Vacuum Cleaner

Vacuum Cleaner, electrical appliance in common use for cleaning furniture, floors, rugs, and carpets by suction. Generally, vacuum cleaners are of two types: the vertical type, which is light and moves over the surfaces to be cleaned, and the canister, or tank, type, which trails a long hose with a nozzle that can be moved over the area to be cleaned. An electric motor inside the appliance turns a fan that creates a partial vacuum and causes outside air to rush into the evacuated space. This forces any dirt or dust near the nozzle into a bag inside the machine or attached to the outside.

Most vacuum cleaners have a variety of attachments that can be used to clean different types of surfaces, such as window sills and thick rugs and carpets; some are also equipped to polish floors and shampoo rugs. A reversible motor on many appliances is used to blow dirt out of difficult and inaccessible surfaces and also to spray paint.

The first vacuum cleaner, powered by a petrol engine, was patented in Britain in 1901. The first portable electric vacuum cleaners were marketed in America by William Hoover—after which the machines were popularly known as Hoovers—in 1908.

The vacuum cleaner is a prime example of a labour-saving device, saving on the time and effort needed in many house-cleaning tasks.