Patent ID: 6840973

Claim:
An air cleaner for an engine for purifying air to be introduced into the engine, said air cleaner comprising: a cleaner housing; a cleaner element made of a urethane foam and formed in a tubular form having an endless wall and operable to pass the air therethrough in a direction across a thickness of the cleaner element to purify the air, said cleaner element, when viewed in a direction conforming to a heightwise direction of the wall, representing a heteromorphic shape and having upper and lower end faces opposite to each other; first and second retainer plates each made of an elastic material and bonded respectively to the upper and lower end faces of the wall to retain the heteromorphic shape of the wall; and a holder assembly including a first holder member having a first seat element for holding the upper end face of the cleaner element through the first retainer plate and a second holder member having a second seat element for holding the lower end face of the cleaner element through the second retainer plate; said cleaner element and said first and second retainer plates being carried by the holder assembly and accommodated within the cleaner housing together with the holder assembly.