Claims
- 1. A vacuum cleaning apparatus comprising:
- a receptacle having a side wall, a top wall and a bottom wall to define a volume therebetween;
- a first opening in said side wall;
- means for producing a downwardly spiralling air flow from air entering said receptacle through said first opening, said downwardly spiralling air flow producing means having an imperforate exterior surface, an upper section, and a lower section, said downwardly spiralling air flow producing means being stationary within said receptacle and being positioned so that said upper section is opposed to said first opening in said side wall and separates said first opening from said top wall, said lower section of said air flow producing means being proximate said bottom wall of said receptacle;
- a filter positioned within a portion of said volume outside said air flow producing means so that said filter is interposed between said first opening in said side wall and said bottom wall, said filter substantially spanning said portion of said volume from said side wall to said air flow producing means so that along the length of the filter, the filter is substantially separate from the downwardly spiralling air flow producing means; and
- a second opening in said receptacle, said second opening being located below said filter and adapted for connection to a vacuum producing means for exhausting the filtered air whereby said vacuum producing means creates subatmospheric air pressure in said volume within said receptacle which pulls air into said receptacle through said first opening, said air tangentially strikes and downwardly spirals around said imperforate exterior surface of said downwardly spiralling air flow producing means, passes through said filter, and exhausts said receptacle through said second opening so that particulate in said air entering through said first opening is removed by said filter and the removed particulate is compacted atop said filter by said air flow downwardly spiralling about said imperforate exterior surface of said air flow producing means.
- 2. A vacuum cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said imperforate exterior surface of said downwardly spiralling air flow producing means has a substantially conical shape.
- 3. A vacuum cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said second opening in said receptacle is located in said side wall.
- 4. A vacuum cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said upper section of said air flow producing means is generally funnel shaped; and
- said lower section of said air flow producing means is generally cylindrical.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 765,600, filed Sep. 26, 1991, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 504,134, filed Apr. 3, 1990, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,697 on Jan. 14, 1992.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
765600 |
Sep 1991 |
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Parent |
504134 |
Apr 1990 |
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