Patent ID: 8369720

Claim:
A powder container apparatus for containing a powder material removed from a cleaned body using a cleaning unit, the powder container apparatus comprising: a casing having an opening at the top; a collecting bag made of a soft and freely deformable material detachably disposed within the casing, the collecting bag being configured to contain the powder material that is dropped via the opening of the casing; a displaced member disposed between the collecting bag and the casing and configured to be horizontally displaced by the collecting bag when the collecting bag is inflated by the powder material contained in the collecting bag; a displacement amount detecting unit configured to detect the horizontal displacement of the displaced member; a displacement amount transmitting unit including a rod member disposed in an opening in a side wall of the casing, the displacement amount transmitting unit being configured to transmit the amount of horizontal displacement of the displaced member to the displacement amount detecting unit disposed outside the casing; and a hollow tubular guide member disposed on the side wall of the casing, the tubular guide member being configured to guide a horizontal movement of the rod member through the opening in the side wall of the casing, wherein an outer peripheral surface of the rod member slides on an internal wall surface of the tubular guide member, wherein the tubular guide member includes a contact portion where the outer peripheral surface of the rod member contacts the internal wall surface of the tubular guide member, and a no-contact portion where the rod member does not contact the internal wall surface of the tubular guide member, and wherein the contact portion is located closer to the inside of the casing than the no-contact portion is along an axis of the tubular guide member, wherein the no-contact portion along the axis of the tubular guide member is greater than the amount of displacement of the rod member.