Editing Vacuum cleaner (section)

==History==
[[File:VacuumCleanerIXLMuseum.jpg|thumb|An early hand-pumped vacuum cleaner]]
The vacuum cleaner evolved from the [[carpet sweeper]] via [[manual vacuum cleaners]]. The first manual models, using bellows, were developed in the 1860s, and the first motorized designs appeared at the turn of the 20th century, with the first decade being the boom decade.

===Manual vacuums===
{{Main|Manual vacuum cleaner}}
[[File:Hess carpet sweeper patent model.png|right|thumb|Patent model of Daniel Hess's carpet sweeper]]
In 1860, a manual vacuum cleaner was invented by Daniel Hess of [[West Union, Iowa]]. Called a "carpet sweeper," it gathered dust with a rotating brush and had bellows for generating suction.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fascinating facts about the invention of vacuum cleaner by Daniel Hess in 1860|publisher=The Great Idea Finder|url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/vacleaner.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710060520/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/vacleaner.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-07-10}}</ref><ref>Hess, Daniel (10 July 1860) "Carpet-Sweeper" {{US Patent|29077}}</ref>
Another early model was the "Whirlwind", invented in [[Chicago]] in 1868 by [[Ives W. McGaffey]]. The bulky device worked with a belt-driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate, although it was commercially marketed with mixed success.
<ref>McGaffey, Ives W. (8 June 1869). "Improved-Sweeping Machine" {{US Patent|91145}}</ref>
A similar model was constructed by [[Melville R. Bissell]] of [[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] in 1876, who also manufactured [[carpet sweeper]]s.<ref name="bissellsite">{{cite web|url=http://www.bissell.com/Our-History/|title=Our History|publisher=Bissell|access-date=5 April 2010|archive-date=22 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122102117/http://www.bissell.com/Our-History/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The company later added portable vacuum cleaners to its line of cleaning tools.

===Powered vacuum cleaners===
{{Further|Hubert Cecil Booth#Vacuum cleaner|David T. Kenney}}
[[File:Vacuum Cleaner 1906.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Maid|Housemaid]] using "dedusting pump", {{Circa}} 1906]]

The end of the 19th century saw the introduction of powered cleaners, although early types used some variation of blowing air to clean instead of suction.<ref name="Gantz, Carroll 2012 p. 45">Gantz, Carroll (21 Sep 2012). ''The Vacuum Cleaner: A History''. McFarland, p. 45.</ref> One appeared in 1898 when John S. Thurman of [[St. Louis]], Missouri, submitted a patent (U.S. No. 634,042) for a "pneumatic carpet renovator" which blew dust into a receptacle.<ref name="americanheritage">{{cite web|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2006/4/2006_4_4.shtml|title=The Vacuum Cleaner|author=Wohleber, Curt|date=Spring 2006|access-date=8 December 2010|work=Invention & Technology Magazine|publisher=American Heritage Publishing|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313170420/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2006/4/2006_4_4.shtml|archive-date=13 March 2010}}</ref> Thurman's system, powered by an [[internal combustion engine]], traveled to the customer's residence on a horse-drawn wagon as part of a door-to-door cleaning service. Corrine Dufour of [[Savannah, Georgia]], received two patents in 1899 and 1900 for another blown-air system that seems to have featured the first use of an electric motor.<ref name="Gantz, Carroll 2012 p. 45"/>

In 1901, powered vacuum cleaners using suction were invented independently by British engineer [[Hubert Cecil Booth]] and American inventor [[David T. Kenney]].<ref name="Gantz, Carroll 2012 p. 49">Gantz, Carroll (21 Sep 2012). ''The Vacuum Cleaner: A History''. McFarland, p. 49.</ref><ref name="americanheritage"/> Booth also may have coined the word "vacuum cleaner".<ref name="Gantz, Carroll 2012 p. 49"/> Booth's horse-drawn combustion-engine-powered "Puffing Billy",<ref name="bbc_booth">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1515776.stm|title=Sucking up to the vacuum cleaner|date=30 August 2001|work=BBC News|access-date=6 December 2010}}</ref> maybe derived from Thurman's blown-air design,<ref name="BVC">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bvc.co.uk/history.html|title=The Story of the Vacuum Cleaner|work=bvc.co.uk|access-date=1 November 2013|archive-date=4 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504015332/http://bvc.co.uk/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> relied upon just suction with air pumped through a cloth filter and was offered as part of his cleaning services. Kenney's was a stationary {{Cvt|4000|lb}} steam-engine-powered system with pipes and hoses reaching into all parts of the building.

===Domestic vacuum cleaner===
[[File:Vacuum cleaner 1910.JPG|thumb|upright|A hand-powered pneumatic vacuum cleaner, {{circa}} 1910. An early electric-powered model is also shown.]]
The first vacuum-cleaning device to be portable and marketed at the domestic market was built in 1905 by Walter Griffiths, a manufacturer in [[Birmingham]], England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/vacuum.html|title=The Changes to Vacuum Cleaners over the last 100 years|work=The People History }}</ref> His ''Griffith's Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets'' resembled modern-day cleaners; it was portable, easy to store, and powered by "any one person (such as the ordinary [[domestic servant]])", who would have the task of compressing a bellows-like contraption to suck up dust through a removable, flexible pipe, to which a variety of shaped nozzles could be attached.

[[File:Early electric vacuum cleaner, circa 1908.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Early electric vacuum cleaner by Electric Suction Sweeper Company, {{circa}} 1908]]
In 1906, [[Jim Kirby|James B. Kirby]] developed his first of many vacuums called the "Domestic Cyclone". It used water for dirt separation. Later revisions became known as the [[Kirby Company|Kirby]] Vacuum Cleaner. The [[Cleveland, Ohio]] factory was built in 1916 and remains open currently, and all Kirby vacuum cleaners are manufactured in the United States.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Cleveland History">{{cite web |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/scott-and-fetzer-co|title=Scott and Fetzer Co|date=11 May 2018|publisher=Case Western Reserve University|access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref>

In 1907 department store janitor [[James M. Spangler|James Murray Spangler]] (1848–1915) of [[Canton, Ohio]], invented the first portable electric vacuum cleaner,<ref name="VacuumCleaner">{{cite book|last=Levy|first=Joel|title=Really useful: the origins of everyday things|publisher=Firefly Books|url=https://archive.org/details/reallyusefulorig00levy|url-access=registration|isbn=155297622X|year=2003|page=[https://archive.org/details/reallyusefulorig00levy/page/147 147]}}</ref> obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper on 2 June 1908. In addition to suction from an electric fan that blew the dirt and dust into a soap box and one of his wife's pillowcases, Spangler's design utilized a rotating brush to loosen debris.<ref>{{US patent|889823}}</ref> Unable to produce the design himself due to lack of funding, he sold the patent in 1908 to local leather goods manufacturer [[William Henry Hoover]] (1849–1932), who had Spangler's machine redesigned with a steel casing, casters, and attachments, founding the company that in 1922 was renamed the [[Hoover Company]]. Their first vacuum was the 1908 Model O, which sold for $60 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|60|1908}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}). Subsequent innovations included the beater bar in 1919 ("It beats as it sweeps as it cleans"),<ref>{{US patent|1364554}}</ref> disposal filter bags in the 1920s, and an upright vacuum cleaner in 1926.

In [[Continental Europe]], the [[Nilfisk-Advance|Fisker and Nielsen company]] in [[Denmark]] was the first to sell vacuum cleaners in 1910. The design weighed just {{cvt|17.5|kg}} and could be operated by a single person. The Swedish company [[Electrolux]] launched their Model V in 1921 with the innovation of being able to lie on the floor on two thin metal runners.<ref>{{cite news | title = Vacuum cleaner lasts for 70 years | work = BBC News | date = 27 January 2008 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7205825.stm | access-date = 28 January 2008 }}</ref> In the 1930s the German company [[Vorwerk (company)|Vorwerk]] started marketing vacuum cleaners of their own design which they sold through [[direct sales]].

===Post-Second World War===
[[File:Kirby G5 upright vacuum cleaner - 20140913.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Kirby Company|Kirby]] G5 vacuum cleaner]]
For many years after their introduction, vacuum cleaners remained a luxury item, but after the Second World War, they became common among the [[middle class]]es.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The invention of the vacuum cleaner, from horse-drawn to high tech |url=https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/everyday-wonders/invention-vacuum-cleaner |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Science Museum |language=en}}</ref> Vacuums tend to be more common in Western countries, because in most other parts of the world, [[Fitted carpet|wall-to-wall carpeting]] is uncommon and homes have [[tile]] or [[hardwood floor]]s, which are easily swept, wiped or mopped manually without power assist.

The last decades of the 20th century saw the more widespread use of technologies developed earlier, including filterless cyclonic dirt separation, central vacuum systems, and rechargeable hand-held vacuums. In addition, miniaturized computer technology and improved batteries allowed the development of a new type of machine—the autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner. In 1997, Electrolux of Sweden demonstrated the [[Electrolux Trilobite]], the first autonomous cordless robotic vacuum cleaner on the BBC-TV program ''Tomorrow's World'', and introduced it to the consumer market in 2001.<ref>{{cite news|title=Robot cleaner hits the shops|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3031219.stm|access-date=12 August 2017|work=BBC News|date=16 May 2003}}</ref>

===Recent developments===
*In 2004, a British company released AiRider, a hovering vacuum cleaner that floats on a cushion of air similar to a [[hovercraft]], to make it lightweight and easier to maneuver (compared to using wheels).

*A British inventor has developed a new cleaning technology known as Air Recycling Technology, which, instead of using a vacuum, uses an air stream to collect dust from the carpet.<ref>Edginton, B. (2008). [http://www.g0cwt.co.uk/arc/ "The Air Recycling Cleaner".] ''g0cwt.co.uk''.</ref> This technology was tested by the Market Transformation Programme (MTP) and shown to be more energy-efficient than the vacuum method.<ref>Market Transformation Programme (2006), [http://www.mtprog.com/spm/download/document/id/613 “BNXS30: Vacuum cleaners – UK market, technologies, energy use, test methods and waste”]. Retrieved 20 August 2009.</ref> Although working prototypes exist, Air Recycling Technology is not currently used in production cleaners.