2022.04.20
The vacuum cleaner has become a trio
For many years, a vacuum cleaner was synonymous with a floor vacuum cleaner equipped with a cord and bag, but recently the traditional model has gained two siblings – the robot vacuum cleaner and the stick vacuum cleaner.
Exactly when the vacuum cleaner was invented is not entirely clear and depends on how you define the term. There have been vacuum cleaners with internal combustion engines, large wheeled machines pulled by horses with a long cord that was pulled into the house through a window, as well as vacuum cleaners powered by muscle power.
A vacuum cleaner from 1905
At Tjolöholm Castle in Kungsbacka Municipality, forty kilometers south of Gothenburg, you can see one of Sweden's very first vacuum cleaners, weighing just over a ton. The vacuum cleaner was manufactured in Gothenburg in 1905 by Göteborgs Mekaniska Verkstad (later AB Götaverken) and is electrically powered and horse-drawn. The vacuum cleaner cost 5500 SEK…
Hoover first out
Hoover writes the following on its website:
”A box, a fan, a silk pillowcase and a broom – and so the first vacuum cleaner in history was born.”
The idea that transformed these simple elements into one of the most revolutionary technologies of the last century belongs to James Spangler, a night watchman in New Berlin, Ohio, who suffered from asthma and was tired of breathing the dust in the store he worked in. James patented the invention and dreamed of bringing it to every home in America. He needed someone who believed in the project, with the skills and resources to carry it out.
He decided to send this first, rudimentary vacuum cleaner to his cousin, Susan Hoover – a move that made him a fortune. Susan used it for a few days at home and became an enthusiastic follower. She showed the vacuum cleaner to her husband, William Hoover, owner of a small business that manufactured leather goods and sold them in his store in New Berlin. As a far-sighted entrepreneur, he immediately sensed the enormous potential of this futuristic ”stick”. He bought the patent, started production and founded The Hoover Company, the year was 1908.
Electrolux also fast
In the same year, 1908, Axel Wenner-Gren saw an electric vacuum cleaner in a shop window in Vienna, Austria, and realized that the product had great potential if it could be made smaller and lighter. In 1912, Wenner-Gren began collaborating with AB Lux and they produced their first vacuum cleaner, the Lux I (weighing 14 kg), which began to be sold that same year by salespeople knocking on doors to demonstrate the product in homes. The following year, the Lux II (now weighing 9 kg) was introduced, which cost half as much as its predecessor, and demand was high.
Founded in 1919 Electrolux, after an agreement between Wenner-Gren's company (which sold the vacuum cleaners) and AB Lux (which manufactured them).
On Technical Museum website For example, you can read that according to a survey conducted by Electrolux a number of years ago, we buy a new vacuum cleaner within 24 hours of the old one breaking down – so dependent are we on that innovation today.
Vacuum with or without a cord – or let a robot do the work
Over the years, the traditional vacuum cleaner has been further developed, partly with more efficient motors and filters, etc., and partly with new features such as a remote control in the handle so that it is easier to adjust the suction power, start and stop.
The range of vacuum cleaners has also been broadened with robot vacuum cleaners, which travel around and vacuum when desired, and cordless stick vacuum cleaners - which were initially mostly used by most people to suck up crumbs and the like, but which have become increasingly powerful and can now do much more than that.
Today, you don't just buy a vacuum cleaner - you either choose which of the three variants you prefer, or you buy one of each...
Ola Larsson
