Vacuum cleaner
The vacuum cleaner evolved from the carpet sweeper via manual vacuum cleaners. The first manual models, using bellows, were developed in the 1860s, and the first motorized designs appeared at the turn of the 20th century, with the first decade being the boom decade.
UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences
While at UCL, Fleming invented the vacuum tube in 1904. A former graduate of UCL, he was a contemporary of Alexander Graham Bell who also studied there. The institution thus made a great contribution to the establishment of electronics and telecommunications in the 20th century.