Patent ID: 7410516

Claim:
A vacuum cleaner comprising: a housing having 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, a second cyclonic airflow chamber including a longitudinal axis, said second chamber being spaced from said first chamber, wherein said first and second chambers are each approximately vertically oriented and are arranged 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 receiving dirt entrained air directly from said suction airstream inlet and directing a flow of dirty air received directly from said suction airstream inlet into two separate inlet conduits leading to a respective one of said first and second airflow chambers for initial separation of dirt and dust from the airstream, 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.