Vacuum cleaner

A vacuum cleaner is a cleaning device that uses an air pump  to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt from floors and carpets.

HISTORY

One of first devices that cleaned carpets was invented in a Chicago basement in 1869 by Ives W. McGaffey. A wood and canvas contraption, the "sweeping machine" required the user to crank a handle while pushing it along the floor as it sucked up dust. McGaffey obtained a patent for the machine on June 5, 1869, calling it the Whirlwind.

An early hand-pumped vacuum cleaner By Royalbroil

In 1900 Hubert Booth of Glasgow, Scotland demonstrated the principle of extracting dust from carpets by suction. He patented his device on August 30, 1901. Soon after, he coined the phrase “vacuum cleaner”, in calling his business “The Vacuum Cleaner Company Ltd”.

Earlier sucking cleaners had been patented but Booth's was the first not to rely on manual power. His first models used oil but later electricity was used.

Hubert Booth's sucking cleaning device looked nothing like a modern vacuum cleaner. The five horse-power motor and pump were so enormous that they were mounted on a horse-drawn carriage, while long tubes up to 25 yards long reached into the building that was being cleaned.

Hubert Cecil Booth Straßenstaubsauger von 1901. Wikipedia 

Booth later introduced clear tubes so clients could watch in awe as the dirt was sucked out of their homes.

Booth's cleaner was affectionately known as “Puffing Billy”.

Booth's Vacuum Cleaning Co provided the first mechanical cleaning service. However, his first vacuum cleaner was extremely noisy and frightened passing horses, which led to Booth being sued by cab proprietors.

The making of Hubert Booth's vacuum cleaner was the 1902 coronation of Edward VII of the United Kingdom during which his invention cleaned the blue carpets of Westminster Abbey. The king and queen were sufficiently impressed to order two cleaners- one for Windsor Castle, the other for Buckingham Palace.

As a result of the King's purchase of the device, society hostesses threw parties in their homes so guests could watch Booth's vacuum cleaner in action.

In 1907, James Murray Spangler, a janitor in a Canton, Ohio department store, deduced that the carpet sweeper he used was the source of his asthma. He tinkered with an old fan motor and attached it to a soap box stapled to a broom handle. Using a pillow case as a dust collector on the contraption, Spangler invented a portable electric vacuum cleaner.

Sprangler received a patent for his device in 1908, and formed the Electric Suction Sweeper Company.

One of the first buyers was a cousin, whose husband, William H. Hoover owned a saddle and leather company in New Berlin, Ohio. Sprangler sold his patent to Hoover, who made improvements which produced the first truly portable upright vacuum cleaner.

Hoover founded the Electric Suction Sweeper Company with $36,000 capital, retaining Spangler as production supervisor. After Spangler's death in 1915, the company name was changed to the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company.

Early electric vacuum cleaner by Electric Suction Sweeper Company, circa 1908

The device resembled a bagpipe attached to a cake box. But sluggish sales were given a kick by Hoover's 10 day, free home trial and the catchphrase "It beats as it sweeps as it cleans". Eventually there was a Hoover vacuum cleaner in nearly every American home.

In 1956, the English composer Malcolm Arnold wrote his A Grand, Grand Overture for 3 Vacuum Cleaners, 1 Floor Polisher, 4 Rifles and Orchestra. He dedicated it to former US President Herbert Hoover.

In the late 1970s, Norfolk-born inventor English inventor James Dyson had the idea of using cyclonic separation to create a vacuum cleaner that would not lose suction as it picked up dirt. Dyson went through 5,127 prototypes in five years while his wife Deirdre supported them and their three children by working as an art teacher. He eventually launched his bagless cleaner in 1983.

FUN VACUUM CLEANER FACTS

Some of the first vacuum cleaners were coal powered and were so big, they needed three people to operate them.

Scandinavian vacuum cleaner manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign, "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

Vacuum is one of three words in the English language with two "u's" in consecutive order: the other two are residuum and continuum.

In the US, there are about 15,000 vacuum cleaner-related accidents each year.

An hour of vacuuming burns about 180 calories.

The Book of Firsts by Ian Harrison, Unbelievable Facts by Geoff Tibballs, Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999, Thoughtco, Daily Express,