Abstract A vacuum cleaner of the canister variety for domestic use having upper and lower housings sandwiching an intermediate housing therebetween. An air inlet is formed at the front of the upper housing and an exhaust housing is secured to the rear of the lower housing. A dust bag is positioned between the upper and intermediate housing and is separated from a motor blower assembly by an apertured partition wall. A washable permanent secondary filter, fitted about a wire form frame, is positioned on the dust bag side of the aperture in the partition wall by means of a pair of slotted ribs which receive a portion of the wire frame and a cam-shaped rib which also holds a portion of the wire frame. The exhaust housing includes a sliding door having spaced air slots and a rear wall having similar spaced air slots alternately offset from those of the door. A hose assembly blower connection aperture is formed in the exhaust housing adjacent to the slotted rear wall. During vacuum operation the sliding door is positioned in front of the hose assembly blower aperture and air is exhausted from the motor blower assembly through both sets of slots, but during blower operation the door is positioned in front of the rear wall with the solid portion of the door closing off the slots in the wall of the exhaust housing to concentrate all the exhaust air through the hose assembly blower connection aperture.
In a vacuum cleaner comprising a housing having a suction compartment within which is mounted an air-permeable filter bag, an air-moving unit compartment separated from said suction compartment by a partition wall having an opening therein, means defining an air inlet in said housing communicating with said filter bag, means defining an outlet in said housing communicating with said air-moving unit compartment, and an airmoving unit mounted in said air-moving unit compartment for drawing dirt-laden air through said inlet and discharging filtered air through said outlet, the improvement comprising: a secondary filter having a continuous strip of permanent-type filter material closed upon itself in the form of a loop, a substantially U-shaped spring wire frame fitted within said loop, the length of the central leg of said frame being substantially equal to one half the peripheral length of said filter strip, each upstanding leg being in abutting relation with the inner surface of the filter loop, an axle formed at the free end of each upstanding leg, a pair of ribs formed on the suction compartment side of the partition wall adjacent said opening, each said rib having a slot receiving one of said axles, and a camming tooth formed on said wall adjacent said opening in substantially the same plane as said ribs cooperating with the central leg to releasably lock said central leg between said tooth and said partition wall whereby said frame is removably mounted with said secondary filter superposed over said opening in the partition wall.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
250 words
In a vacuum cleaner comprising a housing having a suction compartment within which is mounted an air-permeable filter bag, an air-moving unit compartment separated from said suction compartment by a partition wall having an opening therein, means defining an air inlet in said housing communicating with said filter bag, means defining an outlet in said housing communicating with said air-moving unit compartment, and an airmoving unit mounted in said air-moving unit compartment for drawing dirt-laden air through said inlet and discharging filtered air through said outlet, the improvement comprising: a secondary filter having a continuous strip of permanent-type filter material closed upon itself in the form of a loop, a substantially U-shaped spring wire frame fitted within said loop, the length of the central leg of said frame being substantially equal to one half the peripheral length of said filter strip, each upstanding leg being in abutting relation with the inner surface of the filter loop, an axle formed at the free end of each upstanding leg, a pair of ribs formed on the suction compartment side of the partition wall adjacent said opening, each said rib having a slot receiving one of said axles, and a camming tooth formed on said wall adjacent said opening in substantially the same plane as said ribs cooperating with the central leg to releasably lock said central leg between said tooth and said partition wall whereby said frame is removably mounted with said secondary filter superposed over said opening in the partition wall.