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. 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.
In 1906 James B. Kirby developed his first of many vacuums
called the Domestic Cyclone It used water for dirt separation. He held over 60
patents on everything from a wringerless washing machine to ironing and dry
cleaning equipment.
Early electric vacuum cleaner by Electric Suction Sweeper
Company, circa 1908
First portable
electric vacuum cleaner, obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper on
June 2, 1908. Crucially, in addition to suction from an electric fan that blew
the dirt and dust into a soap box and one of his wife's pillow cases,
Spangler's design utilized a rotating brush to loosen debris. 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. Subsequent innovations included the beater
bar in 1919 ("It beats as it sweeps as it cleans"), disposal filter
bags in the 1920s, and an upright vacuum cleaner in 1926.
In Continental Europe, the Fisker and Nielsen company in
Denmark was the first to sell vacuum cleaners in 1910. The design weighed just
17.5 kg and could be operated by a single person.
The Swedish company Electrolux launched the innovative Model
V in 1921 that was designed to lie on the floor on two thin metal runners. This
innovation, conceived by Electrolux founder Axel Wenner-Gren, became a standard
feature on generations of future vacuum cleaners. There is a recorded example
of a 1930s Electrolux vacuum cleaner surviving in use for over 70 years,
finally breaking in 2008
