Patent ID: 7918909

Claim:
A vacuum cleaner comprising: a housing having a sidewall and a top wall defining a cyclonic airflow chamber for separating contaminants from a dirt-containing airstream, the housing further comprising an inlet and an outlet with an outlet wall in fluid communication with the cyclonic airflow chamber, and, optionally, a dirt cup with a sidewall, and an opening in at least one of the housing sidewall, the top wall, dirt cup wall and the outlet wall; a nozzle housing including a main suction opening, the main suction opening being fluidly connected with the housing inlet; an airstream suction source fluidly connected to the main suction opening and to the cyclonic airflow chamber for transporting dirt-containing air from the main suction opening to the cyclonic airflow chamber, wherein the suction source is adapted to establish and maintain the dirt-containing airstream from the main suction opening to the housing inlet; a fine contaminant collector positioned in registry with the opening in at least one of the housing sidewall, the top wall, the dirt cup sidewall and the wall of the outlet and formed at least in part by at least one collector side wall and a bottom wall which define a collection chamber that opens into the at least one of the cyclonic airflow chamber, the dirt cup, and the housing outlet; and a fine contaminant separation member closing the opening in the at least one of the housing sidewall, the top wall, dirt cup wall and outlet wall to separate the collection chamber from the at least one of the cyclonic airflow chamber, the dirt cup, and the housing outlet; wherein the fine contaminant separation member comprises a plurality of apertures configured for separating fine contaminants from the dirt-containing airstream as the dirt-containing airstream flows by the fine contaminant separation member and for passing the separated fine contaminants into the collection chamber.