Surface-treating appliance

A surface-treating appliance, such as a vacuum cleaner (1, fig 1), comprises a main body (2, fig 3a) housing a component such as a post-motor filter (21). A door 29 is arranged to provide access to the filter (21, fig 5). The door 29 is connected to the main body (2,fig 3a) by means of a hinge 33 arranged to allow the door 29 to pivot about the hinge's rotational axis 39 and to move axially as the door 29 is moved between closed and open positions. The provision of hinge 33 that can move along its rotational axis permits the door 29 to move laterally as it opens, thereby clearing adjacent parts of the appliance, such as the spine 7. This allows an appliance to be manufactured that permits the user to access components housed inside of it, but is compact. Preferably, the hinge 33 includes a cam arrangement (36, fig 6), so that the door 29 automatically moves away from adjacent parts of the appliance as it moves from the closed position to an open position.