Electric vacuum cleaner

May 28, 1935.

2,003,147

O. HOLM-HANSEN

ELECTRIC VACUUM CLEANER

Filed Aug. 25, 1933

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Patented May 28, 1935

2,003,147

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,003,147

ELECTRIC VACUUM CLEANER

Osmund Holm-Hansen, Stratford, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York

Application August 25, 1933, Serial No. 686,752 2 Claims. (Cl. 242—85)

The present invention relates to electric vacuum cleaners of the portable household type, and especially to cord hook arrangements for such cleaners.

The object of the Invention is to provide an improved arrangement of cord hooks for vacuum cleaners whereby the cord may be removed from the hooks more conveniently than heretofore, and for a consideration of what I believe to be novel 10 and my invention, attention is directed to the accompanying description and the claims appended thereto.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner equipped with the improved cord 15 hooks; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of portions of the vacuum cleaner showing the cord hooks in a second portion; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the handle at the point where the upper hook is fastened thereto; and Fig. 4 is a side view of the 20 same portion of the handle as Is shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing, I indicates the cleaning unit of an electric motor driven vacuum cleaner. Fastened to the cleaning unit is a dust bag 2 which catches -and holds the dirt taken up by 25 the cleaning unit, and a handle 3 which affords a means for moving the cleaning unit over the surface to be cleaned. The upper end of the dust bag is fastened to the upper end of the handle. An electric cord 4 is provided for connecting the 30 cleaning unit to a wall plug receptacle. The cord passes from the cleaning unit up through the handle and extends beyond the handle to provide a length sufficient to permit the cleaner to be moved over the surface to be cleaned when the 35 Plug at the end of the cord is connected to a plug receptacle.

The construction so far described may be taken as typical of any suitable electric motor driven vacuum cleaner. ,

It is convenient to have a place to store the cord when the vacuum cleaner is not in use and to have a place to store excess cord when cleaning a spot in the general vicinity of a wall plug receptacle. The usual arrangement for this is 45 the provision of two cord hooks which are fastened permanently to the handle, an upper hook which faces upwardly and a lower hook which faces downwardly. The cord is wound around the two hooks and is thus stored on the handle.

This arrangement has the disadvantage that each time the vacuum cleaner is brought out for use, it is necessary that the cord be unwound, one loop at a time. This entails considerable time and trouble.

According to the present Invention, there are provided a lower fixed cord hook 5 and an upper slidable cord hook 6. The lower fixed cord hook 5 is fastened permanently to the lower end of the handle 3 and faces downwardly. Ths upper slidable hook 6 moves vertically along the handle 5 a distance somewhat greater than the depth of the lower fixed hook 5. The upper hook has two positions, an upper position and a lower position, and means are provided to fasten it in either of these two positions. When the cord is to be 10 Wound on the handle, the upper hook is fastened in its upper position and the cord is wound on the hooks. When the vacuum cleaner is to be used, the upper hook is moved from Its upper position to its lower position. This drops the loops of cord 15 a distance sufficient to permit the lower ends of the loops to swing free of the lower hook. As a result, the cord is now looped over only the upper hook and as many cord loops as desired may be lifted off-the upper hook at the same time. By 20 this arrangement, therefore, any number of loops may be quickly and conveniently lifted off the upper hook, the remainder being left hanging on the hook.

In this connection, it is important that the up- 25 per hook be arranged to slide along the handle a distance greater than the depth of the lower hook so that when it is moved to its lower position, the loops fall away from the lower hook.

' In the arrangement shown in the drawing, the 30 lower hook 5 is formed integral with a band 7 which encircles the handle and is fastened to the handle by a bolt 8 which fastens through the band into the handle. Hook 5 is fastened to the handle a short distance above the lower end of 35 the handle. It opens downwardly and lies in a plane parallel to the plane of the handle. Upper hook 6 is formed integral with a band 9 which encircles the handle and is slidably mounted thereon. 40

Hook 6 projects upwardly and lies in a plane parallel to the plane of the handle. Projecting outwardly from band 9 at the base of hook 6 and parallel to the handle are two ears 10. Pivoted on a pin ί I which has its bearings in ears 45 10 is a lever or latch 12. On the lower end of lever or latch 12 is a thumb rest 13 and at the upper end is a finger 14 which extends inwardly toward the center of the handle. Finger 14 passes through an opening 15 in band 9 and is adapted 50 to engage in either of two spaced openings 16 and II in handle 3. Openings 16 and IT are connected to each other by a guide channel 18. Located beneath the lower end of lever 12 is a spring 18 which acts in a direction to force finger 14 in- 55

2,008,147 wardly. When finger 14 is in either opening 16 or 17, the band is held firmly in place, the finger being held in the opening by the spring 19. On the under side of thumb rest 13 is a stop 20 6 which engages band 9 and serves as a means to limit outward movement of finger 14. Stop 20 is so located that finger 14 can be moved out of opening 16 or 17 and into channel 18 but cannot be moved far enough to take the finger out of 10 the channel. By this arrangement, the channel acts as a guide to direct movement of the finger from one opening to the other.

When the cleaner is to be stored, the upper hook is placed in its upper position with finger 14 in 15 opening 16 and the cord is wound on the hooks in the usual manner. This is illustrated in Fig. 1. When the cleaner is to be used, lever 12 is actuated to bring finger 14 out of opening 16, after which the hook with the cord thereon is slid 20 down the handle, finger 14 being guided in groove 18 until the lower end of the groove is reached whereupon the lever is released, permitting finger 14 to catch in opening 17. This movement is sufficient so that the loops of the cord drop off 25 of the lower hook 5, remaining hanging on upper hook 6 as is illustrated in Fig. 2 on the drawing. One or more loops of cord may now be lifted from the upper hook, as found desirable, the remaining loops being left on the hook.

The foregoing construction provides an arrangement of cord hooks more convenient than arrangements heretofore .used in that it provides a means whereby all the loops of the cord may be simultaneously disconnected from the lower hook but leaving the loops hanging on the upper hook. At the same time, the arrangement is simple in construction, easy to operate, and capable of being manufactured at low cost. 5