Interesting Facts About Vacuum Cleaners You Didn't Know

People have been thinking about making house cleaning easier for several centuries. For example, cleaning the Louvre with brushes and cloths could take several days, so the palace was rarely cleaned. By the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, the Louvre was a giant garbage dump. It's no wonder that the first prototype of the modern vacuum cleaner appeared in France.

In Paris, a metalworker named Etienne Lar proposed a special device for quick room cleaning to Cardinal Mazarin. It was a long, heavy pipe with five strings that drove a screw inside the pipe. How this mechanism worked is hard to explain. Perhaps the rotating screw was supposed to suck up dust. Unfortunately, the device didn't take off.

First Vacuum Cleaners

The first known patent for a vacuum cleaner was granted in July 1860 in the USA. Daniel Hess from Iowa proposed equipping the device with a rotating brush and a complex system of bellows to create an air current.

According to the preserved design, the "carpet sweeper" was quite large. But there is no evidence that the mechanism was ever built.

Another American had more luck — Aivu McGaffney. In 1869, he received a patent for a vacuum cleaner with a belt drive. The dust-sucking mechanism was powered by a special handle that had to be pressed down constantly.

The device was lightweight and compact, its only problem was that pushing the vacuum cleaner and pressing the handle at the same time wasn't so easy.

In 1899, John Tormey received a patent for a gasoline-powered vacuum cleaner. In 1900, Corin Duffor patented an electric vacuum cleaner. Both inventions failed commercially.

Tormey's gasoline vacuum cleaner was unsafe; even during tests, two devices exploded. Duffor’s invention was simply impractical, so the company he created burned out in half a year.

The next breakthrough was made by British inventor Herbert Cecil But. He turned house cleaning into a real show.

But designed a giant vacuum cleaner that quickly sucked up dust from carpets and curtains.

Vacuum Cleaner as a Show

Customers of But’s British Vacuum Cleaner Company hired the vacuum cleaner for cleaning at a cost of 3–5 pounds depending on the size of the rooms. The vacuum cleaner was delivered to the house on horses and left outside.

It was cleaned using 30-meter hoses. The British Admiralty, the Treasury, and even Queen Victoria used But’s services. In London, it became trendy to invite guests to watch the cleaning process.

Portable Vacuum Cleaner

In 1905, But had a rival — Walter Griffiths, who patented a lightweight portable vacuum cleaner very similar to modern devices. It was called the "Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets." After its release to the market, house dust cleaning ceased being a show. The device resembled modern vacuum cleaners in that it fit into an apartment, didn't take up much space, and could be operated by any ordinary person.

To the right — advertisement of a vacuum cleaner in a newspaper.

In 1910, P.A. Fisker patented an electric vacuum cleaner, naming it after the company's telegraph address — Nilfisk. This vacuum cleaner weighed only 17.5 kg and could be operated by one person. The company founded by Fisker and his partner Nielsen still exists today under the name Nilfisk-Advance.

American Standard

At about the same time, a humble cleaner named Murray Spengler worked at William Hoover's leather factory. It was he who came up with the idea of creating an electric version of But’s device. This was a device with a cover instead of a dust container and a broomstick handle instead of a regular handle — it worked perfectly, absorbing dust.

Entrepreneur Hoover saw the potential in this modest device and bought the patent from Spengler.

Hoover's models weighed about 20 kg, which was an incredible feat of engineering. Thanks to Hoover’s innovations, the classic American model of vacuum cleaner emerged — foot brushes, a bag, and a motor.

European Version

In 1910, Swedish entrepreneur Axel Wenner-Gren, who was doing business in Vienna, became interested in a strange American device displayed in a shop window — the "Santo" vacuum cleaner. This was not a household appliance.

For two years, Axel worked in the European branch of the "Santo" company and in the USA, where he studied new European methods of selling products. He returned to Sweden with an idea that had originated in front of the vacuum cleaner display.

Wenner-Gren assembled a team of engineers who began developing the first household vacuum cleaner, which was introduced in 1912.

The device had a fan instead of a heavy air pump, and its weight dropped to just 14 kg.

The real breakthrough was the Model V device. It was a cylinder that rolled on wheels, connected to a rubber hose and telescopic tube with a brush. This is how nearly all dry-cleaning vacuum cleaner models looked throughout the 20th century.

Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

The first robotic vacuum cleaner appeared in 2002. Consumers were given the opportunity not only to admire this intelligent gadget but also to buy it for personal use.

Latest Developments

Today, the market offers a wide variety of vacuum cleaner models. They are compact and lightweight, easy to clean and wash. They clean not only surfaces but also the air and collect spilled liquids. Manufacturers are developing systems that make life easier for people with allergies and asthma.

For example, the multifunctional vacuum cleaner DryBOX Amfibia by company Thomas is equipped with two of the most modern filtration systems — the cyclonic DryBOX for dry cleaning and the water-based AquaBOX for thorough cleaning with simultaneous air purification. This vacuum cleaner collects 99.99% of dust and 100% of pollen.

Moreover, with the AquaBOX Amfibia, you can do wet cleaning of soft furniture, carpets, and mattresses and gently clean parquet floors with the unique Aqua Stealth attachment.