Before the days of vacuum cleaners, people cleaned floors with mops,
brushes, and brooms. Twig brooms were used as far back as 2300 B.C. by
cave dwellers.
In 1858 carpet sweepers were introduced in the U.S. Cleaning was done
entirely by rotating a brush which was activated by the wheels; there
was no suction.
The first non-electric suction vacuum cleaner was a wooden machine known
as a "Whirlwind". It was manufactured and sold in 1869 by the American
Carpet Cleaning Company. This machine had a suction fan driven by a
hand crank on the handle, but it did not have a brush roll.
By 1875, a cleaner was introduced which combined both suction and a
brush roll, but it still depended on a hand crank for power to drive
both the fan and the brush.
The first "portable" electric vacuum was invented in 1905 by Chapman and
Skinner in San Francisco. It weighed 92 pounds and used a fan 18 inches
in diameter to produce the suction. Because of its size, it did not
sell well.
In 1908 Hoover introduced the Model O vacuum, the first to use both a
cloth filter bag and cleaning attachments. The machine weighed only 40
lbs.
Hoover developed positive agitation in 1926, and this greatly increased
the dirt removal efficiency of the vacuum. The Model 700 featured a
rigid beater bar which was used in combination with the brush on the
agitator to dislodge dirt from the carpet.
In the 1930s the first plastic vacuum cleaners hit the market and
headlights were added to some of the fancier models.
The 1950s saw the introduction of the convertible upright line of
vacuums.
The first self propelled vacuums debuted in 1969.
Since then, improvements such as higher speed motors have been added.
Read more about the history of:
Sources:
•Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
•Hoover Historical Center
