1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-traveling cleaner that self-travels on a floor surface to clean the floor surface.
2. Description of Related Art
Various self-traveling cleaners have been conventionally proposed (see JP 2003-114719 A, JP 5-228090 A, JP 7-032752 B, JP 0.8-089453 A, JP 2001-258806 A, and JP 2004-195215 A). For example, a self-traveling cleaner shown in FIG. 8 includes a cylindrical main body 61 having a self-traveling mechanism including a pair of driving wheels 62, 62 and a pair of auxiliary wheels 63, 63, etc. and a cleaning mechanism including a circular rotary brush 7, etc. As shown in FIG. 9, the main body 61 includes a dust collector 74 having an inlet 75, and a driving mechanism including a driven pulley 71, a belt 72, and a driving pulley 73, to rotatingly drive the rotary brush 7.
In the above self-traveling cleaner, while the main body 61 travels along a wall surface 9 as shown in FIG. 8, the rotary brush 7 rotates to collect dust near the wall surface 9 into an inside of the main body 61. The collected dust is drawn into the dust collector 74 through the inlet 75 shown in FIG. 9.
However, the self-traveling cleaner with the rotary brush 7 is subjected to a great load by the floor surface with rotation of the rotary brush 7 because of a large contact area between the rotary brush 7 and the floor surface. This causes a drawback of a need for large power for rotatingly driving the rotary brush 7.
Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 10, there may be proposed a self-traveling cleaner including a brush mechanism 8 provided on a reverse side of the main body 61, the brush mechanism including a rotation axis 81, a pair of arms 82, 82 projecting in opposite directions from the rotation axis 81, and brushes 83, 83 each planted on an end portion of the arms 82, 82. The self-traveling cleaner is subjected to a smaller load from the floor surface with rotation of the brush mechanism 8 because of a smaller contact area between the brushes 83, 83 and the floor surface. Consequently, power may be smaller for rotatingly driving the brush mechanism 8.
However, in the self-traveling cleaner including the brush mechanism 8 including the brushes 83, 83 planted on the pair of arms 82, 82 as shown in FIG. 10, the brush mechanism 8 can entangle a power cord 91 during rotation of the brush mechanism 8 as shown in FIG. 11. If the cord 91 winds around the rotation axis 81 of the brush mechanism 8, even the rotation of the brush mechanism 8 cannot release the cord 91 and keeps the cord winding. Accordingly, the main body 61 self-travels dragging the cord 91, which can cause a problem of a difficulty in traveling.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds