Patent ID: 8038877

Claim:
An oil filter apparatus for filtering oil comprising: a housing defining an interior chamber, an upper portion, a lower portion, an inlet on the lower portion, and an outlet on the upper portion; a fine filter media spanning across the chamber, and having at least one permanent opening defined therethrough so that through the permanent opening the oil can pass in a manner unfiltered by the fine filter media; a coarse filter media spanning across the chamber and being contiguous with no opening therethrough, wherein the fine filter media is located towards the inlet side of the housing, relative to the coarse filter media being towards the outlet side of the housing, wherein both the fine and coarse filter media are each in the form of a substantially flat sheet; and an intermediate spacer element located in between the coarse filter media and the coarse filter media, and spacing apart a majority of the fine filter media from the coarse filter media, wherein filtration of oil is achieved without any actuation of actuators including valves, flaps or orifice plates.