Filter construction for a surface cleaning apparatus

1. A surface cleaning apparatus comprising:

(a) an air flow path extending from a dirty air inlet to a clean air outlet and including an air treatment member and a suction motor;

(b) a main body comprising a front end and a rear end;

(c) a plurality of wheels rotatably mounted on to the surface cleaning apparatus; and,

(d) a filter in a filter compartment, wherein the suction motor is external the filter compartment and an axle or an axle mount for at least one of the wheels defines an axis of rotation that projects through the filter compartment and the axle or the axle mount extends through a mounting aperture in the filter.

2. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the filter is accessible when the one of the wheels is moved to an open position.

3. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 2 the one of the wheels is removably mounted to the surface cleaning apparatus.

4. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the air treatment member comprises a cyclone bin assembly having a cyclone chamber having a diameter, wherein the filter has a cross sectional area taken in a plane that is generally orthogonal to the axis of rotation that is larger than a transverse cross sectional area of the cyclone chamber.

5. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the main body further comprises first and second opposed sidewalls and the surface cleaning apparatus further comprises a treated air flow passage extending from an outlet of the air treatment member to the suction motor and at least a portion of the treated air flow passage is provided in one of the sidewalls and the filter is located in the treated air flow passage.

6. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the main body further comprises first and second opposed sidewalls, the filter is provided in one of the sidewalls and the filter has a cross sectional area that is at least 60% of a cross sectional area of the sidewall.

7. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 6 wherein the filter has a cross sectional area that is proximate that of the sidewall.

8. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the main body further comprises first and second opposed sidewalls, the filter is provided in one of the sidewalls and one of the wheels is provided on each sidewall.

9. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 8 wherein the air treatment member comprises a cyclone bin assembly having opposed end walls and a cyclone chamber having a diameter and each of the wheels provided on the sidewall has a diameter larger than the diameter of the cyclone chamber.

10. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 9 wherein the wheels provided on the sidewalls have a cross sectional area larger than a transverse cross sectional area of the cyclone bin assembly.

11. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 8 the wheels provided on the sidewall are substantially the same size as the sidewalls.

12. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 8 further comprising at least one of a front stabilizer wheel and a rear stabilizer wheel.

13. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a front stabilizer wheel and a rear stabilizer wheel wherein the stabilizer wheels are positioned such that only one wheel can contact the floor at a time.

14. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a treated air flow passage and the filter is provided in the treated air flow passage and the treated air flow passage comprises a conduit that extends through an axially extending conduit aperture in the filter, whereby at least a portion of the conduit is laterally surrounded by the filter.

15. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the surface cleaning apparatus includes an axle mount and the axle is mounted to the axle mount.

16. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the surface cleaning apparatus includes an axle mount and the axle is removably mounted to the axle mount.

17. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 16 wherein the axle is threadedly mounted to the axle mount.

18. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one of the wheels is rotational mounted on a bearing surface and the bearing surface is threadedly mounted to the surface cleaning apparatus.

19. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 18 the one of the wheels is removable by rotation of the bearing surface in a direction opposite to a direction of forward rotation of the wheel.

20. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the filter comprises a second axially extending aperture spaced apart from the first axially extending aperture, and the rotational axis extends through the second axially extending aperture.

21. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the filter compartment comprises compartment end wall axially inboard of the filter and a suction motor air inlet is provided in the compartment end wall whereby air can flow from the filter compartment into the suction motor.

22. A surface cleaning apparatus comprising:

(a) an air flow path extending from a dirty air inlet to a clean air outlet and including an air treatment member and a suction motor and a treated air flow passage downstream from the air treatment member;

(b) a main body comprising a front end and a rear end;

(c) a plurality of wheels rotatably mounted on to the surface cleaning apparatus; and,

(d) a filter in a filter compartment provided in the treated air flow passage, wherein the suction motor is external the filter compartment and one of the walls defining the filter compartment is provided with an axle mount for one of the wheels;

wherein the axle mount extends axially through an axle mount aperture in the filter and an axle is mounted to the axle mount.

23. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 22 wherein the filter is accessible when the one of the wheels is moved to an open position.

24. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 22 wherein the axle is removably mounted to the axle mount.

25. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 22 wherein the filter is positioned between the wall that is provided with the axle mount and the one of the wheels that is mounted to the axle mount.

26. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 22 wherein the wall that is provided with the axle mount remains in position when the one of the wheels that is mounted to the axle mount is moved to an open position in which the filter compartment is accessible.