Now this sucks.

And . . . . he's back. I've been bouncing around Vancouver Island for work a lot and finally got to posting something. Not so sure yet if the jet engine has run it's course, but I need a break from flames and grievous bodily harm.

So, short term lets get to know Ives W. McGaffey. This enterprising fellow invented the vacuum cleaner. The year was 1868, the city, Chicago. The device was really the first "sweeper" to use vacuum to suck up the dirt. Trouble was, McGaffey did not have anything to power it with. This was a hand crank vacuum. And really, other than he had the idea down, this thing must have been awful. On top of pushing this about, you had to crank it. He named his invention the Whirlwind. Too bad he didn't share the "who gives a shit if it's dangerous" attitude of the early airplane pioneers who were quite happy to climb aboard steam engines and solid fuel rockets to prove an engineering theory.

In actual fact, these devices were really a two person endeavor- one cranked, spun a lever or pumped a bellows, while another pushed. Must have been the odd elbow to the chin cleaning aunt Mary's sitting room. The only reason, other than stupidity, that kept the sales of these things going was the limited penetration of electricity in rural North America until the late 30's. Labour saving there were not.

Hubert Cecil Booth, a British engineer was the first to power a vacuum cleaner in 1901. Nick named the "Puffing Billy" it was powered by a diesel engine (that's my boy) and later a large electric motor. Obviously, these were large machines carried on wagons or trucks, and designed to have the suction hose run into the home or office from outside, much like an industrial carpet cleaner does today. The cool thing about this company is that it continues to this day building pneumatic tube transport systems. Remember the rubber railroads?