Page 203 - Inventions - A Visual Encyclopedia (DK - Smithsonian)
P. 203

HOOVERING IT UP                          A futuristic-looking
                                       In 1907, an American caretaker called James                  Hoover vacuum
                  Handle for         Spangler invented a small, portable cleaner. It                  cleaner, 1954
                  pushing
                  the cleaner       had a rotating brush and an electric fan to
                  around          move dust, a pillowcase to collect it, and
                                     a broom handle to move the device
                                       around. Spangler sold his device’s
                                   rights to the American businessperson
                                   William Hoover, who would build one
                                   of the world’s leading vacuum cleaner
                                    companies making improved versions
                                                of Spangler’s invention.



                                 Dust collects in this transparent                                                     AT HOME
                                 plastic cylinder, which can be
                                 emptied when full.


                                THE DYSON CLEANER
                                For much of the 20th century, vacuum
                                cleaners used cloth bags to collect
                                the dust, but the fuller the bags got, the     CYCLONIC VACUUM CLEANER
                                weaker power to suck up dust became.      In a cyclonic vacuum cleaner, rotating fans create a
                                 In 1979, the British inventor James      vacuum that sucks dust-filled air into the machine.
                                  Dyson (see pp.202–203) came up          The air then passes through a series of cone-shaped
                                    with a new type of bagless vacuum     devices called cyclones where it’s spun around very
                                         cleaner, called a cyclonic       fast, separating the dust from it. This dust falls into
                                          vacuum cleaner (right).         a dust collection bin, which is emptied when full,
                                                                          removing the need for a bag.

                             The G-Force, Dyson’s first widely
         Brushes at
        front sweep          sold cyclonic vacuum cleaner, 1990
           up dust

                                                                                                 5. Air swirls
                                                                                                 around the smaller
                                                                                                 cyclones, dropping
                                                                                                 finer dust particles.


                                                                            4. Air is pulled
                                                                            up to the small          6. Dust-free air
                                                                          cyclones through           is blown out
                                                                              holes in the           into the room.
                                                                           inner cylinder.


                                               ROBOT CLEANERS            3. In this cylinder,
                                                                         air spins around,
                                  In the 2000s, a number of robot vacuum   dropping larger           1. Air (and
                                                                            dust particles.
                                cleaners reached the market. These devices                           dust) is sucked
                                  are fitted with sensors that automatically                         into the cleaner
                                                                              2. The pipe            through a pipe.
                                      guide them around objects, such as
                                                                            carries the air
                                   pieces of furniture, while they suck up   into the large,
                                  dust. The first one to go on sale was the   inner cylinder.
                                      Electrolux Trilobite (above) in 2001.


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   US_200-201_Vacuum_cleaners_Main.indd   201                                                                    16/03/18   3:41 PM
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