Prior to 1869 cleaning of floors and carpets was a labour intensive job. Either requiring sweeping with a broom, or in the case of textile floor coverings a beating to remove dust, cleaning relied on muscle power. Then Ives McGaffey patented a mechanical cleaner called the Whirlwind. Relying on a pump operated by one man whilst another used the connected tube to clean, the Whirlwind was a start but not exactly the compact mobile machine we are used to today. Various cleaning machines followed including a carpet sweeper invented by Melville Bissell of Michigan and by 1899 John S. Thurman had invented a petrol driven machine.
In 1901 Hubert Cecil Booth took the idea a stage further. He had seen a demonstration used to clean railway carriage seats by blowing the dirt away. He thought sucking it up would be preferable and mounted a petrol driven cleaner on a horse drawn cart that allowed the cleaner to be taken from house to house. It was soon after that Booth changed the petrol motor (known as Puffing Billy) for a cleaner, quieter electric one. Such was the novelty amongst the upper classes that ladies would invite each other to vacuum parties to see the new cleaner in action. The ‘portable’ electric vacuum cleaner, (weighing in at 92 pounds!), was launched by two men Chapman and Skinner, in San Francisco. Weight and size was reduced to more manageable levels when James Murray Spangler, (who suffered from asthma) invented a portable electric cleaner in 1907, and with William Hoover launched The Electric Suction Sweeper Company on granting of his patent the following year. Around the same time Jim Kirby tried using water to separate the dust but his idea was short lived due to the need to empty the dirty water. By then end of the first decade of the 20th century improvements to the vacuum cleaner and associated companies were burgeoning.
However, the basic design of a vacuum and collecting bag remain in place until 1978 when (Sir) James Dyson made a batch of prototype bag-less cleaners. He perfected the design and in 1983 launched his Dual Cyclone cleaner. Reluctance of the major manufacturers to market his revolutionary idea led him to market it himself creating his own company.