Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE IMVENTION
Th1s inventlon relates ~o a heavy-duty fluid fllter assembly
for automotive vehicles.
Filter cartrtdges used in existing heavy duty air filters include
a sponge rubber gasi<et affTxed thereto which is adapted to seal agatnst
the air cleaner housing when the car~ridge is 1nsta1led therein. Although
these prtor art devtces, in general, have worked qutte well, ~he present invention
permits the gasket necessary on prior art filters to be eliminated. This is
accomplished by providing an annular band of permanent sealing ma~erial on
~O the end of the housin~ itself~ whtch not only eltm7nates the gasket
necessary Tn the prior art devices and the costs associated therewith,
but also elimTnates the problem of dam3ged gaskets 1nherent in the
prior art devtces, and facllTtates 7nstallation and removal of the
cartridge~
CITATION OF PRtOR ART
The ~ollowTng prtor art patents are relevant to the invention
dTsclosed here7n: U. S. Patent 3,~77,486; 3,396,7~2; 3,417,55~; 3,884,6~2;
and 3,290,870.
SUM~ARY OF THE INVE~TION
Therefore, an important ob~ect of my tnventton t5 ~0 reduce ~he
cost of replaceable ftl~er cartridges now used in heavy-dut~ air cleaners,
Another Important obJect of my inventton ts to assure the proper
seal bet~een the end of the fllter cartridge and the heavy-duty atr cleaner
housing.
Another important ohJect ts to eltmlnate the problem of damaged
gaskets ~htch were necessary on ftlter cartrtdges used tn prtor art heayy~duty
atr cleaners.
Sttll another tmportant o~Ject ~f my tnYention ts to facllltate
tnstallatton and remo~al o~ ~tlter ~artrtdges ~rom the housing~ of heay~duty
3a air cleaners,
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The above objects are met by the present invention
which broadly provides a fluid filter assembly comprising a
housing defining a chamber therewithin for receiving a
filter cartridge, the housing having a pair of opposed ends,
one of the ends being defined by a removable closure member
so that the cartridge may be installed in the chamber, an
inlet and outlet communicating with the chamber, the filter
cartridge including a continuous length of filtering media
forming an annulus, inner and outer permeable support means
1~ circumscribing the inner and outer circumferential surfaces
defined b~ the annulus formed by the filtering media/ a
pair of annular end caps joining the upper and lo~er edges
of the support means respectively and cooperating therewith
to define a compartment housing the filtering media, and
resilient sealing material on one of the ends of the housing,
a corresponding one of the end caps carrying a circumferential- -~
ly extending projection penetrating the sealing material when
the filter cartridge is installed in the housing to thereby
seal the cartridge with the housing~
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DESCRI?TION OF T~E DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a side elevattonal vtew, partly In sectton, of a
heavy-duty alr oleaner and filter cartrîdge installed therein made pursuan~
to the teachings o~ my present invention; and
Figure 2 is a cross~sectional ~iew of a heavy-duty air cleaner
and filter cartrtdge which represents an alternate embodiment to that disclosed
in Figure 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
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Referring now to the drawings, a heavy-duty air cleaner generally
indtcated by the numeral 10 includes a housing 12 having an annular side wall
14, a closed end 16, and an open end 18 through whlch a filter cartridge
: generally tndicated by the numeral 20 is installed and remoYed from the
housfng 12, The cartridge 20 includes an annular outer screen ~2, an
annular inner screen 24, both of conventional construction, and an upper
closed end cap 26 and lower open end cap 28, whtch tnterconnect the upper
and lower ends of the screens 22 and 24 respectively to define a compartment
in which the filtering medta 30 is recetved~ The upper and lo~er edges o~
the ~tlterTng media 30 are bonded to the end caps to effect a seal agatnst
contaminant penetra~ton. The filtering media 30 may b~ of any conventtonal
type, such as pleated paper, which is effectt~/e in ftltertns fluid flow.
The lo~r end cap 2~ ts provtded with a circumferenttally extending,
axlally proJecting ridge or proJection 31, whtch ts adap~ed to penetrate
an annular bead o~ sealing material 32, such as urethane, whtch is
rece;ved tn a ctrcumferentially extending groove 34 in the closed end
16 o~ the housIng 12, One edge of the groove 34 is deFined by the fllter
stop ledge 36, ~htch locates ~he cartridge tn a predetcrmtned positton
within the housing, and ~htch engages a ctrcum~erenttally extendtng por~ton
of the end cap 28 ~dJacent the proJectton 3~, En~agement o~ the cartrtdge 20
with the stop ledge 36 cvntrols the dtstanc~ that the rtdge 3~ penetrates
the sealtng matertal 32, A closure 38 ts provtded ~or closlns the
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open end 18 of the housing, and conventtonal, clrcumferentally spaced
clamps 40 are provided f.~r securing the closure 38 to the hous1ng 12
The clamps 40 are of conven~tonal design, and are adapted to cause the
closure 38 to exert a downwardly directed force, vtewtng F;gure 1, on the
cartridge 20 when the clamps are fa~ened. This downwardly dlrected
~orce causes the projection 31 to penetrate the annular sealing material.
The hous1ng 12 also includes an air inlet 42 which communicates with the
annular chamber 44 dePined between the screen 22 and the wall 14. An
outlet 46 communicates with the inner chamber 48 defined w7thin ~he screen
tO 24, so that all Incoming atr through the inlet 42 must pass through the
Fflter medTa 30 in order to communicate with the chamber 48 and ~hence
to the outlet 46~
~ en it ~s necessary to change the filter cartridge 20, the
clamps 40 are loosened, cover 38 is removed, and the PTlter cartridge 20
is removed through the open end 18. ~ecause the contact area between the
pro~ection 30 and the sealing material 32 is relattvely small, the
filtar cartridge 20 can be ea~tly removed, because of the nonstick
properties of the saaltng matertal 32, A new fllter cartrtd~e ts then
installed In the housing through the open end 18, ~ecause of the low
~0 compresston-sPt characteristtcs of the sealtng matertal 32~ tt can be
u~ed over and over aga1n when new ftlter cartrtdges ars tnstalled even
tf the contact area ls ident;cal with that used wlth previous cartrtdges.
~lo~ver, tf destred, ~ilter cartrtdges 2Q may be manufactured wlth
random diameter proJecttons 30 to assure that a fresh sur~ace is used
each ttmP, but thls is not necessary.
RePerrtng no~ to the alternate em~od1ment o~ Flgure 2l elements
substanttally the same as those tn the prePerred em~od~ment retatn tha same
reference character, but are increased 6~ ~ao, The atr cleaner a~em61y
tl1ustrated in Figure 2 ;s substantially Identical wlttl that tllustrated in
Ftgure 1~ However, the Ptlter cartrtdge 120 ts provtde~ wtth an open upper
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end cap 126 which ext~nds only between the 1nner and outer screens 122
and 124, whlle the closed upper end cap 26 in the embodtment described
hereTnabove extends across the diametar of the outer screen 22~ ~hus
closing the annulus deflned by the inner screen 24. Prior art f11~er
cartrldges usually provided a closed upper end cap, since a closed end
cap eliminated the need for a second gasket to s2al with the closure
member, The present invent70n, however, eliminates gaskets from the
cartridge entlrely, thus permit~ing ~he substitution oP an open upper end
cap which seals agatnst the removable cover in the same way that the lower
end cap seals agaTnst the housing, as illustrated in Figwre 2. In the
embodtment oF Figure 2, the clos~r member 138 is provided with a
ctrcumferentially extending band of sea1ing material 150, and the open
end cap 126, i.5 provided with a proJection 152 which penetrates the
sealing material 150 when the cover 138 is installed on ~he housing
112 by manipulation of the clamp 140~ TherePore, both the upper and lower
end caps are sealed agaTnst the housiny in the same manner. It wlll
be noted that the diameter of the proj&ct70n 152 is dîfferent Prom
that oP the proJection 131. Consequently, the filter cartridge 120 may
be lnverted on alternate installations in order to assure a different
contact area between the proJect70ns ~31 or 152 and the sealing material
150 or 132. In this way, a fresh sealing diameter i5 obtatned each
ttme the Ptlter cartrtdge 120 is changedl stnce the formerly compressed
dtametar completely recovers while the new filter cartridge ts used so
that the formerly compressed diameter of the sealing material 32 may be
reused the nex~ time.
