| Vacuum Cleaner |
Article Index for Vacuum |
Website Links For Vacuum |
Information AboutVacuum Cleaner |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT VACUUM CLEANER | |
| vacuum cleaners | |
| domotics | |
| home appliances | |
| cleaning tools | |
| english inventions | |
|
A vacuum cleaner (in colloquial British English also '''hoover'''In Britain ''Hoover'' has become so associated with vacuum cleaners as to become a Genericized Trademark . The word ''"hoover"'' (without initial capitalization) is often used as a generic term for ''"vacuum cleaner"''. Hoover is also used as a verb, as in ''"I've just hoovered the carpet"''.) is a device that uses an air Pump to create a partial Vacuum to Suck up Dust and dirt, usually from Carpet ed floors, but also from tiled floors and other smooth surfaces. 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 OF THE VACUUM CLEANER Ives W. McGaffey The first manually-powered cleaner using vacuum principles was the "Whirlwind", invented in Chicago in 1868 by Ives W. McGaffey. The machine was lightweight and compact, but was difficult to operate because of the need to turn a hand crank at the same time as pushing it across the floor. McGaffey obtained a patent for his device on June 5, 1869, and enlisted the help of The American Carpet Cleaning Co. of Boston to market it to the public. It was sold for $25, a high price in those days. It is hard to determine how successful the Whirlwind was, as most of them were sold in Chicago and Boston, and it is likely that many were lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Only two are known to have survived, one of which can be found in the Hoover Historical Center. McGaffey was but one of many 19th-century inventors in the United States and Europe who devised Manual Vacuum Cleaners . The first patent for an electrically driven "carpet sweeper and dust gatherer" was granted to Corinne Dufour of Savannah, Georgia in December 1900. H. Cecil Booth The first powered cleaner employing a vacuum was patented and produced by Hubert Cecil Booth 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 the handkerchief, and then trying to suck up as much dust as he could onto the handkerchief. Upon seeing the dust and dirt collected on the underside of the handkerchief he realized the idea could work. Booth created a large device, known as Puffing Billy, driven first by an oil engine, and later by an electric motor. It was drawn by peasants and parked outside the building to be cleaned. 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. David T. Kenney Nine patents granted to the New Jersey inventor David T. Kenney between 1903 and 1913 established the foundation for the American vacuum cleaner industry. Membership in the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers' Association, formed in 1919, was limited to licensees under his patents. James Murray Spangler In 1904 , James Murray Spangler, a Janitor in Canton, Ohio 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. His vacuum sold under the name 'Model O' with a price of about $60. Hoover Spangler patented his rotating-brush design 1908 , and eventually sold the idea to his cousin's husband'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. Their first produced vacuum was the 'Model O'. It was hand built with numbers less than 20. There only 2 known Model O's in existence. Hoover is also notable for an extremely unusual vacuum cleaner, the Hoover Constellation , which is a canister type but lacks wheels. Instead, the vacuum cleaner floats on its exhaust, operating as a Hovercraft . Introduced in 1952, they are quite collectible today, and are easily identified by the spherical shape of the canister . They tended to be loud, had relatively poor cleaning power, and could not float over carpets. But they remain a very interesting machine; restored, they work well in homes with lots of hardwood floors. In 1959 an updated Constellation with a stationary handle replaced the previous model and was made until 1980. These Constellations route all of the exhaust under the vacuum using a different airfoil. The updated design is rather quiet even by modern standards particularly on carpet as it muffles the sound. These models float on carpet or bare floor. They are worth more to collectors than the older version. Hoover has now re-released an updated version of this later model Constellation in the US (model # S3341 in Pearl White and # S3345 in stainless steel). Changes include a HEPA filtration bag, a 12 amp motor, a suction turbine powered rotating brush floor head, and a redesigned version of the handle which was a beautiful design but tended to break. The 5.2 amp motor on older US units provides respectable suction but they all lack a motorized brush head. Therefore they generally work better on hard floors or short pile rugs. Old units take Hoover type J paper bags but the slightly smaller type S allergen filtration bags can be easily trimmed to fit the retaining notches on the old vacuums. The most highly collectible colors are pink and turquoise. Replacement motors are still available from Hoover US for some models. Hoover made another hovering vacuum cleaner model called the Celebrity in the late sixties or early seventies. It has a flatted "flying saucer" shape. Hoover added wheels to it make it a conventional canister model after a brief run as a hovering vacuum. It uses type H bags. Post-World War II For many years after their introduction, vacuum cleaners remained a luxury item; but after World War II they became common among the rising Middle Class es. 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 Floor s, which are easily swept, wiped, or mopped. to separate dust and particles from the air flowing through the cylindrical collection vessel. Photo of Dyson DC07 upright model. ]]Vacuum cleaners working on the Cyclone principle became popular in the 1990s , although some companies (notably Filter Queen) have been making vacuum cleaners with cyclonic action since 1928. Modern cyclonic cleaners were adapted from industrial cyclonic separators by British designer James Dyson in 1985. He launched his cyclone cleaner first in Japan in the 1980s at a cost of about US$ 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 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 maneuver (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. HOW IT WORKS A vacuum's suction is caused by a difference in air pressure. A pump reduces the pressure inside the tube. Atmospheric pressure then pushes the air through the carpet and into the tube, and so the dust is literally pushed into the bag. CONFIGURATIONS Vacuum cleaner configurations:
Handheld vacuums can vacuum wet and dry. (depending on which vacuum)
ic vacuum cleaners operate autonomously. ]]
Most vacuum cleaners are supplied with various specialized attachments, tools, brushes and extension wands to allow them to reach otherwise inaccessible places or to be used for cleaning a variety of surfaces. VACUUM CLEANER SPECIFICATIONS The performance of a vacuum cleaner can be measured by several parameters:
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 s (not quite the same as watts for AC current, see AC Voltages ). The power does not indicate the effectiveness of the cleaner, 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: Air watts measured at the vacuum's motor can differ by as much as 50% (depending on the type of vacuum) from the air watts measured at the end of the hose. This is most noted in Central Vacuums. Some smaller vacuum cleaners are light-weight, Portable , and Rechargeable , instead of using AC Power . ELECTRIC MOP Some vacuum cleaners include an electric Mop in the same machine: for a dry and a later wet clean. SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES |
|
|