Portable surface cleaning apparatus

A hand vacuum cleaner having a front end, a rear end, an upper end and a lower end, the hand vacuum cleaner comprising:

• (a) an air flow path extending from a dirty air inlet to a clean air outlet;
• (b) cyclone unit comprising a cyclone provided in the air flow path and a dirt chamber external to the cyclone, the cyclone comprising a cyclone chamber, a cyclone air inlet, a cyclone air outlet, a dirt outlet in communication with the dirt chamber, a central longitudinally extending axis, a cyclone chamber front end, a cyclone chamber rear end that is axially spaced from and opposed to the cyclone chamber front end, a sidewall located between the cyclone chamber front end and the cyclone chamber rear end, the cyclone air inlet and the cyclone air outlet are located at the cyclone chamber rear end wherein, when the upper end of the hand vacuum cleaner is positioned above the lower end of the hand vacuum cleaner, the central longitudinally extending axis is oriented generally horizontally;
• (c) a plate positioned at the front end of the cyclone chamber;
• and,
• (d) a suction motor positioned in the air flow path,
• wherein the dirt outlet comprises a gap that is provided at the cyclone chamber front end, and
• wherein the gap comprises a gap portion that is located between a first portion of the cyclone sidewall and a second portion of the cyclone sidewall, the first portion of the cyclone sidewall extends forwardly from the cyclone chamber rear end, the second portion of the cyclone sidewall extends rearwardly from the plate, and the second portion is axially aligned with the first portion.