Patents by Inventor Lee M. COTTRELL

Lee M. COTTRELL has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240358210
    Abstract: A bypass valve may include a body defining a dirty air passageway, a nozzle coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway to a nozzle of the surface cleaning device, a wand coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway to a wand of the surface cleaning device, a suction coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway with a suction motor of the surface cleaning device, a wand receptacle configured to removably couple to the wand, and a valve bypass arrangement configured to selectively redirect air flowing through the body such that a majority of the air flowing through the body transitions between flowing through one of the wand coupling port and the nozzle coupling port. The valve bypass arrangement redirects the air in response to the wand being coupled to or decoupled from the wand receptacle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2024
    Publication date: October 31, 2024
    Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Oliver G. HOLMES
  • Publication number: 20240349959
    Abstract: A reconfigurable surface treatment apparatus may include a wand and a pod removably coupled to the wand. The wand may have a first distal end that is configured to couple to a surface cleaning head and a second distal end that is configured to couple to a handle. The pod may include a suction motor assembly cavity, a battery cavity, and a dust cup cavity. The suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity may be disposed on opposing sides of a vertical plane, wherein the vertical plane extends along a central longitudinal axis of the pod. The dust cup cavity may be disposed between the suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity such that at least a portion of the dust cup cavity is disposed on each side of the vertical plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2024
    Publication date: October 24, 2024
    Inventors: Scott B NIEDZWECKI, Andre D. BROWN, Mingshun (Aaron) SU, Robert YANG, Lee M. COTTRELL, Patrick CLEARY
  • Publication number: 20240315512
    Abstract: An extraction cleaner may include a cleaner body including a pump and a suction motor, a supply tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body and configured to receive a first cleaning fluid, an additive tank configured to receive a second cleaning fluid, a recovery tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body, and a cleaning tool including a fluid applicator and a cleaning assembly, the fluid applicator is configured to deliver one of the first cleaning fluid or a mixture of the first cleaning fluid and the second cleaning fluid to a surface to be cleaned and the cleaning assembly is configured to extract at least a portion of the delivered first cleaning fluid or at least a portion of the delivered mixture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2024
    Publication date: September 26, 2024
    Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Daniel INNES, Jordan RIDGLEY, Philippa COPELAND, Mingliang QIN, Xuemei LIU, Ying DONG, Bin YAO, Cong SU, Dawei LIU, Xiang ZHOU, Heliang CHEN, Richard DAHLGREN
  • Patent number: 12070171
    Abstract: An extraction cleaner may include a cleaner body including a pump and a suction motor, a supply tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body and configured to receive a first cleaning fluid, an additive tank configured to receive a second cleaning fluid, a recovery tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body, and a cleaning tool including a fluid applicator and a cleaning assembly, the fluid applicator is configured to deliver one of the first cleaning fluid or a mixture of the first cleaning fluid and the second cleaning fluid to a surface to be cleaned and the cleaning assembly is configured to extract at least a portion of the delivered first cleaning fluid or at least a portion of the delivered mixture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2024
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Lee M. Cottrell, Daniel Innes, Jordan Ridgley, Philippa Copeland, Mingliang Qin, Xuemei Liu, Ying Dong, Bin Yao, Cong Su, Dawei Liu, Xiang Zhou, Heliang Chen, Richard Dahlgren
  • Patent number: 12059116
    Abstract: A bypass valve may include a body defining a dirty air passageway, a nozzle coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway to a nozzle of the surface cleaning device, a wand coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway to a wand of the surface cleaning device, a suction coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway with a suction motor of the surface cleaning device, a wand receptacle configured to removably couple to the wand, and a valve bypass arrangement configured to selectively redirect air flowing through the body such that a majority of the air flowing through the body transitions between flowing through one of the wand coupling port and the nozzle coupling port. The valve bypass arrangement redirects the air in response to the wand being coupled to or decoupled from the wand receptacle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2024
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Lee M. Cottrell, Oliver G. Holmes
  • Patent number: 12053140
    Abstract: An example of a surface cleaning head may include a main body, a neck pivotally coupled to the main body, a stabilizer, and a linkage pivotally coupled to the main body and the stabilizer. The linkage may be configured to cause the stabilizer to transition between an extended position and a retracted position in response to a pivotal movement of the neck.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Jason B. Thorne, Kai Xu, Zongnan Cheng, Ian Liu, AiMing Xu, Wenxiu Gao, Andre D. Brown, Samuel Emrys James, Jordan Ridgley, Nicholas Sardar, Christopher P. Pinches, David S. Clare, Lee M. Cottrell
  • Publication number: 20240245274
    Abstract: An extraction cleaner may include a cleaner body including a pump and a suction motor, a supply tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body and configured to receive a first cleaning fluid, an additive tank configured to receive a second cleaning fluid, a recovery tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body, and a cleaning tool including a fluid applicator and a cleaning assembly, the fluid applicator is configured to deliver one of the first cleaning fluid or a mixture of the first cleaning fluid and the second cleaning fluid to a surface to be cleaned and the cleaning assembly is configured to extract at least a portion of the delivered first cleaning fluid or at least a portion of the delivered mixture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2023
    Publication date: July 25, 2024
    Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Daniel INNES, Jordan RIDGLEY, Philippa COPELAND, Mingliang QIN, Xuemei LIU, Ying DONG, Bin YAO, Cong SU, Dawei LIU, Xiang ZHOU, Heliang CHEN, Richard DAHLGREN
  • Publication number: 20240245278
    Abstract: An extraction cleaner may include a cleaner body including a pump and a suction motor, a supply tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body and configured to receive a first cleaning fluid, an additive tank configured to receive a second cleaning fluid, a recovery tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body, and a cleaning tool including a fluid applicator and a cleaning assembly, the fluid applicator is configured to deliver one of the first cleaning fluid or a mixture of the first cleaning fluid and the second cleaning fluid to a surface to be cleaned and the cleaning assembly is configured to extract at least a portion of the delivered first cleaning fluid or at least a portion of the delivered mixture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2023
    Publication date: July 25, 2024
    Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Daniel INNES, Jordan RIDGLEY, Philippa COPELAND, Mingliang QIN, Xuemei LIU, Ying DONG, Bin YAO, Cong SU, Dawei LIU, Xiang ZHOU, Heliang CHEN, Richard DAHLGREN
  • Patent number: 12035857
    Abstract: An extraction cleaner may include a cleaner body including a pump and a suction motor, a supply tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body and configured to receive a first cleaning fluid, an additive tank configured to receive a second cleaning fluid, a recovery tank configured to be removably coupled to the cleaner body, and a cleaning tool including a fluid applicator and a cleaning assembly, the fluid applicator is configured to deliver one of the first cleaning fluid or a mixture of the first cleaning fluid and the second cleaning fluid to a surface to be cleaned and the cleaning assembly is configured to extract at least a portion of the delivered first cleaning fluid or at least a portion of the delivered mixture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Lee M. Cottrell, Daniel Innes, Jordan Ridgley, Philippa Copeland, Mingliang Qin, Xuemei Liu, Ying Dong, Bin Yao, Cong Su, Dawei Liu, Xiang Zhou, Heliang Chen, Richard Dahlgren
  • Patent number: 11998157
    Abstract: A reconfigurable surface treatment apparatus may include a wand and a pod removably coupled to the wand. The wand may have a first distal end that is configured to couple to a surface cleaning head and a second distal end that is configured to couple to a handle. The pod may include a suction motor assembly cavity, a battery cavity, and a dust cup cavity. The suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity may be disposed on opposing sides of a vertical plane, wherein the vertical plane extends along a central longitudinal axis of the pod. The dust cup cavity may be disposed between the suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity such that at least a portion of the dust cup cavity is disposed on each side of the vertical plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Scott B Niedzwecki, Andre D. Brown, Mingshun (Aaron) Su, Robert Yang, Lee M. Cottrell, Patrick Cleary
  • Patent number: 11839347
    Abstract: A flexible hose for use with surface cleaning devices is disclosed that includes a support structure that allows a user to collapse and lock the same into a storage configuration, and then easily unlock the same using a relatively minor amount of force, e.g., a user-applied pulling force or mechanical force. Thus, in a general sense, a hose consistent with the present disclosure may include two relatively stable/steady-state configurations, namely a storage configuration and an in-use configuration. Thus, the hose allows a user to collapse and lock the hose when not in use, and to transition the hose to an in-use configuration to target various types of surfaces to clean including, for instance, floors, walls and ceilings which may be many feet (e.g., up to 5 feet or more) from the surface cleaning apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Jason B. Thorne, Andre D. Brown, Daniel Innes, Lee M. Cottrell, Adam Udy, Daniel Tonderys, David Clare, Kai Xu
  • Patent number: 11723498
    Abstract: An example of a vacuum pod may include a handle, a vacuum pod body, a dust cup removably coupled to the vacuum pod body, and a fluid conduit fluidly coupled to the dust cup. The fluid conduit may include a flexible hose configured to transition between an expanded and a retracted position and a coupling configured to be removably coupled to the vacuum pod body. A first end of the flexible hose may be coupled to the vacuum pod body and a second end of the flexible hose may be coupled to the coupling. When the coupling is coupled to the vacuum pod body, the flexible hose may be in the retracted position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Andre D. Brown, Jason B. Thorne, Kai Xu, Lee M. Cottrell, Alexander Calvino, Gordon Howes, AiMing Xu, Wenxiu Gao, Oliver Chambers
  • Publication number: 20230115062
    Abstract: A reconfigurable surface treatment apparatus may include a wand and a pod removably coupled to the wand. The wand may have a first distal end that is configured to couple to a surface cleaning head and a second distal end that is configured to couple to a handle. The pod may include a suction motor assembly cavity, a battery cavity, and a dust cup cavity. The suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity may be disposed on opposing sides of a vertical plane, wherein the vertical plane extends along a central longitudinal axis of the pod. The dust cup cavity may be disposed between the suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity such that at least a portion of the dust cup cavity is disposed on each side of the vertical plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2022
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Inventors: Scott B NIEDZWECKI, Andre D. BROWN, Mingshun (Aaron) SU, Robert YANG, Lee M. COTTRELL, Patrick CLEARY
  • Patent number: 11617482
    Abstract: A surface treatment apparatus may include a coupling, a handle, an accessory coupled to the coupling, and a toggle proximate the handle. The accessory may have at least two operational states. An actuation of the toggle may cause the accessory to transition between operational states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Sardar, Christopher P. Pinches, Lee M. Cottrell, Samuel Emrys James, Michael James Douglas, David S. Clare
  • Publication number: 20220287521
    Abstract: A bypass valve may include a body defining a dirty air passageway, a nozzle coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway to a nozzle of the surface cleaning device, a wand coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway to a wand of the surface cleaning device, a suction coupling port configured to fluidly couple the dirty air passageway with a suction motor of the surface cleaning device, a wand receptacle configured to removably couple to the wand, and a valve bypass arrangement configured to selectively redirect air flowing through the body such that a majority of the air flowing through the body transitions between flowing through one of the wand coupling port and the nozzle coupling port. The valve bypass arrangement redirects the air in response to the wand being coupled to or decoupled from the wand receptacle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2022
    Publication date: September 15, 2022
    Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Oliver G. HOLMES
  • Patent number: 11399675
    Abstract: A reconfigurable surface treatment apparatus may include a wand and a pod removably coupled to the wand. The wand may have a first distal end that is configured to couple to a surface cleaning head and a second distal end that is configured to couple to a handle. The pod may include a suction motor assembly cavity, a battery cavity, and a dust cup cavity. The suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity may be disposed on opposing sides of a vertical plane, wherein the vertical plane extends along a central longitudinal axis of the pod. The dust cup cavity may be disposed between the suction motor assembly cavity and the battery cavity such that at least a portion of the dust cup cavity is disposed on each side of the vertical plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Scott B Niedzwecki, Andre D. Brown, Mingshun (Aaron) Su, Robert Yang, Lee M. Cottrell, Patrick Cleary
  • Patent number: 11259674
    Abstract: A hose clip for coupling at least a portion of a suction hose to a support structure of a vacuum cleaning apparatus may include a protrusion and a coupler. The coupler may include a coupler housing having an opening for receiving at least a portion of the protrusion. The opening may transition from an outer surface of the coupler housing into a coupler cavity defined by the coupler housing. The coupler cavity may include a plurality of jaws for engaging at least a portion of the protrusion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC
    Inventors: Lee M. Cottrell, Mingshun Su
  • Patent number: 11160425
    Abstract: A hand vacuum cleaner has a main body having an upper end having a dirty air inlet conduit and a handle. The handle has a hand grip portion that extends upwardly and forwardly. An assembly comprising an air treatment member and a pre-motor filter media is removably mounted to the main body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Omachron Intellectual Property Inc.
    Inventors: Andre D. Brown, Wayne Conrad, Nina Conrad, Lee M. Cottrell, Dave Petersen, Jason B. Thorne, Adam Udy
  • Publication number: 20210244248
    Abstract: A flexible hose for use with surface cleaning devices is disclosed that includes a support structure that allows a user to collapse and lock the same into a storage configuration, and then easily unlock the same using a relatively minor amount of force, e.g., a user-applied pulling force or mechanical force. Thus, in a general sense, a hose consistent with the present disclosure may include two relatively stable/steady-state configurations, namely a storage configuration and an in-use configuration. Thus, the hose allows a user to collapse and lock the hose when not in use, and to transition the hose to an in-use configuration to target various types of surfaces to clean including, for instance, floors, walls and ceilings which may be many feet (e.g., up to 5 feet or more) from the surface cleaning apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2021
    Publication date: August 12, 2021
    Inventors: Jason B. THORNE, Andre D. BROWN, Daniel INNES, Lee M. COTTRELL, Adam UDY, Daniel TONDERYS, David CLARE, Kai XU
  • Patent number: D980561
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: SHARKNINJA OPERATING LLC
    Inventors: Scott Niedzwecki, Andre D. Brown, Lee M. Cottrell, Mingshun Su, Robert Yang