Patent ID: 8707513

Claim:
A vacuum cleaner comprising: a housing including a suction airstream inlet and a suction airstream outlet; a dirt container selectively mounted to said housing for receiving and retaining dirt and dust separated from said suction airstream, and said suction airstream inlet and said suction airstream outlet being in fluid communication with, respectively, an inlet and an outlet of said dirt container, said dirt container including: a first cyclonic airflow chamber including a longitudinal axis, the first cyclonic airflow chamber receives the suction air stream from the inlet of the dirt container such that the first cyclonic airflow chamber at least partially defines a first stage separator; a second cyclonic airflow chamber including a longitudinal axis, said second chamber being spaced from said first chamber and the second cyclonic airflow chamber receives the suction air stream from the inlet of the dirt cup container such that the first and the second cyclonic airflow chambers define the first stage separator, wherein said first and second chambers are each approximately vertically oriented and are arranged so that the chambers filter the airsteam in a parallel relationship, and an air manifold disposed at a top portion of said dirt container, said air manifold including an inlet section through which dirty air passes, said inlet section directing a flow of dirty air into two separate inlet conduits leading to a respective one of said first and second airflow chambers, and an outlet section, said outlet section collecting a flow of cleaned air from both of said chambers and merging the flow of cleaned air into a single outlet conduit; and, an airstream suction source mounted to said housing, said suction source being in communication with said outlet conduit of said manifold.