Complete Guide to Vacuum History

The vacuum cleaner, talk to any mother with kids and she will tell you it’s one of her most valuable tools. From its earliest versions, during the filthy sooty days of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s, it offered households an easier way to keep homes clean. If dirt was the enemy: the vacuum was the hero. The realization that germs existed and were the cause of disease, left people worried about the dirt in their homes, it created an atmosphere ripe for the invention of the vacuum cleaner. Instead of having to beat their large rugs outdoors, a hard and dirty job, people could easily have the cleanest rugs they had ever seen using a vacuum cleaner.

The first vacuums were bulky contraptions that often took multiple people to operate, some used water; others used suction, while early versions did more of a mechanical sweep. In 1860, in West Union, Iowa, Daniel Hess patented the first vacuum, but called it a vacuum sweeper. The sweeper had rotating brushes and an elaborate bellows system; it also had two water chambers to catch dirt. He would say the air was cleansed as it passed through the chambers. His basic idea is still used in some vacuums today, although there is no record of this vacuum ever being put into production, as no live model seems to be in existence.

In 1869, Ives McGaffey patented a vacuum cleaner he called the "whirlwind,” he then started the first ever business on the subject and called it the American Carpet Cleaning Company. Melvin Bissell who invented the carpet sweeper, which was only really good at reaching surface dust, but still seemingly better and less bulky, soon followed McGaffey’s vacuum in 1876, but this was only the beginning. From 1899 – 1901, three more vacuums were invented by; John S. Thurman who had a gas powered version, Hubert Cecil Booth in London, England who had the first electric model that ran from outdoors and two Americans who followed up on the same theme--Corinne Dufour and David Kenney.

Vacuum and Sewing Hall of Fame Lists of the best in the creative business with dates and links to articles on their inventions.

Finally, in 1905, Walter Griffith invented the first portable vacuum, it was easy to store and could be run by one person, with a bellow style function, which one would compress and suck up dust through a pipe with attachable nozzles. The next electric vacuum weighed over ninety-pounds and created suction with a large 18” fan, because of its weight and the hassle in using it, it did not last long. Probably one of the earliest names we tend to remember would be that of James Kirby. He created a cleaner that used water to separate the dirt and then added cloth liners for filters. Then in 1908, came an Ohioan janitor named James M. Spangler who started a company with William Hoover. His vacuum was smaller and was originally created for James' own needs on the job. His cleaner consisted of a broom handle, a metal soapbox and a pillowcase. It had a motor and fan blades or suction and did a decent job, which enabled him to sell it to Hoover and join the business.

When Fred Wardell came along with his Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company in 1909, the atmosphere was ripe. People were even more aware of germs and wanted to keep their floors clean and free of them. His models could be mass-produced in his own factory, they were not as clumsy and heavy as previous models had been and were more reliable too. They came with several attachments for upholstery, walls, and now bare floors. There was even an attachment for blowing a person’s hair dry! They were such a boon that Eureka won the San Francisco International Exposition in 1915.

Home and Garden Big Moments in Vacuum History: 30th anniversary of the Black & Decker Dustbuster debut

Charles Beach and Frederick Osuis made a motor that ran on either AC or DC electrical power and then had a great marketer like Louis Hamilton come aboard, the plug in vacuum became a household sensation. The vacuum was introduced as the first portable vacuum cleaner. From there anyone who was already in the business as well as newcomers were creating new and innovative versions of the vacuum cleaner. Disposable bags were introduced in 1920, positive agitation by Hoover increased efficiency in 1926, and the first plastic vacuum with a headlight came along in 1930. Many different models came out with the Kirby name in the mid 1930’s and the convertible upright line came to be in the 1950’s. The early 1960’s brought the first David Oreck models to the hotel industry, with self-propelled models showing up in 1969. They worked so well that soon the employees were asking to buy them for themselves and Oreck wanted to move to public sales. Whirlpool owned the company at the time, but didn’t feel their vacuum sales were significant enough and gave David Oreck the rights to the machine.

Starting in 1978, James Dyson built 5000 prototypes of his vacuum, but refused to put it out until he was completely satisfied with it. Black and Decker then came out with the first cordless hand-held vacuum in 1979 and called it the Dustbuster, by Carroll Gantz. This opened up another market, cordless vacuums, although they weren’t as popular as they lost power quickly and did not seem to have the same suction. Dyson finally introduced his perfected Dual Cyclone vacuum model in 1993. In 2002, Helen Greiner and her team at iRobot came up with the Roomba. The Roomba is a robotic vacuum with a memory. For thirteen-years the team had been repeatedly asked if they could build a robot to clean the house, that’s when they put their attentions into building the vacuum. Roomba won the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. Although it is not meant for deep cleaning, it does a nice job of keeping the carpet clean under normal circumstances. It is a small disc-shaped vacuum with sensors. As it moves about the room, it memorizes the layout of furniture, obstacles and the location of stairways.

Electronics Vacuum Cleaners – Rating Reviews, Bag, Part Repair, Kirby Dyson and other information

The vacuum cleaner, an invention created to ease the fears of germ worried citizens, turned into an invention that none of us can live without, nor would we ever want to.

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