Take a look at the picture below, what do you see. chances are you will keep on staring at the picture for a long time and still have no idea what the contraption in the picture is. Does it even look familiar at all? Probably not. This is most likely because most of its newer relatives definitely look fancier than this one actually does.

If you had a grannie that had one of these, you might have been able to spot it easily but if you have never seen one you might continue to guess over and over again and still not get any closer to the answer. Let’s just save you the headache and tell you the answer.

If none of your answers says this is a Vacuum cleaner than you are wrong. Yes, you read that right it is a vacuum cleaner. This is actually a Hercules Vacuum cleaner. It is wonderful antique product was popular in the 1930s as a household appliance.

This wonderful design is made of crocodile skin. Who would have thought that such material could have been used for making Vacuum cleaners. But believe it or not, it actually was.

Let’s play another guessing game. Why don’t you try guessing for how long Vacuum cleaners have been around. You will be surprised at how long people have been making use of this helpful home appliances. According to records, the first carpet sweeper was invented by Daniel Hess of West Union Iowa in the year 1860.

You probably didn’t think it was that long ago did you. The manual sweeper worked by gathering up dust with the help of a rotating brush and used bellows for generating suction.

Later on, in 1869, another model of the vacuum cleaner was invented by Ives W. McGaffey who named it “Whirlwind” it was a bulky device which worked with a fan that was driven by a belt. It would only work after it had been cranked by hand which made it really awkward to operate. Yet it made some market success despite its crudeness.

Up until the 1900s, most of the vacuum cleaners that were invented were heavy duty and were industrial. The first set of portable and domestically marketed Vacuum cleaners started making it to the market in the year 1905 and at the forefront with these inventions was an English manufacturer by the name Walter Griffiths. The new generation of Vacuum cleaners “was portable, easy to store, and powered by “any one person.

” With increased innovations, better designs of the Vacuum cleaners began to appear in various regions of the world.

Among the many features that set the Electrolux and similar models like the Hercules apart during their time was the innovation of being able to lie on the floor and be moved about on two thin metal runners.

Vacuum cleaners remained a luxury home appliance that was owned only by some rich few for many years after its introduction. But after the second world war, they suddenly became more common and were more affordable to the middle class.

Source: jumblejoy