Patent ID: 8220109

Claim:
A handheld vacuum cleaner comprising: a housing including a handle for carrying the vacuum cleaner, the housing having an inlet opening and a dirt cup connector surrounding the inlet opening; a motor/fan assembly in the housing for generating a suction force through the inlet opening; a dirt cup comprising a relatively hollow body having an inlet at a front end and an outlet at a back end, the back end of the dirt cup having a housing connector that is adapted to mate with the dirt cup connector to removably join the dirt cup to the housing; a latch coupled between the dirt cup and the housing for selectively joining the dirt cup to the housing; a filter positioned upstream of the motor/fan assembly; a plurality of different nozzle assemblies, each having at least one nozzle opening and each having an outlet opening at a back end thereof that is removably coupled to the dirt cup front end; a nozzle latch positioned between the dirt cup front end and each of the plurality of different nozzle assemblies for selectively coupling each of the plurality of different nozzle assemblies to the dirt cup front end; and an interfacing frame between the dirt cup and the at least one nozzle assembly molded of an elastomeric material; wherein the interfacing frame is molded of a relatively rigid material and has an inner surface adapted to conform to at least a portion of the front end of the dirt cup and an outer surface including a plurality of ridges for frictionally retaining the at least one of the plurality of nozzle assemblies molded of an elastomeric material on the front end of the dirt cup.