As mass-produced carpet s became widely available and affordable during the 1800s, the need for an effective method of cleaning carpets grew pressing. The carpet sweeper was one solution. Devices for blowing or sucking dirt and dust out of carpets were another approach.

Before the advent of electricity, machines that used the vacuum principle to suck up dirt were hand-or foot-powered, with bellows for pumping air. Most of these required two people for operation, one to power the bellows and the other to run the nozzle. Some cleaners ran on compressed air; but since they failed to recapture much of what they blew out of carpets, they served mainly to redistribute dust and dirt.

The first practical suction vacuum cleaner usable in homes was patented in 1901 by Herbert C. Booth of England. While attending a demonstration of a compressed-air machine that blew dust out, Booth became...