Vacuum Cleaners
The vacuum cleaner works on the principle that an air pump or fan creates a vacuum that draws the surrounding air in which brings with it the dust and dirt that is needed to be collected. The cleaner will also have a collection system in place, whether it is a bag or a cylinder, to store the dirt until the time comes to empty the cleaner. It has to be one of the most important inventions in the cleaning industry.
The first invention of a vacuum cleaner can be traced back to 1865 in the USA, but the first machine to be patented was in 1905 for the “Griffiths Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets” machine. The factory producing them was in Birmingham in the UK and was a bellow based machine that would suck the dust into the machine through a hollow tube.
The invention of the electric cleaner was down to two men. In Britain, H. Cecil Booth invented a horse drawn cleaner that could be taken and parked outside the property that needed cleaning. This was not successful.
At the same time in the USA in 1906 a janitor called James Murray Spangler invented an electronic suction machine which included a rotary brush. The machine was patented in 1908 and he sold the invention to his cousins at the Hoover Harness and Leather Goods Factory. This machine became known as the Hoover, and became the most well known and popular vacuum cleaner worldwide. The word “hoover” is now part of the English language to mean “…to vacuum the floor..” and people refer to their vacuum cleaner, whatever the manufacturer of their machine, as a hoover.
The vacuum cleaner during the 20th Century has been developed but still uses the same original principle. There have been improvements in the varieties available and the attachments to enable you to reach everywhere needed. The latest development in the age of vacuum cleaners came from Richard Dyson in the 1990’s with the bag less, cyclone technology, vacuum cleaner. His invention of the bag less technology has been introduced by all the other main vacuum cleaner manufacturers as the way forward.
The future for the vacuum cleaner can be seen in the move towards robotic cleaners that will work through a room of a house or a floor of an office, and use sensors to guide them safely around furniture.