Cyclone separator with vacillating debris inhibitor

Claim 1

A vacuum cleaner comprising: a housing defining a cyclonic airflow chamber for separating contaminants from a dirt-containing airstream, said housing further comprising a cyclonic chamber inlet and an airstream outlet in fluid communication with said cyclonic airflow chamber; a nozzle housing including a suction opening, said suction opening being fluidly connected with said cyclonic chamber inlet; an airstream suction source fluidly connected to said main suction opening and to the cyclonic airflow chamber for transporting dirt-containing air from the main suction opening to the cyclonic airflow chamber, said suction source is adapted to establish and maintain a dirt-containing airstream from said main suction opening to said cyclonic chamber inlet; a dirt-collecting bin mounted beneath said cyclonic airflow chamber, the dirt-collecting bin comprising a bottom wall and a sidewall; a separator plate between the cyclonic airflow chamber and the dirt-collecting bin and separating the cyclonic airflow chamber from the dirt-collecting bin, the separator plate having a diameter less than a diameter of the cyclonic airflow chamber adjacent the separator plate to thereby define a gap between the separator plate and the cyclonic airflow chamber for passage of dirt separated from the dirt-containing airstream in the cyclonic airflow chamber whereby the passage of dirt through the gap is accompanied by airflow pattern having horizontal and vertical components between the gap at one side of the dirt-collecting bin and the bottom wall at an opposite side of the dirt-collecting bin, which airflow tends to entrain dirt particles therein; and airflow inhibitors in the dirt-collecting bin to reduce the vertical component of an elliptical airflow, thereby tending to agglomerate and separate the dirt particles from the elliptical airflow.