Patent ID: 7845045

Claim:
A portable surface cleaning apparatus, comprising: a base housing adapted for movement along a surface to be cleaned; an upright handle pivotally mounted to the base module; a liquid dispensing system comprising: a liquid dispenser associated with the base module for applying liquid to a surface to be cleaned; a liquid supply tank removably mounted to the base housing or handle for holding a supply of cleaning liquid; a liquid supply conduit fluidly connected to the liquid supply tank and to the dispenser for supplying liquid to the dispenser; a liquid recovery system comprising: a recovery tank removably mounted on the base housing or handle and having a liquid recovery chamber for holding recovered liquid and an inlet opening at an upper portion of the recovery tank, a top wall of the recovery tank being shaped to direct the flow of dirty liquid downwardly in the liquid recovery chamber; a suction nozzle associated with the base housing and adapted to draw dirty liquid from the surface to be cleaned; a working air conduit fluidly connected to the inlet opening and extending between the recovery chamber and the suction nozzle; a vacuum source in fluid communication with the recovery chamber for generating a flow of working air from the nozzle through the working air conduit and through the recovery chamber to thereby draw dirty liquid from the surface to be cleaned through the nozzle and working air conduit, and into the recovery chamber to thereby recover the dirty liquid from the surface to be cleaned; the improvement comprising: the recovery tank has an outlet opening and a filter mounted in the outlet opening.