Room air cleaner

Claim 1

An air cleaner for cleaning the air in an enclosed space, said cleaner comprising: a rectangular base member having means for supporting the same in a horizontal position on a supporting surface such as the floor and comprising a horizontal wall having an intake opening through a portion thereof, a removable housing rectangular in cross section both vertically and horizontally, said housing being mounted on said base member and having a bottom of the same general configuration as said base member, said bottom having an opening overlying said intake opening, said housing being formed of sheet material and having a relatively flat, air-tight top wall portion and a plurality of flat, air-tight side wall portions, said housing forming with said base member an enclosure which is relatively impervious to air except for said intake opening and a front rectangular opening which extends over substantially the entire front area of the housing, a first filter designed to remove relatively coarse particles, said base member having a pair of supports slidably supporting said first filter adjacent said intake opening, said supports being open at the back to enable said first filter to be slidably removed from the rear of said housing and said base member having a flange across the front thereof to limit the forward movement of said filter and to conceal the same in the front of the cabinet, a second high efficiency particulate filter which is highly efficient in removing particles .5 microns in size or larger and mEans for detachably supporting said second filter adjacent to and extending across said front opening to cause said front opening to function as an outlet opening, said filter being formed of a sheet of filter material folded back and forth to provide a plurality of adjacent layers in engagement with each other which collectively form a filter of substantially the same rectangular configuration as said front opening, an ornamental screen extending across said second filter on the outer side of said filter and forming with said filter substantially the entire front wall of said housing, and a blower mounted in said enclosure on said horizontal wall of said base member and having an inlet directed downwardly toward said intake opening and coupled thereto, said intake being of generally the same cross-sectional configuration as said opening, and said blower having an outlet directed substantially horizontally to direct the peripheral air toward said high efficiency particulate filter at said front opening of said cabinet.