in a given direction, e.g., north (with its assigned orientation being north) and move in a different direction, e.g., east, north-east, or any direction) while maintaining its assigned orientation or that of any desired portion of the robot such as an intake, bank of sensors, or any other portion of the robot that is needed for a particular maneuver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Maidbot, Inc.
    Inventors: David Moroniti, Steve Supron, Steven Whitehead, Micah Green
  • Vacuum cleaner having reconfigurable weight distribution
    Patent number: 11051668
    Abstract: A vacuum assembly having a hand vacuum configuration and a wand vacuum configuration may include a dust cup, a suction motor fluidly coupled to the dust cup, and a power source. The suction motor and the power source may be transitionable between a wand vacuum position and a hand vacuum position. When the suction motor and the power source are in the wand vacuum position, the dust cup, the suction motor, and the power source may be arranged serially. When the suction motor and the power source are in the hand vacuum position, the suction motor and the power source may be arranged in parallel with the dust cup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Jason B. Thorne, Kai Xu, Sam Liu, Adam Udy, Daniel J. Innes, Nikola Petrov, Andre D. Brown
  • Floor cleaning machines having intelligent systems, associated sub-assemblies incorporating intelligent systems, and associated methods of use
    Patent number: 11051670
    Abstract: A floor cleaning machine including an electrochemical cell having an anode, a cathode, an electrolyte, an electrochemical cell controller in at least one of unilateral and/or bilateral communication with at least one of the anode, the cathode, and the electrolyte, and wherein the electrochemical cell is associated with at least one of a recovery tank sub-assembly, a vacuum fan sub-assembly, a solution tank sub-assembly, a solution flow sub-assembly, a control console sub-assembly, at least one of a frame and wheel sub-assembly and a frame and transaxle sub-assembly, a scrub head sub-assembly, a scrub head lift sub-assembly, and a squeegee sub-assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: INTELLIGENT CLEANING EQUIPMENT HOLDINGS CO. LTD.
    Inventor: Nai Pong Simon Chen
  • Vacuum cleaner
    Patent number: 11039724
    Abstract: A vacuum cleaner includes a cleaner body, a suction hose mounted at a front surface of the cleaner body to suck in dust, moving wheels provided at both sides of the cleaner body, rotating to move the cleaner body and rotatably supporting the cleaner body, wheel motors connected to the moving wheels and rotating the moving wheels, a detecting unit provided in the cleaner body and sensing inclination of the cleaner body to determine whether the cleaner moves and stops, a plurality of detecting members provided at a front surface of the cleaner body and located at both sides of the suction hose to detect an obstacle, and a controller for controlling the wheel motors according to detected signals of the detecting unit and the obstacle detecting members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Jungkyu Son, Bohyun Nam, Jaeyong Park, Sehwan Bae, Jonghyun Seo, Jinwoo Lee, Donghoon Kwak, Jaehwan Ko
  • Bunk cleaner system and method of use
    Patent number: 11040375
    Abstract: A bunk cleaner assembly for selectively adjusting a pitch, a roll and a height adjustment of a scoop assembly for cleaning a trough of a feed bunk. The bunk cleaner assembly comprises a frame portion, a swinging arm assembly, the scoop assembly, and a utility vehicle. The frame portion is configured in attaching the swinging arm assembly and the utility vehicle to one another. The swinging arm assembly comprise a hinge assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Inventor: Willem van Schalkwyk
  • Adaptive cleaning device
    Patent number: 11040382
    Abstract: The cleaning device is for cleaning the inner surface of pipes. The cleaning device has two sleeves on a flexible shaft and chains extending between the sleeves. A forward end sleeve is not attached to the shaft and is biased by a spring on the shaft. The cleaning device can be adapted to different pipe sizes by altering rotation speed of the cleaning device. High rotation speed compresses the spring and moves the chains further away from the shaft to enable cleaning of larger diameter pipes with the cleaning device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: PICOTE SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Mika Lokkinen
  • Surface cleaning apparatus
    Patent number: 11039723
    Abstract: A surface cleaning apparatus includes a controller coupled to a sensor or a set of sensors that collects and transmits data to a remote computing device. The surface cleaning apparatus can use wireless or networking technology with a protocol for wireless communication with the remote computing device. The remote computing device is configured to identify an event at the surface cleaning apparatus and/or a change in the cycle of operation of the surface cleaning apparatus based on the transmitted data. Sensor data can be transmitted from the remote computing device to a different surface cleaning apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: BISSELL Inc.
    Inventor: Jason W. Pruiett
  • Motor module and vacuum cleaner
    Patent number: 11033163
    Abstract: A motor module includes a motor, a fan, and a casing accommodating the motor and the fan therein. The casing includes a tubular main body portion, an intake port, an exhaust port, a motor disposing unit, a flow passage, and a partition unit. The flow passage includes a fan accommodating unit. The partition unit includes a first central partition unit that partitions the fan accommodating unit and the motor disposing unit. The first central partition unit includes a cutout portion provided at at least a portion of the first central partition unit. The motor disposing unit communicates with the fan accommodating unit via the cutout portion. A flow passage sectional area of the motor disposing unit is greater than a flow passage sectional area of the first central partition unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuuichi Sakuma, Jun Murakami
  • Cleaning device for cleaning a rotor disk of a spinning rotor
    Patent number: 11035057
    Abstract: A cleaning device for cleaning a rotor disk of a spinning rotor has a cleaning head with at least one cleaning element, and a receptacle on which the cleaning head is mounted and which can be fed to the spinning rotor for cleaning the rotor disk. The cleaning head includes at least one bearing area by means of which the cleaning head is mounted on the receptacle. A longitudinal direction of the bearing area defines an axial direction of the cleaning head. The cleaning head is mounted in the axial direction in a floating manner on the receptacle, and/or the cleaning element is mounted in the axial direction in a floating manner on the cleaning head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: Maschinenfabrik Rieter AG
    Inventors: Adalbert Stephan, Harald Widner, Christian Kettner, Frank Baier
  • Autofeeder roller cleaning
    Patent number: 11027318
    Abstract: Inventive cleaning sheets contact the rollers of paper shredder autofeed mechanisms with cleaning material that is either moistened with a solvent or treated with a low tack adhesive—either of which remove dirt and contaminants from the rollers. In one embodiment the moistened cleaning material is attached to a rigid sheet sized to fit into the paper compartment of the shredder where the cleaning material is brought into contact with the feed roller. The shredder is operated which causes dirt to be transferred from the rollers to the cleaning material. Alternatively, the cleaning material can be attached to a flexible but impermeable sheet which is placed into the shredder. The shredder is operated and after the rollers are cleaned, they may grab the entire flexible sheet and shred it, thereby additionally cleaning the shredding mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Inventor: Herman Chang
  • Cleaning robot and method for controlling same
    Patent number: 11019972
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are a cleaning robot and a method of controlling the same. The cleaning robot according to one embodiment includes a modular in which one or more modules configured to support different functions are integrated, and a controller configured to control the overall operation of the cleaning robot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dong Hun Lee, Heum Yong Park, Min Jae Kim, Min Woo Ryu, Young Do Kwon
  • Drain cleaning machine
    Patent number: 11021859
    Abstract: A drain cleaning machine for moving a snake in a drain includes a rotating shell, a motor to rotate the rotating shell, and a radial drive mechanism coupled for rotation with the rotating shell and including a plurality of collets. The radial drive mechanism is switchable between an engaged state in which the one or more collets move toward a snake axis to engage the snake, and a disengaged state. A translate mechanism is coupled for rotation with the rotating shell and includes a plurality of wheels. The translate mechanism is switchable between an engaged state in which the wheels move toward the snake axis to engage the snake, and a disengaged state. A selection mechanism is configured to switch the radial drive mechanism from the disengaged state to the engaged state and configured to switch the translate mechanism from the disengaged state to the engaged state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: MILWAUKEE ELECTRIC TOOL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael C. Reed, Justin Miller, Samuel J. Krohlow, Sean T. Kehoe
  • Oral care device
    Patent number: 11019918
    Abstract: An oral care device may include: a body including a head; a plurality of teeth cleaning elements extending from the head; a first electrode on the head; a second electrode on the head and spaced apart from the first electrode, wherein at least one of the first and second electrodes is a sacrificial electrode; a power source; and a controller configured to operably couple the power source to the first and second electrodes to create an electric potential between the first and second electrodes so that ions are released from the sacrificial electrode during a brushing session; wherein the controller is configured to change a magnitude of the electric potential the brushing session ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Colgate-Palmolive Company
    Inventors: Patrik Johansson, Leighton Davies-Smith
  • Oral care implement
    Patent number: 11013313
    Abstract: An oral care implement including an elongated body having a head portion supporting plurality of tooth cleaning elements and a handle portion defining an outer surface. A grip control component is disposed on the handle portion and includes a pair of transversely spaced apart control surfaces separated by a longitudinally extending channel. The control surfaces are elevated above the outer surface of the handle portion and positioned to engage a user's thumb. The control component is operable to tilt the head portion at an upward or downward angle relative to a vertical plane of a user's teeth when the control component is grasped between the user's thumb and forefinger for producing a proper brushing angle at the gum line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Colgate-Palmolive Company
    Inventors: Wen Jin Xi, Guang Sheng Guo, Felix Mueller, Robert Moskovich, Stephen Nelson, Joachim Storz
  • Toothbrush and method for manufacturing toothbrush
    Patent number: 11013310
    Abstract: A toothbrush capable of inhibiting damage of an oral cavity of a user that includes: a head section that has a bristle implanting surface on a front end side; a handle section that is disposed on a rear end side from the head section and has a handle section main body; and a neck section that is disposed between the bristle implanting surface and the handle section. The toothbrush has a deforming portion that is located on the rear end side from the bristle implanting surface and is deformed, while stress characteristics associated with bending due to an external force acting on the head section are in a plane stress condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Lion Corporation
    Inventors: Ryosuke Hachisuka, Toshiaki Kobayashi