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Series 4: Vaccum cleaners! Where did they emerge from?!

😁🙌 Did you know that... Early vacuum cleaners were massive and had to be drawn by horse from door to door! Imagine...?!
But, in 1907, just within the second industrial revolution, it is said that James Spangler had the brilliant idea to combine the design of the carpet sweeper with the mechanics of a vacuum, creating the earliest known version of a portable vacuum cleaner. The vacuum has perhaps evolved most significantly, marked by the creation of the first cordless, handheld mini-vacuum cleaner by Black & Decker nearly 30 years ago! From further findings, we see that the vacuum cleaner's emergence into a household dust extracting must-have, can also be connected to many great minds cutting across Engineers to Janitors who saw possibilities and brought forward their innovative thoughts into what we see as the Vacuum cleaner today (surely still evolving in ways to give the consumer a valuable experience) Basically the vacuum cleaner (once known as simply sweeper and even today, as the hoover) is no modern day innovation and continues to evolve in varied effectiveness to the needs of the consumer yet with similar principles of functionality. Thanks to the Industrial revolution and some of the ills experienced, the creation of the vaccuum cleaner was a necessity as a result. Dust, oil spillages, grime, dirt, etc... that came as side effects of some productive activities necessitated a smarter way of cleaning and cleaning. Thus, the concept of the vacuum cleaner (in varying designs and sizes). Below are the timelines of the innovation of the Vaccuum cleaner- before James Spangler - a major centre figure of the Vacuum cleaner innovation. It is said that: The first mechanical device for cleaning floors was a “carpet sweeper” invented by Daniel Hess in 1860. It had rotating brush and bellows which generated suction.    After that, in 1869, Ives W. McGaffe created "Whirlwind” which had a belt driven fan powered by hand.   John S. Thurman invented, in 1898, gasoline powered cleaner that was so big that had to be horse-drawn and didn’t create a vacuum, but it blew the air and “cleaned” like that. The first vacuum cleaner that used the same principle as those that we use today was invented by Hubert Cecil Booth of England in 1901. Booth was inspired by a demonstration of a Thurman’s machine at the Empire Music Hall in London so much that he tried the idea that he had almost immediately. He placed a handkerchief on the seat of a restaurant chair, put his mouth to the handkerchief and sucked the air in. When he saw how much of the dust gathered on the handkerchief, he knew that his idea has merit. His vacuum cleaner had an internal combustion engine which powered a piston pump which pulled the air through a cloth filter. The whole machine was pulled by a horse, and people called it "Puffing Billy." It was big, and it could not enter buildings and only its tubes were inserted through the windows. His next model was powered by electricity but was also too big and not suitable for individual homeowners so it was used as a cleaning service or it was installed in the building itself. . . . Then came Spangler who In 1907, as a janitor in a Canton, Ohio department store, deduced that the carpet sweeper he was using was the source of his chronic coughing. So Spangler, with no particular expertise, toyed with an old fan motor and attached it to a soap box stapled to a broom handle. Adding in a pillowcase as a dust collector, Spangler invented a new portable and electric vacuum cleaner. It is said, that he proceeded to improving  on his basic model- the first to use both a cloth filter bag and cleaning attachments. He received a patent in 1908. Soon,  the Electric Suction Sweeper Company was formed by Spangler. Now , connect the dots... One of his first buyers was his cousin, whose husband was William Hoover. Remember Hoover ... William Hoover became the founder and president of the Hoover Company (remember the world renowned Hoover... Other Vaccum cleaner brands get to be termed as hoovers ), a vacuum cleaner manufacturer. Now we see how hoover is synonymous to most brands of Vaccum cleaners: James Spangler eventually sold his patent rights to William Hoover and continued to design for the company. Cleaning history certainly has it's intrigues... Stay tuned for next Historical element...

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