They say necessity is the mother of invention. When we look at how vacuum cleaners came to be, we realize how true those words are. When mankind came up with ideas for things, it turned out that some of those things were hard to clean up, like carpets and rugs. In the olden days housewives used to only have brooms to clean up the dirt from floor coverings. Then, in the year 1860, it so happened that the first carpet cleaner was invented in Chicago. It used a pump to suck up the dirt and some heavy dust particles. It wasn't until 1900 that a power based vacuum cleaner was successfully used. The iconic fellow to achieve that feat was Cecil Booth. Booth's device was a prototype. It was a guy named James Spangler who actually came to develop an idea for successfully making mechanical carpet and floor cleaners and mass producing them.
At this point, as we are throwing names, one might pause to ask - where does the name Hoover come in? This is a valid question because we all know that vacuums are also known as Hoovers in many parts of the world, especially in Europe. Well, Spangler had a cousin named Susan Hoover who was married to William Hoover. William saw the opportunity in the dirt sucking business and hence decided to purchase the patent of the cleaning device from Spangler whose family received royalties until 1925. The Hoover brand flourished and came to be well known, so much so that people started using the name "Hoover" instead of vacuum cleaner.
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There is a good reason why the vacuum cleaner is so popular in the western world. These regions are relatively colder and that makes carpets and rugs a very important part of the household. They keep the floor warm and provide a layer of comfort above the rough floor. Cleaning these carpets and rugs became a big hassle until the popularity of these mechanical cleaners after the Hoover Company went international. Today the Hoover brand is part of the Whirlpool family.
Technology and research have also added a lot of other features to the original models. Nowadays, the best vacuums in the market do not just suck up dirt and dust, but also help dry wet surfaces, kill germs, disinfect areas, etc. Depending on the function they are assigned and the way they are held, modern cleaners are broadly classified into upright, hand-held, cylinder, backpack, robotic, etc. The new ones in the industry like the HEPA filter vacuum cleaners offer more than just cleaning - they also help prevent allergies and unwanted reactions. The Roomba which falls under the purview of robotic cleaners is a hockey puck shaped device that is gifted with basic artificial intelligence that helps it automatically detect dirt, clean it, clean itself and go back to its charging dock without any human supervision. Little did the Spanglers and the Hoovers know that their idea could blossom into such a boon for mankind.
The Evolution Of Vacuum Cleaners: Just How Far We Have Come ROOMBA
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