Vacuum Cleaners

Of the many appliances in a modern household, the most used one (second to kitchen appliances) is probably the vacuum cleaner.  Vacuum cleaners can’t be done without especially in a home that is fully carpeted or has floors that has tiny spaces where dirt can easily be trapped.   Vacuum cleaners can be thought of like electric toothbrushes except that there is no paste required and vacuums are, of course, only meant for rugs and floors.

How They Work

Vacuum cleaners actually present a very simple process.  The suction in vacuum cleaners is caused by a difference in air pressures.  The pump found in all vacuum cleaners reduces the air pressure inside the long tube.  Pressure from the outside then pushes air inside through the carpet and into the tube.  So what actually happens is the dust that goes inside the vacuum cleaners is pushed, not pulled.  The cause for the delay of the technology being developed (it wasn’t until the early 1900s until the first fully developed vacuum cleaner was invented) can be blamed on the theory of the vacuum process itself which was studied in the 17th century.  People had to first understand how natural vacuums were created before testing an artificial process.

The Cyclone

The most popular of vacuum cleaners work around the cyclone principal.  These cyclonic vacuum cleaners were first introduced in Japan in the 1980s and became very popular in the 1990s.  But the cyclonic vacuum cleaners were actually first made in 1928.  What makes them special?  First of all, cyclonic vacuum cleaners are different in that they don’t use bags to collect dirt for later disposal.  The dirt that these vacuum cleaners suck up is caught in a cylinder that is mounted on the front.  It’s a detachable and solid vessel so when the dirt is later disposed of, the process is much easier much like emptying a trashcan into a dump truck.  Air and dust is blown into the canister and then all that dirt is moved to the outside of the canister by centrifugal force and they collect at the bottom of the canister naturally by gravity.  Clean air is then expelled from the center of these vacuum cleaners after passing through filters at the top of the vessel.  Of course, the filters of these vacuum cleaners must be cleaned so that each use is at its most efficient.

Vacuum cleaners have gone through various changes over the last century and there are even some companies that have developed robotic ones that can clean the floor by themselves by moving around in grids or patterns that they are programmed to do.  They can even navigate around furniture and find their way back to charging stations that supply the vacuum cleaners with power.  These kinds of vacuum cleaners are probably best when used in hospitals, offices and schools but so far they are becoming very popular in household settings; this is originally the area that they were designed for.  One of the fastest evolving technologies, vacuum cleaners are now so advanced that there are models that do not even need wheels to move around an area; they hover on cushions of air.