Surface cleaning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9737189-B2
Application number	US-201615009220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2016
Priority date	Mar 9, 2012
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A steam mop includes a housing comprising a foot assembly movable along a surface to be cleaned and a body portion coupled to the foot assembly, a supply tank for storing a supply of fluid, a steam generator fluidly connected to the supply tank for producing steam from the fluid, a fluid distributor fluidly coupled with the steam generator to distribute steam to the surface to be cleaned, a cleaning pad mounted to the foot assembly and positioned to contact the surface to be cleaned, and an agitator provided on the housing, separate from the cleaning pad.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A steam mop comprising:
a housing comprising a foot assembly movable along a surface to be cleaned and a body portion pivotably coupled to the foot assembly by a coupling joint;
a supply tank provided on the body portion for storing a supply of fluid;
a steam generator fluidly connected to the supply tank for producing steam from the fluid;
a fluid distributor fluidly coupled with the steam generator to distribute steam to the surface to be cleaned;
a cleaning pad mounted to the foot assembly and positioned to contact the surface to be cleaned;
an agitator provided on the housing, separate from the cleaning pad, and movable between a use position in contact with the surface to be cleaned and a non-use position out of contact with the surface to be cleaned; and
a fluid conduit in fluid communication with the fluid distributor and extending through the coupling joint.

2. The steam mop of claim 1 , wherein the agitator is rearward of the fluid distributor in at least one of the use and non-use positions.

3. The steam mop of claim 1 , wherein the agitator is rearward of the foot assembly.

4. The steam mop of claim 1 , wherein the agitator comprises a support frame and an agitator element received on the support frame.

5. The steam mop of claim 4 , wherein the agitator element comprises at least one of a scouring pad material, tufted bristles, an elastomeric block with spaced projections or nubs, a non-woven material, a micro-fiber material, a cellulose sponge, or an open cell melamine resin foam.

6. The steam mop of claim 1 , wherein the coupling joint is detachable from the body portion.

7. The steam mop of claim 6 , wherein the coupling joint comprises an upper connector detachable from the body portion and a lower connector coupled with the foot for rotation about a first axis and coupled with the upper connector for rotation about a second axis.

8. The steam mop of claim 1 , wherein the coupling joint is a multi-axis joint.

9. The steam mop of claim 1 and further comprising an upper handle portion extending from the body portion.

10. The steam mop of claim 1 and further comprising a flow controller for controlling the flow of liquid between the supply tank and the steam generator.

11. The steam mop of claim 1 and further comprising a controller operably coupled with the steam generator to implement at least one cycle of operation.

12. The steam mop of claim 11 , wherein the controller comprises a user interface provided on the body portion.

13. A steam mop comprising:
a housing comprising a foot assembly movable along a surface to be cleaned and a body portion pivotably coupled to the foot assembly by a coupling joint;
a supply tank provided on the body portion for storing a supply of fluid;
a steam generator fluidly connected to the supply tank for producing steam from the fluid;
a fluid distributor fluidly coupled with the steam generator to distribute steam to the surface to be cleaned;
a cleaning pad mounted to the foot assembly and positioned to contact the surface to be cleaned; and
an agitator provided on the housing, separate from the cleaning pad, and movable between a use position in contact with the surface to be cleaned and a non-use position out of contact with the surface to be cleaned;
wherein the agitator comprises a support frame and an agitator element received on the support frame and wherein the support frame includes hook and loop fasteners configured to detachably secure the agitator element to the support frame.

14. The steam mop of claim 13 and further comprising a fluid conduit in fluid communication with the fluid distributor and extending through the coupling joint.

15. A steam mop comprising:
a housing comprising a foot assembly movable along a surface to be cleaned and a body portion pivotably coupled to the foot assembly by a coupling joint;
a supply tank provided on the body portion for storing a supply of fluid;
a steam generator fluidly connected to the supply tank for producing steam from the fluid;
a fluid distributor fluidly coupled with the steam generator to distribute steam to the surface to be cleaned;
a cleaning pad mounted to the foot assembly and positioned to contact the surface to be cleaned;
an agitator provided on the housing, separate from the cleaning pad, and movable between a use position in contact with the surface to be cleaned and a non-use position out of contact with the surface to be cleaned, wherein the agitator comprises a support frame and an agitator element received on the support frame; and
a biasing element configured to bias the support frame upwardly toward the non-use position.

16. The steam mop of claim 15 , wherein the biasing element comprises a spring.

17. The steam mop of claim 15 and further comprising a catch selectively locking the support frame in the use position.

18. The steam mop of claim 15 and further comprising a fluid conduit in fluid communication with the fluid distributor and extending through the coupling joint.

19. A steam mop comprising:
a housing comprising a foot assembly movable along a surface to be cleaned and a body portion pivotably coupled to the foot assembly by a coupling joint;
a supply tank provided on the body portion for storing a supply of fluid;
a steam generator fluidly connected to the supply tank for producing steam from the fluid;
a fluid distributor fluidly coupled with the steam generator to distribute steam to the surface to be cleaned;
a cleaning pad mounted to the foot assembly and positioned to contact the surface to be cleaned;
an agitator provided on the housing, separate from the cleaning pad, and selectively positionable against the surface to be cleaned for scrubbing the surface to be cleaned; and
a fluid conduit in fluid communication with the fluid distributor and extending through the coupling joint.

20. The steam mop of claim 19 , wherein the agitator is associated with the housing while the cleaning pad is in use and the agitator is not in use.

Assignees

• Bissell Homecare Inc

Inventors

• Luedke Adam
• Yiu Kan Yuk
• Pi Jian Yun

Classifications

• A47L13/12

  Implements with several different treating devices · CPC title

• A47L13/22 Primary

  with liquid-feeding devices · CPC title

• A47L13/225 Primary

  Steam mops · CPC title

• A47L13/42

  Details · CPC title

• A47L2601/04

  Steam · CPC title