Patent ID: 8206479

Claim:
A side entry housing for an air cleaner comprising a body construction and a removable cover; (a) the body construction includes an inlet construction forming an inlet end and an outlet construction forming an outlet end; the body construction provides a sealing surface against which a seal member of a filter element compresses to form a radially directed seal, and a stop surface that provides for the seal member to engage when a filter element is seated within the housing; (i) the body construction includes a body member that includes a sidewall having a closed end and an open end, wherein the open end is sufficiently large to accommodate accepting a filter element therethrough, and the open end corresponds to a side entry; (ii) the sidewall defines a first end and a second end, and edges that extend between the first end and the second end, and wherein the edges define the open end; (iii) the body member includes a slide mount that enables a filter element to be inserted through the opening and oriented with a seal member compressed against the sealing surface to form a radial seal; (iv) the slide mount includes a ramp having a slide surface angled downwardly from the open end to the closed end so that the slide surface is closer to the inlet end at the open end adjacent the edges than the slide surface is to the inlet end at the closed end; (v) the removable cover is removable from the body member to expose and cover the side entry; (A) the removable cover includes a first end, an opposite second end, and the pair of edges extending between the cover first end and the cover second end; (B) the removable cover includes sidewall defining a ledge for engaging a filter element and supporting and stabilizing a filter element wherein if a filter element is not properly seated within the housing with a radially directed seal formed, the cover will be prevented from fitting to the body member.