Vacuum cleaner

A vacuum cleaner (colloquially in the UK, hoover after one of the major brands) is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from carpeted floors. Most homes with carpeted floors in developed countries possess a domestic vacuum cleaner for cleaning. The dirt is collected by a filtering system or a cyclone for later disposal.

History

The first hand-powered cleaner using vacuum principles may have been the "Whirlwind", invented in Chicago in 1865.

H. Cecil Booth

The first powered cleaner employing a vacuum was patented by H. Cecil Booth, a British engineer, in 1901. He noticed a device used in trains that blew dust off the chairs, and thought it would be much more useful to have one that sucked dust. He tested the idea by laying a handkerchief on the seat of a dinner chair, putting his mouth to it and sucking hard. Upon seeing the dust and dirt collected on the underside of the handkerchief he realised the idea could work. Booth worked to create a device operating on such principles, and patented such a machine in Britain: the large device, known as the Puffing Billy, was drawn by horses and parked outside the building to be cleaned; suction was then provided by an internal-combustion engine burning petrol (gasoline). Booth never achieved great success with his invention.

Walter Griffiths

In 1905 "Griffith's Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets" was another manually operated cleaner, patented by Walter Griffiths Manufacturer, Birmingham, England. 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. This was arguably the first domestic vacuum-cleaning device to resemble the modern vacuum cleaner.

James Murray Spangler

In 1906, James Murray Spangler, a janitor in Canton, Ohio, in the United States, invented an electric vacuum cleaner from a fan, a box, and a pillowcase. In addition to suction, Spangler's design incorporated a rotating brush to loosen debris.

Hoover

Spangler patented his rotating-brush design 1908, and eventually sold the idea to his cousin's "Hoover Harness and Leather Goods Factory". In the United States, Hoover remains one of the leading manufacturers of household goods, including cleaners; and Hoover became very wealthy from the invention.

In Britain Hoover has become so associated with vacuum cleaners as to become a genericized trademark. The word "hoover" (without initial capitalization) often is used as a generic term for "vacuum cleaner". Hoover is sometimes used as a verb, as well, as in "I've just hoovered the carpet".

Hoover is also notable for an extremely unusual vacuum cleaner, the Hoover Constellation, which is canister type but lacks wheels. Instead, the vacuum cleaner floats on its exhaust, operating as a hovercraft. They are quite collectable today.

Post-World War II

For many years after their introduction, vacuum cleaners remained a luxury item; but after World War II they became ubiquitous among the rising middle classes. They tend to be more common in Western countries because, in some parts of the world, wall-to-wall carpeting is uncommon and homes have tile or hardwood floors, which are easily swept, wiped, or mopped.

Configurations

Vacuum cleaner configurations:

Upright vacuum cleaners have the pump mounted directly above the suction intake, with the bag mounted on the handle, which rises to about waist height. Upright designs usually employ mechanical beaters, often rotating brushes, to help disturb dust to be vacuumed up; these beaters are usually driven by a belt attached to the vacuum motor.

Canister (or cylinder) designs have the motor and bag in a separate canister unit (usually mounted on wheels) connected to the vacuum head by a flexible hose. Although upright units have been tested as more effective (mainly because of the beaters), the lighter, more manoeuverable heads of canister models are popular. Some upmarket canister models have "power heads", which contain the same sort of mechanical beaters as in upright units, although such beaters are driven by a separate electric motor.

Wet vacs or wet/dry vacuums—a specialised form of the canister vacuum—can be used to clean up wet or liquid spills. They commonly can accommodate both wet and dry soilage; some are also equipped with a switch or exhaust port for reversing the airflow, a useful function for everything from clearing a clogged hose to blowing dust into a corner for easy collection.

Back-pack vacs are commonly used for commercial cleaning: they allow the user to move rapidly about a large area. They are essentially canister vacuum cleaners, except that straps are used to carry the canister unit on the user's back.

Built-in or central vacuum cleaners move the suction motor and bag to a central location in the building and provide vacuum inlets at strategic places throughout the building: only the hose and pickup head need be carried from room to room; and the hose is commonly 8 m (25 ft) long, allowing a large range of movement without changing vacuum inlets. Plastic piping connects the vacuum outlets to the central unit. The vacuum head may either be unpowered or have beaters operated by an electric motor or air-driven motor. The dirt bag in a central vacuum system is usually so large that emptying or changing needs to be done less often, perhaps once per year.

Robotic vacuum cleaners move autonomously, usually in a mostly chaotic pattern ('random bounce'). Some come back to a docking station to charge their batteries, and a few are able to empty their dust containers into the dock as well.

Small hand-held vacuum cleaners, either battery-operated or electric, are also popular for cleaning up smaller spills.

Most vacuum cleaners are supplied with various specialised attachments, tools, brushes and extension wands to allow them to reach otherwise inaccessible places or to be used for cleaning a variety of surfaces.

Recent developments

Vacuum cleaners working on the cyclone principle became popular in the 1990s, although some companies (notably Filter Queen) have been making similarly-designed vacuum cleaners since at least the 1960s. Modern cyclonic cleaners were adapted from industrial cyclonic separators by James Dyson in 1985. He launched his cyclone cleaner first in Japan in the 1980s at a cost of about ^*]1,800 and later the Dyson DC01 upright in the UK in 1995 for £200. It was expected that people would not buy a vacuum cleaner at twice the price of a normal cleaner, but it later became the most popular cleaner in the UK. Cyclonic cleaners do not use bags: instead, the dust collects in a detachable, cylindrical collection vessel. Air and dust are blown at high speed into the collection vessel at a direction tangential to the vessel wall, creating a vortex. The dust particles and other debris move to the outside of the vessel by centrifugal force, where they fall because of gravity, and clean air from the center of the vortex is expelled from the machine after passing through a number of successively finer filters at the top of the container. The first filter is intended to trap particles which could damage the subsequent filters that remove fine dust particles. The filters must regularly be cleaned or replaced to ensure that the machine continues to perform efficiently. Since Dyson, several other companies have introduced cyclone models, including Hoover, and the cheapest model is no more expensive than a conventional cleaner.

In early 2000 several companies developed robotic "vacuum" cleaners. Some examples are Roomba, Robomaxx, Trilobite and FloorBot. Although most do not create a vacuum for cleaning, these machines propel themselves in patterns across a floor, cleaning surface dust and debris into their dustbin. They usually can navigate around furniture and find their recharging stations. Most robotic "vacuum" cleaners are designed for home use, although there are more capable models for operation in offices, hotels, hospitals, etc. By the end of 2003 about 570,000 units were sold worldwide.

In 2004 a British company released Airider, a hovering vacuum cleaner that floats on a cushion of air. It is claimed to be light weight and easier to manoeuvre (compared to using wheels), although it is not the first vacuum cleaner to do this - the Hoover Constellation predated it by at least 35 years. (The Hoover Constellation did this with a simple hovercraft-type airfoil on the bottom, using the discharge to float the vacuum. Hoover hover-vacs are now sought-after collectibles with their distinctive round post-Sputnik space-age design, though they do not float on carpets.)

In 2005 it was announced that a British inventor had invented a cleaner which has a closed system which circulates air, picking up dust from the carpet in an air stream rather than using suction. He claims that the advantage of this system is that it does not blow air back into the room disturbing dust on furniture and it is capable of working at a much lower power, saving energy. At current this cleaner has not been manufactured due to a lack of interest from vacuum cleaner manufacturers.

In 2005, Scott English was first thought to have coined the phrase "Indoor Mowing", as a humorous reference to the process of using a vacuum cleaner.

Vacuum cleaner specifications

The performance of a vacuum cleaner, when mentioned at all by the manufacturer, can be measured by several parameters:

airflow, in cubic feet per minute (CFM or ft³/min) or litres per second (l/s)
air speed, in miles per hour (mph) or metres per second (m/s)
suction, vacuum, or water lift, in inches of water or pascals (Pa)

The suction is the maximum pressure difference that the pump can create. For example, a typical domestic model has a suction of about negative 20 kPa. This means that it can lower the pressure inside the hose from normal atmospheric pressure (about 100 kPa) by 20 kPa. The higher the suction rating, the more powerful the cleaner. One inch of water is equivalent to about 249 Pa; hence, the typical suction is 80 inches of water.

The power consumption of a cleaner, in watts, is often the only figure stated. Many North American vacuum manufacturers only give the current in amperes (e.g. "12 amps"^*) and the consumer is left to multiply that by the line voltage of 120 volts to get the power ratings in volt amperes (not quite the same as watts for AC current, see AC voltages). The power does not indicate how effective the cleaner is, only how much electricity it consumes. The amount of this power that is converted into airflow at the end of the cleaning hose is sometimes stated, and is measured in air watts: the units are simply watts; "air" is used to clarify that this is output power, not input electrical power. This is calculated using the formula:

cleaning power (air watts)	= airflow (CFM) × suction (inches of water) / 8.5
	= airflow (m³/s) × suction (Pa)

Electric mop

Some vacuum cleaners include an electric mop in the same machine: for dry and a later wet clean.

Deep cleaning of carpets

Carpet can also be dry-cleaned (using solvents dry foam or absorbant granuals), Bonnet cleaned or steam/hot water extraction cleaned.The correct method should be determined following testing of the fibres either by a simple burn or chemical test. Also the type of construction should be noted, how well the carpet is fitted, the condition of not only the carpet but the underlay to. In some cases dyes can bleed. In such circumstances the carpet may only be dry cleanable. This is especially true with natural fibers such as wool, cotton, jute, sea grass, coir, and sisal. Dry cleaning methods are often insufficient to properly clean a carpet and need to be done before the carpet becomes too soiled. Hot water extraction, with a reputable technician who has been trained to a recognised standard, will produce excellent results. Sadly DIY attempts to carpets often lead to disaster.

Many companies use a "bait and switch" advertising program to get inside the door, then start adding on extra charges for such things as using detergent instead of plain water; it is best to avoid these coupon companies if you want quality cleaning done. They often use inadequate equipment, which is cheap and unable to extract all of the detergent and dirt. All too often they carry out work at your risk i.e. no insurance and unlikely to be correctly trained. As a result you could compare, washing your hair in the shower and then rinsing it out half way, leaving it dirty, crusty and weird for the rest of the day. Dust mites can survive very well in dirty carpets, which can be problematic for sufferers of asthma who are allergic to their faeces. Carpet manufacturers have made carpet cleaning easier over the years by adding stain protection during the manufacturing process. Popular types of protection include Guardsman™,Stainmaster, Teflon, StainGuard, etc. These can be re-applied after cleaning to help slow resoiling.

External links

References

The origin of the vacuum cleaner - H. Cecil Booth, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1934–1935, Volume 15.
Cleaners - Energy Use - MTP, Captive Air-Flow Cleaner'' - B. Edginton

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