Home and Living

The history of Hoover vacuum cleaners is a long and storied one, starting with a dream of better vacuum cleaners and ending with one of the top selling brands of vacuums in the world. Somehow, the dream of a better vacuum cleaner resulted in one of the most intricately designed product lines in history and included some of the best in vacuum and suction technology. The Hoover vacuum cleaners would become household names and would challenge the cleaning world of supremacy, asserting its dominance over how people accomplished their housework and how they did their jobs.

The Hoover company is based out of North Canton in Ohio and is an American-based floor care company. For the bulk of the 1900s, Hoover dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry with its product. This domination rose to the point at which vacuums in the United Kingdom were actually simply referred to as “hoovers”. The Hoover Company first began as a part of the Whirlpool Company. The first vacuum cleaner was actually created, interestingly enough, by a janitor at a Canton, Ohio department store. James Murray Spangler invented the first vacuum from a soap box, electric motor, and pillow case. Hoover vacuum cleaners have since come a long way.

Moving Along in the Industry

Spangler’s primary reason for this invention was that he suffered from asthma attacks and wanted to find a way to rid the dust of the area in which he worked. He suspected that the crude carpet sweeper he used in the department store was a part of his irritation, so he changed the way we clean carpet forever. Spangler ended up taking the contraption to a friend of his, Susan Hoover, who in turn began to use it in her home. Her husband, WH “Boss” Hoover, was a leather goods manufacturer in Canton and bought the patent from Spangler. They became partners in 1908 and started the vacuum cleaner business.

One of the ways that Hoover vacuum cleaners became popular was a free service. Hoover placed an ad in the newspaper advertising for a free ten day trial on the vacuum cleaner invention. Eventually, Hoover vacuum cleaners started to expand locally and then globally as it gathered steam from several retailers and buyers after the invention’s great productivity over the traditional carpet sweepers. The Hoover Company continues to evolve the vacuum business with new inventions and pieces to the original plan that create an evolving product line that satisfies customers worldwide.