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).
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Publication number: 20240358210Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: July 8, 2024Publication date: October 31, 2024Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Oliver G. HOLMES
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Publication number: 20240349959Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: April 29, 2024Publication date: October 24, 2024Inventors: Scott B NIEDZWECKI, Andre D. BROWN, Mingshun (Aaron) SU, Robert YANG, Lee M. COTTRELL, Patrick CLEARY
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Publication number: 20240315512Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: June 5, 2024Publication date: September 26, 2024Inventors: 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
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Patent number: 12070171Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 8, 2023Date of Patent: August 27, 2024Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: 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
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Patent number: 12059116Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: March 11, 2022Date of Patent: August 13, 2024Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Lee M. Cottrell, Oliver G. Holmes
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Patent number: 12053140Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: September 19, 2019Date of Patent: August 6, 2024Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: 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
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Publication number: 20240245274Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: June 8, 2023Publication date: July 25, 2024Inventors: 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
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Publication number: 20240245278Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: June 8, 2023Publication date: July 25, 2024Inventors: 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
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Patent number: 12035857Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 8, 2023Date of Patent: July 16, 2024Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: 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
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Patent number: 11998157Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: August 1, 2022Date of Patent: June 4, 2024Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Scott B Niedzwecki, Andre D. Brown, Mingshun (Aaron) Su, Robert Yang, Lee M. Cottrell, Patrick Cleary
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Patent number: 11839347Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: April 26, 2021Date of Patent: December 12, 2023Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Jason B. Thorne, Andre D. Brown, Daniel Innes, Lee M. Cottrell, Adam Udy, Daniel Tonderys, David Clare, Kai Xu
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Patent number: 11723498Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 20, 2019Date of Patent: August 15, 2023Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Andre D. Brown, Jason B. Thorne, Kai Xu, Lee M. Cottrell, Alexander Calvino, Gordon Howes, AiMing Xu, Wenxiu Gao, Oliver Chambers
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Publication number: 20230115062Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2022Publication date: April 13, 2023Inventors: Scott B NIEDZWECKI, Andre D. BROWN, Mingshun (Aaron) SU, Robert YANG, Lee M. COTTRELL, Patrick CLEARY
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Patent number: 11617482Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: February 7, 2019Date of Patent: April 4, 2023Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Nicholas Sardar, Christopher P. Pinches, Lee M. Cottrell, Samuel Emrys James, Michael James Douglas, David S. Clare
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Publication number: 20220287521Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: March 11, 2022Publication date: September 15, 2022Inventors: Lee M. COTTRELL, Oliver G. HOLMES
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Patent number: 11399675Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: July 31, 2019Date of Patent: August 2, 2022Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Scott B Niedzwecki, Andre D. Brown, Mingshun (Aaron) Su, Robert Yang, Lee M. Cottrell, Patrick Cleary
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Patent number: 11259674Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: September 5, 2017Date of Patent: March 1, 2022Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLCInventors: Lee M. Cottrell, Mingshun Su
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Patent number: 11160425Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: May 2, 2016Date of Patent: November 2, 2021Assignee: Omachron Intellectual Property Inc.Inventors: Andre D. Brown, Wayne Conrad, Nina Conrad, Lee M. Cottrell, Dave Petersen, Jason B. Thorne, Adam Udy
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Publication number: 20210244248Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: April 26, 2021Publication date: August 12, 2021Inventors: Jason B. THORNE, Andre D. BROWN, Daniel INNES, Lee M. COTTRELL, Adam UDY, Daniel TONDERYS, David CLARE, Kai XU
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Patent number: D980561Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2020Date of Patent: March 7, 2023Assignee: SHARKNINJA OPERATING LLCInventors: Scott Niedzwecki, Andre D. Brown, Lee M. Cottrell, Mingshun Su, Robert Yang