Apparatus for purifying air

An apparatus for separating solid impurities from a fluid, such as air, comprising:

• a housng, having inlet and outlet chambers, and having mounted thereon in said outlet chamber a spring-loaded plate valve constructed and arranged to admit atmospheric air to said outlet chamber of said housing as desired;
• a suction port provided in said inlet chamber of said housing for drawing in air;
• a plurality of perforated sleeves and a socket element including shaft means mounted at each end of said sleeves to form a rotatably mounted cylindrical hollow sleeve, the upper socket having gas outlet means, and said cylindrical hollow sleeve being rotatably mounted and located in said inlet chamber of said housing;
• a plurality of filtered elements secured on said perforated sleeves and being mounted between upper and lower plates, having central openings and dividing said housing into said inlet and outlet chambers with the outlet chamber above said upper plate and said inlet chamber residing between said upper and lower plates;
• fan means including a pressure space and air outlet means disposed above said outlet chamber for drawing off air from within said perforated sleeves which are rotatably mounted between the central openings of said plates;
• an electric motor having a shaft for rotating said fan means;
• a cyclone having louvers for preliminary separation of the solid impurities and being positioned around said filter elements and between said filter elements and said housing in said inlet chamber;
• a centrifugal coupling including a driver element secured to the shaft of said electric motor and a driven element connected to one of said socket elements and said centrifugal coupling constructed and arranged to intermittently effect an automatic rotatable connection of said plurality of perforated sleeves with said electric motor so that after said electric motor reaches its full rpm value, the driven element of said coupling is disconnected from the driver element of said centrifugal coupling, so that said plurality of filter elements remain stationary while said apparatus is drawing off contaminated air;
• and a receptacle at the bottom portion of said housing for storing impurities separated from the air by said apparatus, whereby the solid impurities in said air, upon first entering said suction port, and subsequently passing through said cyclone, said filtered elements and said perforated sleeves, are separated therefrom, and the cleaner air, exiting from said end of said perforated sleeve connected to said driven element, enters said outlet chamber and then said pressure space before exiting to the atmosphere.