U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for June 15: Dust Busting
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
DUST BUSTING
Profile America — Thursday, June 15th. Dealing with one of the oldest challenges to house cleaning — dust — motivated Ives McGaffey of Chicago to patent the first vacuum cleaner in the United States this week in 1869. It was hand powered, made of wood and canvas, and sold under the name "Whirlwind." Thirty years later, a motorized vacuum cleaner was patented. The problem with it was that the motor was gas powered, and thus had to run outside the house, using very long hoses for the cleaning. In 1905, the first electric-powered home vacuum was patented, but it weighed 92 pounds and had an 18-inch fan. Today, vacuum cleaners are lightweight, powerful and often self-propelled. Making household vacuums is an $852 million a year business for 32 manufacturers nationwide. Profile America is in its 21st year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 4272
McGaffey invention/accessed 4/4/2017: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blvacuum.htm
Electric vacuum cleaner/accessed 4/4/2017: www.morclean.co.uk/History%20of%20the%20Vacuum%20Cleaner
Motorized vacuum cleaner/accessed 4/4/2017: http://inventionevolution.blogspot.com/2014/12/vacuum-cleaner.html
Establishments/County Business Patterns/NAICS 335212: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2011/00A1//naics~335212
Vacuum manufacturing revenue/NAICS 335212: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ASM/2012/31VS101//prodsvc~335212
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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