Patent ID: 7370387

Claim:
A hand-holdable vacuum cleaner comprising: an electric motor ( 12 ); an electrical on-off switch ( 42 ) for operating said motor; a fan ( 14 ) connected to an output shaft ( 16 ) of said motor; an airflow pathway comprising an inlet for dirty air ( 32 ), an outlet for clean air, and a collection chamber ( 20 ) located in fluid communication between said inlet and said outlet; means for separating out debris entrained with dirty air entering via said inlet and depositing the debris in said collection chamber; and means for adjusting an angle of said inlet relative to a main axis (X-X′) of said vacuum cleaner; characterized by: a rigid, elongate nose ( 30 ) having said inlet at one end thereof, said nose being pivotable relative to said main axis (X-X′) through an angle of at least 135 degrees.