US5961676A — Hard bag door with air directing arrangement

Claim 1

Independent Claim 71 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a plurality of J-shaped vane ribs formed along an interior surface of the hard bag cleaner portion to guide an air flow, said J-shaped vane ribs extend inwardly from a pair of opposed sidewalls of the hard bag portion and are stepped in length from a top to a bottom of the hard bag portion to provide an expanding flow area.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 71 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a plurality of J-shaped vane ribs formed along an interior surface of the hard bag cleaner portion to guide an air flow, said J-shaped vane ribs extend inwardly from a pair of opposed sidewalls of the hard bag portion and are stepped in length from a top to a bottom of the hard bag portion to provide an expanding flow area.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 35 words

The hard bag portion of claim 1 in which the expanding flow area is disposed medial of the interior surface of the hard bag cleaner portion and extends from the top to the bottom thereof.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 39 words

The hard bag portion of claim 2 further including a pair of vertically extending center support ribs disposed medially on the interior surface of the hard bag portion for dividing the expanding flow area into two substantially equal portions.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 20 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 3 further including short straight ribs interposed between the J-shaped vane ribs.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 119 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a front wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being positioned adjacent to a vacuum cleaner filter bag; an opening formed in the front wall which provides fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces; a removable final filter positioned on the exterior surface of the front wall over the opening for filtering exhaust air from the filter bag to permit access to the final filter without removal of the hard bag portion from the vacuum cleaner apparatus; and a plurality of vane ribs extending along the interior surface of the front wall for guiding the exhaust air towards the opening and final filter.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 119 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a front wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being positioned adjacent to a vacuum cleaner filter bag; an opening formed in the front wall which provides fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces; a removable final filter positioned on the exterior surface of the front wall over the opening for filtering exhaust air from the filter bag to permit access to the final filter without removal of the hard bag portion from the vacuum cleaner apparatus; and a plurality of vane ribs extending along the interior surface of the front wall for guiding the exhaust air towards the opening and final filter.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 120 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a front wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being positioned adjacent a vacuum cleaner filter bag; an opening formed in the front wall which provides fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces; a removable final filter positioned on the exterior surface of the front wall over the opening for filtering exhaust air from the filter bag; a plurality of vaned ribs extending along the interior surface of the front wall for guiding the exhaust air towards the opening and final filter; and a filter door which releasable attaches to the exterior surface of the front wall for retaining the filter over the opening.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 120 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a front wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being positioned adjacent a vacuum cleaner filter bag; an opening formed in the front wall which provides fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces; a removable final filter positioned on the exterior surface of the front wall over the opening for filtering exhaust air from the filter bag; a plurality of vaned ribs extending along the interior surface of the front wall for guiding the exhaust air towards the opening and final filter; and a filter door which releasable attaches to the exterior surface of the front wall for retaining the filter over the opening.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 106 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a front wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being positioned adjacent a vacuum cleaner filter bag; an opening formed in the front wall which provides fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces; a removable final filter positioned on the exterior surface of the front wall over the opening for filtering exhaust air from the filter bag; a plurality of vaned ribs extending along the interior surface of the front wall for guiding the exhaust air towards the opening and final filter; and in which the vaned ribs are J-shaped.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 106 words

A hard bag portion of a vacuum cleaner apparatus including: a front wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being positioned adjacent a vacuum cleaner filter bag; an opening formed in the front wall which provides fluid communication between the interior and exterior surfaces; a removable final filter positioned on the exterior surface of the front wall over the opening for filtering exhaust air from the filter bag; a plurality of vaned ribs extending along the interior surface of the front wall for guiding the exhaust air towards the opening and final filter; and in which the vaned ribs are J-shaped.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 21 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 5 in which the hard bag portion is a front bag housing door.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 55 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 5 in which the front wall is formed with an upper section and a lower section; in which the opening is formed in one of the upper and lower sections; and in which the vane ribs are formed on the other of the upper and lower sections.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 48 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 9 in which the vane ribs are formed on the upper section; in which the opening is formed in the lower section; and in which the vane ribs direct the exhaust air from the upper section to the lower section.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 49 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 9 in which the lower section is inwardly offset from the upper section forming a step on the interior surface of the front wall and forming a filter cavity in the exterior surface of said front wall for receiving the filter.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 46 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 6 in which the filter door includes ribs on an interior surface thereof for retaining the filter against the exterior surface of the wall and preventing the filter from sealing against said interior surface of the filter door.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 39 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 5 in which a plurality of horizontally and vertically extending strips extend across the opening and are formed integrally with the front wall to form a grid pattern across the opening.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 57 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 13 in which a plurality of vertically extending stand-off ribs are formed integrally with the vertically extending strips of the opening, said stand-off ribs extend inwardly from said vertically extending strips to guide the exhaust air through the opening and retain the filter bag in a spaced relationship thereto.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 30 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 14 in which the stand-off ribs are spaced from one another forming airflow channels therebetween, said airflow channels having a channel width.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 34 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 15 in which each standoff rib is formed with a notched area, said notched area allows the exhaust air to flow laterally across said stand-off ribs.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 26 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 16 in which the notched areas are cut into approximately 1/2 of a height of the stand-off ribs.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 34 words

The hard bag portion defined in claim 17 in which the ratio of the height of the stand-off ribs to the channel width formed between adjacent stand-off ribs is between 1:2 and 1:4 inclusive.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 41 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 17 in which the J-shaped vane ribs are stepped in length from a top of the hard bag portion to a bottom of the hard bag portion to form an expanding flow area.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 21 words

The hard bag portion as defined in claim 17 further including short straight directing ribs interposed between the J-shaped vane ribs.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 27 words

The hard bag portion defined in claim 5 in which the interior surface of the front wall encloses a bag cavity formed in the vacuum cleaner apparatus.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 28 words

The hard bag portion defined in claim 5 in which a filter cavity is formed in the exterior surface of the front wall for receiving the final filter.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2002-10-04	2003-04-05	2003-10-05	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2006-10-04	2007-04-05	2007-10-05	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2010-10-04	2011-04-05	2011-10-05	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Hard bag door with air directing arrangement

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