History of the Vacuum Cleaner »

History of the Vacuum Cleaner

The first hand-powered cleaner using vacuum principles may have been the “Whirlwind”, invented in Chicago in 1865.

In 1905 ‘Griffith’s Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets’ was patented by Walter Griffiths Manufacturer, Birmingham, England. It comprised of a portable and easy to store vacuum device which was powered by ‘any one person (such as the ordinary domestic servant)’ who would have the task of compressing a bellow type contraption to suck up dust via a removable, flexible pipe to which a variety of shaped nozzles could be attached. This was arguably the first domestic vacuum cleaning device to resemble the modern day vacuum cleaner. However H. Cecil Booth had first patented the ‘Vacuum’ cleaner some years earlier, in 1901.

The first electrically-powered cleaner was invented by two men at about the same time. The first was H. Cecil Booth, a British engineer. He noticed a device used in trains that blew dust off the chairs, and thought it would be much more useful to have one that sucked dust. He tested the idea by sucking the dust out of a dinner chair with his mouth. He nearly choked, but realised the idea could work. He patented it in Britain, creating a large horse-drawn vacuum cleaner that would park outside a building to clean it. Booth never had great success with it.

The other inventor, in the United States had much better luck. In 1906 James Murray Spangler, a janitor in Canton, Ohio, rigged a vacuum cleaner out of a fan, a box, and a pillowcase. In addition to suction, Spangler’s design incorporated a rotating brush to loosen debris. He patented it in 1908 and eventually sold the idea to his cousin’s “Hoover Harness and Leather Goods Factory.” In the USA, Hoover remains one of the leading manufacturers of household goods including cleaners, and Hoover became very wealthy from the invention.

In Britain, Hoover has become so associated with the manufacture of vacuum cleaners that in English, “Hoover” is virtually a synonym of vacuum cleaner, indeed many people will often refer to their “hoover” and “doing the hoovering” even if the machine has been made by another manufacturer.

Now there are many companies that make vacuum cleaners, and you will find the cleaner you are looking for on this site

Get Social, Bookmark Us!!:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.