Who Invented The Vacuum Cleaner?
The first cleaning appliance that used vacuum principles was invented in 1868 in Chicago by a man known as Ives W. McGaffney. He called his invention the “Whirlwind.” McGaffney got his patent for his cleaning machine in 1869, and sold it through the American Carpet Cleaning Company. While this machine was compact and lightweight, it was difficult to operate because you needed to push it across the floor at the same time as turning a hand crank. The race to develop the vacuum cleaner was on… over the next several decades, many people turned their talents to developing the best method of cleaning household carpets.
In 1876, Melville Bissell created a carpet sweeper for his wife. He marketed it on his own under the name of Bissell Carpet Sweepers. When he died, his wife took control and helped make Bissell one of the most popular vacuum companies today.
In 1901, Hubert Cecil Booth invented the first powered vacuum cleaner. He thought an appliance that sucked up dust would be better at cleaning than one that merely blew the dust around. He created a large vacuum that was driven by an oil engine, and then switched to an electric motor. The vacuum was so large that it was hauled around the city by horses and parked outside the building that needed to be cleaned. He established the British Vacuum Cleaner Company and worked on refining is cleaning machine. While he eventually lost out to Hoover for the household market, Booth went on to great success building larger industrial vacuums to be used in warehouses and factories. Today, his company is part of Quirepace, Ltd.
In1905, Walter Griffiths of Birmingham, England invented the “Griffith’s Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets.” This was a manually operated cleaner that was portable, easy to store, and was able to be used by a single person. The operator needed to compress a bellows to create the suction in a flexible hose to which one of many nozzles could be attached. This was the first early model that resembled what we use today.
In 1907, James Spangler, a janitor from Ohio, created an electric vacuum from a pillowcase, a fan and a box. It also incorporated a rotating brush to loosen debris. Lacking the money to develop his design, he sold his patent to his cousin-in-law, W. H. Hoover. Hoover took Spangler’s design and marketed it until today; they are one of the most popular vacuum cleaner companies in the world.
Over the years various companies worked on refining the original designs. Time has brought about many features, including a robotic vacuum that cleans the house all by itself. It’s easy to see how far the vacuum cleaner has come over the past century.
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