Patent attributes
A light weight upright vacuum container including a cylindrical cyclonic air separation and dirt collect container with a combination shroud and pleated filter cartridge holder. The container has a tangential air inlet at the upper portion, a closed bottom and an open top leading to a motor positioned in the upper portion of the vacuum cleaner housing provide for improved air separation and dirt collection. The shroud has an open sidewall and a closed bottom with an outwardly and downwardly extending skirt that extends to the about the midpoint of the height of the container. Dirt particles that separate from the air flow above the skirt drop to the lower portion below the skirt. Clean air then exits an open upper portion of the shroud to the suction source above the container. The air exiting the shroud passes through a frusto-conical region and into a radially pleated filter before entering the vacuum motor.