Claims
- 1. A disposable oil filter assembly comprising
a filtering element with an oil inlet area and an oil outlet area; a strainer element having an oil inlet area operatively connected with the inlet area of the filtering element and an oil outlet area operatively connected with the oil outlet area of the filtering element and a bypass valve cooperating with the oil inlet areas of the filtering and strainer elements to selectively direct oil to the inlet area of either the filtering element or the strainer element.
- 2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the bypass valve is a pressure responsive valve.
- 3. The invention defined in claim 2 wherein the valve directs oil to the inlet area of the strainer element when the pressure is approximately 5 pounds per square inch of vacuum or greater.
- 4. The invention defined in claim 2 wherein the valve directs oil to the inlet area of the filtering element when the pressure is approximately 4.9 pounds per square inch of vacuum or less.
- 5. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the strainer element is located, adjacent the inlet area of the filtering element.
- 6. The invention defined in claim 5 wherein the strainer element is located within the inlet area of the strainer element.
- 7. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the filtering element is a generally cylindrical sleeve with a hollow central bore, said bore having opposite first and second end portions with the first end portion serving as the oil outlet area of the filtering element.
- 8. The invention defined in claim 7 wherein the strainer element is at least partially received within the second end portion of the filtering element.
- 9. The invention defined in claim 8 wherein the strainer element is completely received within the first end portion of the filtering element.
- 10. The invention defined in claim 7 wherein the strainer element is a generally cylindrical sleeve having a hollow central bore, said bore having one end portion which serves as its oil inlet area.
- 11. The invention defined in claim 10 wherein the bypass valve is at least partially received within the oil inlet area of the strainer element.
- 12. The invention defined in claim 11 wherein the bypass valve is completely received within the inlet area of the strainer element.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Two commonly owned and related patent applications have been filed concurrently with this patent application on ______, and their disclosures are intended to be fully incorporated by reference herein. They include “Tank Mounted Oil Filter Assembly”, Ser. No. ______, and “Fluid Line Locking Structure”, Ser. No. ______.