Mcgaffey Whirlwind Carpet Sweeper

Mcgaffey patents the whirlwind sweeping first carpet sweeper.

Mcgaffey whirlwind carpet sweeper.

Of boston mcgaffey sold models in chicago and boston. Despite his grand intentions mcgaffey s whirlwind was not a success. The first patent for an electrically driven carpet sweeper and. The whirlwind was difficult to use because the operator had to manually turn a crank while pushing it across the floor.

However the real father of the modern vacuum cleaner was created in 1901. 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. Mcgaffey called his machine a wood and canvas contraption the whirlwind. It was the first motorized carpet cleaner which was a big improvement from mcgaffey s whirlwind.

However it was difficult to operate because of the need to turn a hand crank whilst pushing it across the floor. Mcgaffey it was lightweight and compact. Unfortunately this wasn t mass produced. Mcgaffey cleaning up meant sweeping up.

Thurman made his device available through house calls and his business became a success. Called a carpet sweeper it gathered dust with a rotating brush and had a bellows for generating suction. The first manually powered cleaner using vacuum principles was the whirlwind invented in chicago in 1868 by ives w. 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. Based on us patent records hiram h. Before 1868 before chicago before ives w. 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.

The bulky device worked with a belt driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate although it was commercially marketed with. The most technological cleaners of the time were carpet sweepers. Another early model 1869 was the whirlwind invented in chicago in 1868 by ives w. Today it is known as the first hand pumped vacuum cleaner in the united states.

It wasn t much of a success because it was complex to use and inefficient. With a retail price of 25 dollars about 450 today and a hand crank the whirlwind was considerably harder to use than a. Herrick invented the ives w. This carpet sweeper had round brushes that spun around to pick up the dirt.

The cost was an eyebrow raising 25 price tag which would be 456 today.