Manual vacuum cleaner

Manual vacuum cleaners were an effort to use suction to remove dirt from carpets dated to the second half of the 19th century, when patents were granted to inventors in the United States, England, France, and elsewhere.

In the United States, several dozen firms produced non-electric vacuum cleaners in the early 1900s; 1914 being the peak year. Three different models were sold by Sears, Roebuck between 1909 and 1917. Their primary market was in rural areas, where as late as the mid-1930s, 90% of American farms (over 5 million) did not yet have electricity.

These household appliances created suction by either a pumping action, bellows, a piston being pushed up and down a tube, or had a fan driven by the wheels. Most required the efforts of two people. The models capable of operation by a single person were less efficient, but none were truly labor-saving devices or delivered the cleaning efficiency they promised. Besides the hand-operated models, some foot-operated models were also available, and according to a Swiss source there was even one where the operator sat in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth to produce the energy needed to create suction.

The type of vacuum illustrated is powered by a friction motor similar (but on a larger scale) to those powering toy cars. To power it up, one would run it forward and back a few times, and then lower the intake to the floor and clean until the motor ran down.

See also

• Vacuum cleaner

References

• Collectors News, October 2006, p. 31
• Giedion, S. Mechanization Takes Command. New York: Oxford University Press, 1948.
• Die Geschichte des Staubsaugers (1901–2001). < ifaar.ch/staubsauger/author> (review of Glauser, Christoph. Einfach blitzsauber (Simply Squeaky Clean). Zurich: Orell-Fussli Verlag, 2001)
• Hoover Historical Center, 1875 East Maple Street, North Canton, OH 44720-3331

External links

• The Vacuum Cleaner Museum