How Vacuum Cleaners Were Invented

The original premise behind vacuum cleaners was the idea of carpet cleaning machines (much like the wet carpet cleaning machines we have today, that use chemicals to clean dirt and spots on carpets.) However, as history shows, vacuum cleaners and carpet cleaning machines went in two different directions.

Life before vacuum cleaners

Before vacuum cleaners were invented, housewives would have to clean the carpets inside with brooms, or take the rugs or carpets outside and beat the dust out of them with a tennis-racket looking device. The first hand held carpet cleaner mechanism was designed and tested in 1860 by a man called David Hess. It was basically a carpet sweeper designed to clean the carpet easier when the carpet was taken outside and hung on the washing line (for beating.) It consisted of a rotating brush with a bellows system that created suction. Two water chambers trapped dust and fine dirt in the device. Unfortunately, the invention of David Hess never reached production. In the late 1870's, Melville Bissell created a similar device where dirt was dropped in a pan, but vacuum cleaners in their present form only started appearing about 40 years later (1899) when John Thurman invented gasoline powered motorized vacuum cleaners. When Cecil Booth invented his version of vacuum cleaners, housewives even had 'vacuum parties' to celebrate this large device, which had to be parked outside the house and had a 100 foot long hose that did all the sucking.

Vacuum cleaners become modern

A janitor by the name of James Spangler sold his “portable suction cleaner” invention to his cousin (of the surname Hoover.) This was the world's first look at portable vacuum cleaners as we have today and, as anyone would know, Hoover is still very much on the forefront of the vacuum cleaners industry. Housewives were now even more delighted with the invention of portable vacuum cleaners, as it provided far less effort and time needed on doing house work.

Todays vacuum cleaners come in several styles, each with their sub-categories of styles and features. These include back pack vacuum cleaners, hand-held vacuum cleaners, wet/dry vacuum cleaners, upright vacuum cleaners, canisters or even robotic style vacuum cleaners. The basic system of all these vacuum cleaners is more or less the same – a pump that sucks up air from a hose, through the front opening of the hose. It is the filtering system which is usually the big difference between vacuum cleaners. Bagless vacuum cleaners filter the dirt into a container (which can be emptied and reused) while bagged vacuum cleaners filter dirt into a bag (which can be thrown away.) Each of these vacuum cleaners have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Carpet cleaning machines – sophisticated devices designed to steam clean or use chemicals in cleaning carpets – are used for more heavy duty work compared to vacuum cleaners. They are especially used for businesses, apartments, government offices etc., whilst vacuum cleaners are more for home use. They are not considered vacuum cleaners in the strictest sense, although they probably can achieve the same functions of vacuum cleaners at many times.