A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors. Most homes with carpeted floors in developed countries possess a vacuum cleaner for cleaning. The dirt is collected by a filtering system or a cyclone for later disposal.
The idea of a vacuum cleaner originates from the 19th century. The first vacuum cleaners had to be operated manually. Two persons were needed for this: one to operate the bellows and the other to move the mouthpiece over the floor. The dust was blown into the air.
On August 30th 1901 Hubert Cecil Booth, a British engineer, received a British patent for a vacuum cleaner. It took the form of a large, horse-drawn, petrol-driven unit which was parked outside the building to be cleaned with long hoses being fed through the windows.
Until then vacuum cleaners blew the dust away, but Booth came up with the idea of sucking away dust, instead of blowing. Furthermore Booth equipped his cleaner with a filter, which kept the dust in the machine. All modern vacuum cleaners are based on Booth's principle.
The first "portable" electric vacuum was invented in 1905 by Chapman and Skinner in San Francisco. It weighed 92 pounds and used a fan 18 inches in diameter to produce the suction. Because of its size, it did not sell well.