Richard Dean Downey

US Patent:

7070636, Jul 4, 2006

Filed:

Nov 13, 2001

Appl. No.:

10/416663

Inventors:

Michael J. McCormick - Long Beach CA, US
Henry Marcussen - Danville KY, US
J. Erik Hitzelberger - Danville KY, US
Tamaki Nishikori - Kusatsu, JP
Richard Eric Downey - Danville KY, US

Assignee:

Panasonic Corporation of North America - Secaucus NJ

International Classification:

A47L 9/16
B01D 35/20
B01D 45/12
B01D 50/00

US Classification:

55299, 55304, 55305, 55337, 55477, 55472, 55482, 55DIG 3, 15350, 15353

Abstract:

A bagless vacuum cleaner () includes a nozzle assembly () having a suction nozzle for picking up dirt and debris from a surface to be cleaned and a canister assembly () including a cavity (). A dust collection assembly () is received and held in that cavity (). The dust collection assembly () includes a filtering subassembly () and a dust container (). The dust container () has an open top (), a bottom wall (), a first cylindrical sidewall (), an inlet (), and a downwardly directed outlet () extending through the bottom wall. An airstream conduit is provided for conveying a vacuum airstream between the suction nozzle and the inlet. A filter () is carried on the filtering subassembly (). A sweeper () rotates relative to the filtering subassembly () to clean dirt and debris from at least a portion of the filter (). A suction fan () and suction fan drive motor () carried on either the nozzle assembly () or the canister assembly () generates the vacuum airstream for drawing dirt and debris through the suction nozzle, the airstream conduit and the dust container ().