The first hand powered cleaner was called the whirlwind above used the vacuum design and was invented in chicago illinois in 1865 by ives w.
Mcgaffey whirlwind carpet sweeper.
Despite his grand intentions mcgaffey s whirlwind was not a success.
The most technological cleaners of the time were carpet sweepers.
Before 1868 before chicago before ives w.
Mcgaffey invented his whirlwind a cleaner that had a hand operated fan that although awkward to operate sold better than hess carpet sweeper but not much better 1876.
Thurman made his device available through house calls and his business became a success.
However the real father of the modern vacuum cleaner was created in 1901.
Unfortunately this wasn t mass produced.
Mcgaffey it was lightweight and compact.
Mcgaffey cleaning up meant sweeping up.
The first manually powered cleaner using vacuum principles was the whirlwind invented in chicago in 1868 by ives w.
However it was difficult to operate because of the need to turn a hand crank whilst pushing it across the floor.
His invention also had a detailed bellows system on top of the body to produce suction.
Called a carpet sweeper it gathered dust with a rotating brush and had a bellows for generating suction.
Grand rapids were invented a carpet sweeper that had brushes connected to wheels and when sweeper moves brushes rotate and clean the floor.
It used bellows on top to produce suction and incorporated two water chambers to capture dirt.
With the help of the american carpet cleaning co.
The bulky device worked with a belt driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate although it was commercially marketed with.
Of boston mcgaffey sold models in chicago and boston.
On june 8 1869 chicago inventor ives mcgaffey patented a sweeping machine while this was the first patent for a device that cleaned rugs it was not a motorized vacuum cleaner.
Mcgaffey patents the whirlwind sweeping first carpet sweeper.
The first patent for an electrically driven carpet sweeper and.
Today it is known as the first hand pumped vacuum cleaner in the united states.
Mcgaffey called his machine a wood and canvas contraption the whirlwind.
The cost was an eyebrow raising 25 price tag which would be 456 today.
With a retail price of 25 dollars about 450 today and a hand crank the whirlwind was considerably harder to use than a.
The whirlwind was difficult to use because the operator had to manually turn a crank while pushing it across the floor.
It wasn t much of a success because it was complex to use and inefficient.
It was the first motorized carpet cleaner which was a big improvement from mcgaffey s whirlwind.
This carpet sweeper had round brushes that spun around to pick up the dirt.
