Mr W H Hoover has got a lot to answer for. The very first real Hoover was invented in 1907 by a gentleman called Murray Spangler. Aggravated by his asthma, while cleaning dust from rugs with a broom, he decided to invent something to find a solution to the problem. Unbelievably Spangler used a tin soap box, a fan, and a pillow case, along with a broom handle. The odd looking resulting contraption actually managed to take dust away from the air.
Spangler’s cousin, Susan Hoover, tried the machine and then gave the idea to her husband W H Hoover who bought the patent from Spangler in 1908. The inventor, Spangler, was retained as a partner and soon had 6 employees assembling 6 units a day in the corner of W H Hoover’s leather goods shop. By 1909 Hoover were engineering and designing new units and introduced the “Beater Bar” in 1926 – prompting the memorable advertising slogan “It beats as it sweeps as it cleans”
Unfortunately the word Hoover has become yet another generic name for cleaning equipment. No doubt your house-hold appliance “vacuum cleaner” is called a Hoover in your own home. But even large “Blue chip” companies contact Morclean asking for an industrial Hoover, large Hoover, specialist Hoover or even hazardous Hoover!
