Vacuum cleaners are commonplace in households and places of work. Vacuum cleaners are generally used to remove detritus, such as food, dirt, and hair, from a surface, such as a floor. A common type of vacuum cleaner generally comprises a motor that drives a fan which sucks air through a suction aperture in a maneuverable nozzle which causes a decrease in pressure at the surface to be cleaned. Air is drawn along the surface to be cleaned and into the suction aperture carrying detritus which is transported into a collection vessel for removal.
Many vacuum cleaners include brush elements which protrude from the base of the nozzle. As the shape and size of the detritus varies from small dust particles to larger pieces of food, it is common to provide spaces between the brush elements to allow detritus to pass the protrusions and enter the vacuum cleaner.
It is known to provide a nozzle for a vacuum cleaner with V-shaped protrusions, configured to guide detritus towards the suction aperture, in order to prevent detritus being pushed in front of the vacuum cleaner. Such arrangements can be found in WO2009/133031. However, V-shaped protrusions are inherently rigid and so result in poor performance on uneven surfaces, such as tiles and wood floors, and an uncomfortable/unpleasant experience for the user. Furthermore, V-shaped protrusions form a recess in which detritus that has not been transported to the collection vessel collects. Therefore, the user is unaware that the nozzle has not removed all the detritus from the surface to be cleaned until the nozzle is removed from the surface.