Patent ID: 7472712

Claim:
A dishwasher comprising: a wash chamber defined by a floor and a plurality of sidewalls each having an interior surface forming a sidewall of the wash chamber and an exterior surface; a pump for circulating wash liquid in said wash chamber; a rotatable spray arm for receiving wash liquid from said pump and spraying said wash liquid in said wash chamber; a filter chamber provided on the exterior surface of one of the wash chamber sidewalls for filtering wash liquid being circulated in said wash chamber comprising: a chamber wall and the exterior surface of said one of said sidewalls forming the filter chamber; an inlet opening in said one of said sidewalls communicating with said filter chamber, wherein said one of said sidewalls has a non-linear portion above said inlet opening for allowing wash liquid being circulated in said wash chamber to enter said filter chamber; an outlet opening in said one of said sidewalls communicating with said filter chamber for allowing wash liquid in said filter chamber to return to said wash chamber; a filter element provided substantially in the plane of said one of said sidewalls at said outlet opening for filtering particulate material from said wash liquid as said wash liquid passes through said filter into said wash chamber; and a drain outlet at the bottom of said filter chamber for draining wash liquid and material filtered by said filter to drain, wherein the filtering chamber collects particulate material from said wash liquid.