Patent ID: 6968593

Claim:
In a hand-held liquid extraction cleaner for cleaning a surface and comprising: a housing forming a handle at an upper portion thereof for carrying the extraction cleaner; a liquid extraction system mounted to the housing and including: a suction nozzle; an air-liquid separator integral with the housing and in fluid communication with the suction nozzle, for separating air from liquid and debris; a recovery tank in fluid communication with the air-liquid separator for collecting recovered liquid and debris separated from air in the air-liquid separator; a vacuum source in fluid communication with the suction nozzle and the air-liquid separator, whereby the vacuum source can draw liquid and debris through the suction nozzle and deposit them into the recovery tank; and a liquid dispensing system including: a cleaning fluid supply tank; and a spray nozzle connected to the cleaning fluid supply tank for spraying cleaning fluid onto the surface to be cleaned; the improvement comprising: at least one agitator mounted to the air-liquid separator adjacent to the suction nozzle for rotation about an axis and for scrubbing the surface to be cleaned; and a motor carried by the housing and operably connected to the agitator to drive rotation of the agitator about the axis of rotation.