When were vacuums invented?
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.
Vacuum cleaner
Lightweight hand-held vacuum cleaners, either powered from rechargeable batteries or mains power, are also popular for cleaning up smaller spills. Frequently seen examples include the Black & Decker DustBuster, which was introduced in 1979, and numerous handheld models by Dirt Devil, which were first introduced in 1984. Some battery-powered handheld vacuums are wet/dry rated; the appliance must be partially disassembled and cleaned after picking up wet materials, to avoid developing unpleasant odors.
Aerus
In 1924, Gustaf Sahlin came to America to set up Electrolux Corp USA to import and sell the new tank type vacuum cleaner in America. The machine was the revolutionary Lux Model V made by AB Electro-Lux of Sweden and invented by Axel Wenner-Gren. People did not know what the new contraption was at first, but when showed how well it cleaned in their home, they were sold. In 1929, a shipment of Model XI cleaners sank, forcing Electrolux Corp. to build machines in the US. In 1931, the White Sewing Machine Company in Cleveland, OH was contracted to build the Model XII, however this was not a permanent move as Electrolux Corp. wanted its own factory. In 1933, Electrolux Corp. set up a new factory in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. With Electrolux Corp. in good shape and making its own products, AB Electrolux divested its stock to focus on refrigerator production and made itself a minority shareholder. From then on the two companies sold different products. The American products were never sold in Europe and the European products were never sold in America.
In 1937, the now American-owned Electrolux Corp. debuted the Electrolux Model XXX (Model 30). It was the first American-only Electrolux. The Model XXX was sold from 1937-1954, making it the longest made vacuum and in that time span over 14 million where sold. A Model XXX is currently on display at the Smithsonian and it is considered one of the top hundred U.S. inventions of all time. During World War II, Electrolux Corp halted vacuum production to focus on the war effort. The company made electric motors and control systems for the Army and Navy.
In 1952, the company debuted the Electrolux Model LX, the first vacuum that would know when it is full and also the first vacuum to use a self-sealing bag. That same style bag is still in use on some of the new Aerus-Lux model canister vacuums today. This machine would lay the foundation for every other North American Electrolux vacuum produced.
In 1968, AB Electrolux sold its minority shares to Consolidated Foods, which then bought enough stock to make it the majority shareholder. That same time, Consolidated Foods also acquired Electrolux Canada Ltd. from AB Electrolux. Electrolux Corp USA and Electrolux Canada Ltd where independent companies and stayed that way until the mid 1980s. From the late 1960s to the late 1990s Electrolux Corp. was a subsidiary of Consolidated Foods. In 1970, Electrolux Corp. opened up its Bristol, VA manufacturing center which eventually replaced the much older Old Greenwich factory. As of 2014 it is still the main factory.
Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil was founded in 1866 by Matthew Ewing and Hiram Bond Everest, of Rochester, New York. The lubrication oil was an accidental discovery while attempting to distill kerosene. Everest noted the residue from the extraction was suitable as a lubricant. Soon after, the product became popular for use by steam engines and the internal-combustion engines. Ewing sold his interest to Everest, who carried on the company. Vacuum was bought by Standard Oil in 1879.
It originated the Mobil trademark in 1899 (as "Mobilgas;" "Mobiloil" came later). When Standard Oil was broken up in 1911 due to the Sherman Antitrust Act, Vacuum became an independent company again.
Vacuum tube computer
The Atanasoff–Berry computer, a prototype of which was first demonstrated in 1939, is now credited as the first vacuum tube computer. However it was not a general-purpose computer being able to only solve a system of linear equations and it was also not very reliable.
Vacuum cleaner
The end of the 19th century saw the introduction of powered cleaners, although early types used some variation of blowing air to clean instead of suction. One appeared in 1898 when John S. Thurman of St. Louis, Missouri submitted a patent (U.S. No. 634,042) for a "pneumatic carpet renovator" which blew dust into a receptacle. Thurman's system, powered by an internal combustion engine, traveled to the customers residence on a horse-drawn wagon as part of a door to door cleaning service. Corrine Dufour of Savannah, Georgia received two patents in 1899 and 1900 for another blown air system that seems to have featured the first use of an electric motor.
Zero-point energy
Zero-point energy evolved from historical ideas about the vacuum. To Aristotle the vacuum was , "the empty"; space independent of body. He believed this concept violated basic physical principles and asserted that the elements of fire, air, earth, and water were not made of atoms, but were continuous. To the atomists the concept of emptiness had absolute character: it was the distinction between existence and nonexistence. Debate about the characteristics of the vacuum were largely confined to the realm of philosophy, it was not until much later on with the beginning of the renaissance, that Otto von Guericke invented the first vacuum pump and the first testable scientific ideas began to emerge. It was thought that a totally empty volume of space could be created by simply removing all gases. This was the first generally accepted concept of the vacuum.
Toilet
Flush toilets were also known as "water closets", as opposed to the earth closets described above. WCs first appeared in Britain in the 1880s, and soon spread to Continental Europe. In America, the chain-pull indoor toilet was introduced in the homes of the wealthy and in hotels in the 1890s. William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer in 1906, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes.
Outer space
In 1650, German scientist Otto von Guericke constructed the first vacuum pump: a device that would further refute the principle of "horror vacui". He correctly noted that the atmosphere of the Earth surrounds the planet like a shell, with the density gradually declining with altitude. He concluded that there must be a vacuum between the Earth and the Moon.
Vacuum
Vacuum has been a frequent topic of philosophical debate since ancient Greek times, but was not studied empirically until the 17th century. Evangelista Torricelli produced the first laboratory vacuum in 1643, and other experimental techniques were developed as a result of his theories of atmospheric pressure. A torricellian vacuum is created by filling a tall glass container closed at one end with mercury, and then inverting it in a bowl to contain the mercury (see below).
Venipuncture
Greiner Bio-One manufactured the first ever plastic evacuated blood collection tube in 1985 under the VACUETTE brand name. Today, many companies sell vacuum tubes as the patent for this device is now in the public domain. These tubes are manufactured with a specific volume of gas removed from the sealed tube. When a needle from a hub or transfer device is inserted into the stopper, the tube's vacuum automatically pulls in the required volume of blood.
Bag valve mask
The bag-valve mask concept was developed in 1953 by the German engineer Holger Hesse and his partner, Danish anaesthetist Henning Ruben, following their initial work on a suction pump. Later Hesse's company was renamed to Ambu, which has manufactured and marketed the device since the late 1950s. The full-form of AMBU is Artificial Manual Breathing Unit. An Ambu bag is a self-inflating bag resuscitator from the company Ambu, who still manufactures and markets self-inflating bag resuscitators.
Nothing
The idea that space can actually be empty was generally still not accepted by philosophers who invoked arguments similar to the plenum reasoning. Although Descartes views on this were challenged by Blaise Pascal, he declined to overturn the traditional belief, "horror vacui", commonly stated as "nature abhors a vacuum". This remained so until Evangelista Torricelli invented the barometer in 1643 and showed that an empty space appeared if the mercury tube was turned upside down. This phenomenon being known as the Torricelli vacuum and the unit of vacuum pressure, the torr, being named after him. Even Torricelli's teacher, the famous Galileo Galilei had previously been unable to adequately explain the sucking action of a pump.
Central vacuum cleaner
The first introduction of a system similar to a central vacuum cleaner was in the late 19th century. A ducted machine that featured copper tubes connected from a bellows chamber, typically located in the basement, and extended to several locations throughout a building, was used in a select few homes at this time. Because of the machine’s cost and weak dust-removal capabilities, only a few of these units were ever sold in the United States.
Otto von Guericke
Stimulated by the interest taken in his work, von Guericke was scientifically very active in the decade after 1654. In June 1656 we find him writing to Fr. Schott ("Mechanica Hydraulico-pneumatica", p. 444) "Since the time when I produced the exhibition for the said eminent Elector, I have a better and clearer grasp of all these matters and many other topics as well." The celebrated hemispheres experiment was, as noted in the biographical section above, carried out between July 1656 and August 1657. In Chapter IV of Book III he describes a new and much improved design of vacuum pump and attributes its invention to the need for a more easily transportable machine with which he could demonstrate his experiments to Frederick William, who had expressed the desire to see them. The new pump is also described on p. 67 of the "Technica Curiosa". The demonstration in the Elector's Library at Cölln an der Spree took place in November 1663 and was recorded by a tutor to the Elector's sons. (Schneider p. 113.) A number of experiments, such as the rather cruel testing of the effect of a vacuum on birds and fish ("Experimenta Nova", Book III, Chapter XVI), are not described in the "Technica Curiosa". Although the "Experimenta Nova" does contain correspondence from 1665, there is no reason to doubt von Guericke's assertion that the work was essentially finished by March 1663.
Rotary vane pump
A rotary vane pump is a positive-displacement pump that consists of vanes mounted to a rotor that rotates inside a cavity. In some cases these vanes can have variable length and/or be tensioned to maintain contact with the walls as the pump rotates. It was invented by Charles C. Barnes of Sackville, New Brunswick, who patented it on June 16, 1874. There have been various improvements, including a variable vane pump for gases (1909)
Jacob Leupold
In 1701 Leupold obtained a position as an economist in George Military Hospital, thus ensuring a regular income but not enough free time to dedicate himself to mechanics.
In the 17th century, the main instruments for experimental physics were the telescope, the microscope, the pendulum clock and the vacuum pump, invented in 1656 by Otto von Guericke. Leupold is also credited as an early inventor of air pump. He designed his first pump in 1705, in 1707 he published a book "Antlia pneumatica illustrata". In 1711 following the advice of its president G. W. Leibniz, the Prussian Academy of Sciences acquired Leupold's pump. In 1715 Leupold became a member of academy. In 1720 Leupold started to work on the manuscript of Theatrum Machinarum. It was the first systematic analysis of mechanical engineering. It included, ahead of its time, a design for a high-pressure non-condensing steam engine, the likes of which were not built until the early 19th century.
Theatrum machinarum consists of 10 illustrated volumes. It was published in Leipzig between 1724-1739.
James M. Spangler
Despite being primitive and unwieldy, it worked—Spangler's asthma abated, and he received a patent for his troubles. He also realized that he might finally have a salable invention. Spangler first tested his invention in 1907. During the next year, he refined the vacuum numerous times, and on June 2, 1908, he received a patent for his sweeper.
Air pump
In 1705, an English scientist by the name of Francis Hauksbee, developed a style of a double-barrelled air pump. Hauksbee's double-barrelled air pump was used primarily for scientific research, and had the ability to create a vacuum.
Samuel Brown (engineer)
The gas vacuum engine was eventually to become a commercial success. In 1853-1854 Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci invented and patented the Barsanti-Matteucci engine which was a different form of gas vacuum engine. Developed further by Otto & Langen in Germany, it was put into worldwide production (outside Germany) by Crossley of Manchester between 1867 and 1877. Examples of this form of engine can be seen working at the Anson Engine Museum. This success arose from a demonstration of the engine at the World Fair in Paris in 1867, where it was shown to be far more efficient than the current production gas engine of Lenoir which was driven by the pressure resulting from burning the gas, rather than a vacuum. The successs of the vacuum engine was however short lived after the creation of engines that compressed the gas/air mixture before igniting it.
Wunderlich (vacuum tube)
Wunderlich refers to a series of vacuum tubes introduced in the early 1930s. Wunderlichs were designed to be used as full-wave detectors in AM radio receivers. However, because of their unusual design, they were rarely used in commercially manufactured receivers. The tube is named for its inventor, Norman Wunderlich.
Reproducibility
The first to stress the importance of reproducibility in science was the Irish chemist Robert Boyle, in England in the 17th century. Boyle's air pump was designed to generate and study vacuum, which at the time was a very controversial concept. Indeed, distinguished philosophers such as René Descartes and Thomas Hobbes denied the very possibility of vacuum existence. Historians of science e.g. Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, in their 1985 book "Leviathan and the Air-Pump", describe the debate between Boyle and Hobbes, ostensibly over the nature of vacuum, as fundamentally an argument about how useful knowledge should be gained. Boyle, a pioneer of the experimental method, maintained that the foundations of knowledge should be constituted by experimentally produced facts, which can be made believable to a scientific community by their reproducibility. By repeating the same experiment over and over again, Boyle argued, the certainty of fact will emerge.
Magdeburg hemispheres
The Magdeburg hemispheres, around 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter, were designed to demonstrate the vacuum pump that Guericke had invented. One of them had a tube connection to attach the pump, with a valve to close it off. When the air was sucked out from inside the hemispheres, and the valve was closed, the hose from the pump could be detached, and they were held firmly together by the air pressure of the surrounding atmosphere.
Victor Schumann
Victor Schumann (December 21, 1841 – September 1, 1913) was a physicist and spectroscopist who in 1893 discovered the vacuum ultraviolet.
Nilfisk
Nilfisk was founded in Denmark in 1906 by Peder Andersen Fisker (1875–1975) and Hans Marius Nielsen (1870–1954) as "Fisker & Nielsen". Originally the company produced electrical engines as the basic component in ventilators, kitchen elevators, drilling machines and, later on, the Nimbus motorcycle. The Nilfisk vacuum cleaner of 1910, weighed 17.5 kilos. Fisker took out a patent on this invention and later bought out Nielsen. The vacuum cleaner outsold the other products, and the other engine products were gradually phased out. By 1954, the company had sold 1 million vacuum cleaners.
Vax (brand)
In 2011, Student Placement Engineer Jake Tyler developed Vax ev, a working prototype of the world's first cardboard vacuum cleaner. This product was featured across a number of tech and environmental online editorials including "Gizmag" and "TreeHugger", and on the BBC Television series "Bang Goes the Theory". The cleaner is referenced as a key point in the history of Vacuum Cleaner development by the Best Cordless Vacuum Guide.
Henry (vacuum)
Numatic vacuums with faces on the body/canister (Numatic Henrys did not actually say "Henry" on the cap until 1981) were invented first in 1979, 123 years after the first invention of the vacuum. In 1981, the first Numatic model to say a name on the cap (Henry) was created. The first model of Henry started as somewhat of a toy, with the functionality of a vacuum. The face appealed to children and adults alike, and was very popular for its lovable face. Henry was also one of the first vacuums to use Microfiber dust bags, which are large capacity dust bag known as HEPA-FLO bags which are made of a strong material that carry dust and other unwanted materials into the HEPA-FLO and stay in there unlike any paper bags which tend to rip and leak dust. Since the introduction of Henry in 1981, it has sold 7-8 million units, with around 20,000 more being sold each week (roughly 2857 per day). In 2017, the EU introduced a new law that gave vacuum cleaners a limit to their wattage, making 900W the maximum.. This required Numatic to change about 80% of their vacuums, because most of them were 1200W. The new law was meant to conserve power, and also bringing the average cost of vacuum cleaning per year from £11 to £7.
Audion
In modern electronics, the vacuum tube has been largely superseded by solid state devices such as the transistor, invented in 1947 and implemented in integrated circuits in 1959, although vacuum tubes remain to this day in such applications as high-powered transmitters, guitar amplifiers and some high fidelity audio equipment.
Manual vacuum cleaner
In 1909 Oliver S. Kendall (died 1914) of Worcester, Mass. introduced the pump-type Pneu-Simplex Vacuum Cleaner, in a wooden housing.
Trico
In the years after the creation of the first windshield wiper, Trico was involved in the development of vacuum-powered wiper systems. Trico was involved in a patent dispute with William M. Folberth who, with his brother Fred, invented a vacuum-powered wiper motor in 1919. The patent was granted in 1922, and Trico later purchased the Folberth company to settle the dispute. Vacuum wiper motors produced by Trico carry an earliest patent number that dates back to 1928.
Ion pump (physics)
The first ion pump was invented by Varian Associates, now Agilent. 
The original activity of Varian, co-founded in 1948 by Russell Varian, the inventor of the Klystron, and his brother Sigurd, was in the field of microwave electron tubes. Robert Jepsen joined the company in 1951 and soon became director of the Klystron research group. His investigation about electronic vacuum pumping led in 1957 to the realization of the first sputter ion pump (SIP), later named VacIon pump, of which he was co-inventor.
The pump was developed as an appendage pump for maintaining Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) in microwave power tubes after processing, but soon after honeycomb-shaped anodes and commercial VacIon pumps with speeds of thousands of liters per second were produced. Lewis Hall and John Helmer were members of the research team, involved in the choice of the most suitable cathode material and in the optimization of the ion pump design. Sherm Rutherford joined Varian in February 1959 in the Central Research Department (which, soon after, spun off the Vacuum Division). His activity, working for Robert Jepsen, was to study the behavior of the sputter ion pump (in terms of pumping speed and discharge intensity I/P) over a wide range of parameters, such as magnetic field, voltage, anode cell diameter, anode cell length and pressure. Renn Zaphiropoulos joined the Vacuum Division in 1959 and was engaged in scaling up the ion pump from the original appendage pump to a full range of large pumps up to 5000 l/s . His group worked on high voltage feedthroughs, magnets, control units, systems, flanges, valves, sorption pumps and Titanium Sublimation Pumps (TSP). In 1960 the “slotted” titanium cathode, named “Super VacIon Pump”, was introduced on the basis of observations about noble gas pumping mechanism and unstable Argon pumping phenomena. In the same years triode pumps were invented by W.M. Brubaker (Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation) and Varian, now Agilent, began to sell them in the late ‘60s under the name “Noble Ion Pumps”, then changed the name to “Triode Ion Pumps” in the early ‘70s.
The Hoover Company
1930 saw the introduction of the world's first handheld vacuum cleaner, the Hoover Dustette. The good design and exceptional durability of these machines mean many are still in service today, some at over 80 years old.
Automated vacuum collection
The first system was created in Sweden in the 1960s, designed by the Swedish corporation Envac AB (formerly known as Centralsug AB). The first installation was in 1961 at Sollefteå Hospital. The first vacuum system for household waste, was installed in the new residential district of Ör-Hallonbergen, Sweden in 1965.
History of thermodynamics
The 5th century BC, Greek philosopher Parmenides, in his only known work, a poem conventionally titled "On Nature", uses verbal reasoning to postulate that a void, essentially what is now known as a vacuum, in nature could not occur. This view was supported by the arguments of Aristotle, but was criticized by Leucippus and Hero of Alexandria. From antiquity to the Middle Ages various arguments were put forward to prove or disapprove the existence of a vacuum and several attempts were made to construct a vacuum but all proved unsuccessful.
Crookes tube
By the 1870s, Crookes (among other researchers) was able to evacuate his tubes to a lower pressure, 10 to 5x10 atm, using an improved Sprengel mercury vacuum pump invented by his coworker Charles A. Gimingham. He found that as he pumped more air out of his tubes, a dark area in the glowing gas formed next to the cathode. As the pressure got lower, the dark area, now called the "Crookes dark space", spread down the tube, until the inside of the tube was totally dark. However, the glass envelope of the tube began to glow at the anode end.
Thermodynamics
The history of thermodynamics as a scientific discipline generally begins with Otto von Guericke who, in 1650, built and designed the world's first vacuum pump and demonstrated a vacuum using his Magdeburg hemispheres. Guericke was driven to make a vacuum in order to disprove Aristotle's long-held supposition that 'nature abhors a vacuum'. Shortly after Guericke, the English physicist and chemist Robert Boyle had learned of Guericke's designs and, in 1656, in coordination with English scientist Robert Hooke, built an air pump. Using this pump, Boyle and Hooke noticed a correlation between pressure, temperature, and volume. In time, Boyle's Law was formulated, which states that pressure and volume are inversely proportional. Then, in 1679, based on these concepts, an associate of Boyle's named Denis Papin built a steam digester, which was a closed vessel with a tightly fitting lid that confined steam until a high pressure was generated.
Vacuum cleaner
The Hoover Company marketed an unusual vacuum cleaner, called the "Constellation", in the 1960s. The cylinder type lacked wheels, and instead the vacuum cleaner floated on its exhaust, operating as a hovercraft, although this is not true of the earliest models. They had a rotating hose with the intention being that the user would place the unit in the center of the room, and work around the cleaner. Introduced in 1954, they are collectible, and are easily identified by their spherical shape. But they remain an interesting machine; restored, they work well in homes with lots of hardwood floors.
Spray-and-vac cleaning
The first spray-and-vac system was developed by inventor Robert S. Robinson in 1997. A US Patent was issued in 2001, and the technology has since been licensed by other manufacturers of cleaning equipment. A number of manufacturers in the cleaning industry now produce and market spray-and-vac systems or systems that are similar, and approximately 40,000-50,000 units have been sold worldwide Some systems are battery operated; others do not have vacuuming capabilities however they are still classified under this product category.
Science and invention in Birmingham
1903: Brummie Francis William Aston wins a scholarship to the University of Birmingham and in his studies of electronic discharge tubes he discovers the phenomenon now known as the Aston Dark Space. He later moves to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where he uses a method of electromagnetic focusing to invent the mass spectrograph, which rapidly allows him to identify no fewer than 212 of the 287 naturally occurring isotopes. His work on isotopes also leads to his formulation of the Whole Number Rule, which is later used extensively in the development of nuclear energy. In 1922 he wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of the mass spectrometer.
1905: A manually powered domestic vacuum cleaner is invented by manufacturer Walter Griffiths of 72, Conybere Street, Highgate. It is originally patented as 'Griffiths' Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets'. Although an electric cleaner is patented in 1901 by H. Cecil Booth, Griffiths' design is more similar to modern portable cleaners than Booth's cart-mounted device.
Vacuum induction melting
The process was invented in Hanau, Germany in 1917. Heraeus Vacuumschmelze and Dr. Wilhelm Rohn applied for a patent on vacuum melting on 12 January 1918 and were granted a German patent DE 345161. E.F. Northrup built the first prototype of a vacuum induction furnace in the United States of America in 1920. Medium frequency furnaces were seen soon afterwards in England and Sweden in 1927. The process was initially developed to refine certain special metals such as cobalt and nickel. As these metals and alloys became more common, the process of VIM became more widely used. VIM now helps to melt a variety of metals for aircraft and nuclear applications.
Vacuum cleaner
A similar model was constructed by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1876, who also manufactured carpet sweepers. The company later added portable vacuum cleaners to its line of cleaning tools.
Fielding &amp; Platt
In 1902 Fielding & Platt manufactured the first vacuum cleaner, designed by Hubert Cecil Booth, also of Gloucester.
Manual vacuum cleaner
The manual vacuum cleaner was a type of non-electric vacuum cleaner, using suction to remove dirt from carpets, being powered by human muscle, similar in use to a manual lawn mower. Its invention is dated to the second half of the 19th century, when patents were granted to inventors in the United States, Britain, France, and elsewhere.
Kirby Company
The first Kirby vacuums were designed by James B. Kirby (1885–1971) for George Scott and Carl Fetzer after World War I, although the Kirby name was not used on a vacuum cleaner until the 1930s. James Kirby invented the "vacuette" circa 1920, and their primary competitors were The Hoover Company and The Eureka Company which both began operations in 1909, and Bissell who originally built carpet sweepers beginning in 1876. Their primary European competitor was Electrolux in 1924, while Dyson, Miele and Sebo followed in the 1980s.
Pneumatic tube
Pneumatic capsule transportation was invented by William Murdoch. It was considered little more than a novelty until the invention of the capsule in 1836. The Victorians were the first to use "capsule pipelines" to transmit telegrams, to nearby buildings from telegraph stations.
Flush toilet
In America, the chain-pull indoor toilet was introduced in the homes of the wealthy and in hotels, soon after its invention in England in the 1880s. Flush toilets were introduced in the 1890s. William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer in 1906, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes. The Flushometer is still in use today in public restrooms worldwide. The vortex-flushing toilet bowl, which creates a self-cleansing effect, was invented by Thomas MacAvity Stewart of Saint John, New Brunswick in 1907. Philip Haas of Dayton, Ohio, made some significant developments, including the flush rim toilet with multiple jets of water from a ring and the water closet flushing and recycling mechanism similar to those in use today.
Vacuum
Vacuum is useful in a variety of processes and devices. Its first widespread use was in the incandescent light bulb to protect the filament from chemical degradation. The chemical inertness produced by a vacuum is also useful for electron beam welding, cold welding, vacuum packing and vacuum frying. Ultra-high vacuum is used in the study of atomically clean substrates, as only a very good vacuum preserves atomic-scale clean surfaces for a reasonably long time (on the order of minutes to days). High to ultra-high vacuum removes the obstruction of air, allowing particle beams to deposit or remove materials without contamination. This is the principle behind chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, and dry etching which are essential to the fabrication of semiconductors and optical coatings, and to surface science. The reduction of convection provides the thermal insulation of thermos bottles. Deep vacuum lowers the boiling point of liquids and promotes low temperature outgassing which is used in freeze drying, adhesive preparation, distillation, metallurgy, and process purging. The electrical properties of vacuum make electron microscopes and vacuum tubes possible, including cathode ray tubes. Vacuum interrupters are used in electrical switchgear. Vacuum arc processes are industrially important for production of certain grades of steel or high purity materials. The elimination of air friction is useful for flywheel energy storage and ultracentrifuges.
Vacuum cleaner
In 2004 a British company released Airider, a hovering vacuum cleaner that floats on a cushion of air, similar to a hovercraft. It has claimed to be light-weight and easier to maneuver (compared to using wheels), although it is not the first vacuum cleaner to do this — the Hoover Constellation predated it by at least 35 years.
Cathode ray
In 1906, Lee De Forest found that a small voltage on a grid of metal wires could control a much larger current in a beam of cathode rays passing through a vacuum tube. His invention, called the triode, was the first device that could amplify electric signals, and revolutionized electrical technology, creating the new field of "electronics". Vacuum tubes made radio and television broadcasting possible, as well as radar, talking movies, audio recording, and long distance telephone service, and were the foundation of consumer electronic devices until the 1960s, when the transistor brought the era of vacuum tubes to a close.
Windscreen wiper
Inventor William M. Folberth and his brother, Fred, applied for a patent for an automatic windscreen wiper apparatus in 1919, which was granted in 1922. It was the first automatic mechanism to be developed by an American, but the original invention is attributed by others to Hawaiian, Ormand Wall. Trico later settled a patent dispute with Folberth and purchased Folberth's Cleveland company, the Folberth Auto Specialty Co. The new vacuum-powered system quickly became standard equipment on automobiles, and the vacuum principle was in use until about 1960. In the late 1950s, a feature common on modern vehicles first appeared, operating the wipers automatically for two or three passes when the windshield washer button was pressed, making it unnecessary to manually turn the wipers on as well. Today, an electronic timer is used, but originally a small vacuum cylinder mechanically linked to a switch provided the delay as the vacuum leaked off.
History of physics
A precursor of the engine was designed by the German scientist Otto von Guericke who, in 1650, designed and built the world's first vacuum pump and created the world's first ever vacuum known as the Magdeburg hemispheres experiment. He was driven to make a vacuum to disprove Aristotle's long-held supposition that 'Nature abhors a vacuum'. Shortly thereafter, Irish physicist and chemist Boyle had learned of Guericke's designs and in 1656, in coordination with English scientist Robert Hooke, built an air pump. Using this pump, Boyle and Hooke noticed the pressure-volume correlation for a gas: "PV" = "k", where "P" is pressure, "V" is volume and "k" is a constant: this relationship is known as Boyle's Law. In that time, air was assumed to be a system of motionless particles, and not interpreted as a system of moving molecules. The concept of thermal motion came two centuries later. Therefore, Boyle's publication in 1660 speaks about a mechanical concept: the air spring. Later, after the invention of the thermometer, the property temperature could be quantified. This tool gave Gay-Lussac the opportunity to derive his law, which led shortly later to the ideal gas law. But, already before the establishment of the ideal gas law, an associate of Boyle's named Denis Papin built in 1679 a bone digester, which is a closed vessel with a tightly fitting lid that confines steam until a high pressure is generated.
Vacuum pump
The predecessor to the vacuum pump was the suction pump, which was known to the Romans. Dual-action suction pumps were found in the city of Pompeii. Arabic engineer Al-Jazari also described suction pumps in the 13th century. He said that his model was a larger version of the siphons the Byzantines used to discharge the Greek fire. The suction pump later reappeared in Europe from the 15th century.
By the 17th century, water pump designs had improved to the point that they produced measurable vacuums, but this was not immediately understood. What was known was that suction pumps could not pull water beyond a certain height: 18 Florentine yards according to a measurement taken around 1635. (The conversion to metres is uncertain, but it would be about 9 or 10 metres.) This limit was a concern to irrigation projects, mine drainage, and decorative water fountains planned by the Duke of Tuscany, so the duke commissioned Galileo to investigate the problem. Galileo advertised the puzzle to other scientists, including Gasparo Berti who replicated it by building the first water barometer in Rome in 1639. Berti's barometer produced a vacuum above the water column, but he could not explain it. The breakthrough was made by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643. Building upon Galileo's notes, he built the first mercury barometer and wrote a convincing argument that the space at the top was a vacuum. The height of the column was then limited to the maximum weight that atmospheric pressure could support; this is the limiting height of a suction pump.
Manual vacuum cleaner
In 1910 the Star Vacuum Cleaner was patented in the U.K. (#18,899), consisting of a concertina-like drum that was pushed up and down the handle to suck dust through the cleaning head on top; the initial price was 54 shillings; it was discontinued in 1938.
Vacuum cleaner
The first vacuum-cleaning device to be portable and marketed at the domestic market was built in 1905 by Walter Griffiths, a manufacturer in Birmingham, England. His "Griffith's Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets" resembled modern-day cleaners; – it was portable, easy to store, and powered by "any one person (such as the ordinary domestic servant)", who would have the task of compressing a bellows-like contraption to suck up dust through a removable, flexible pipe, to which a variety of shaped nozzles could be attached.
In 1906 James B. Kirby developed his first of many vacuums called the "Domestic Cyclone". It used water for dirt separation. Later revisions came to be known as the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner. In 1907 department store janitor James Murray Spangler (1848-1915) of Canton, Ohio invented the first portable electric vacuum cleaner, obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper on June 2, 1908. Crucially, in addition to suction from an electric fan that blew the dirt and dust into a soap box and one of his wife's pillow cases, Spangler's design utilized a rotating brush to loosen debris. Unable to produce the design himself due to lack of funding, he sold the patent in 1908 to local leather goods manufacturer William Henry Hoover (1849-1932), who had Spangler's machine redesigned with a steel casing, casters, and attachments, founding the company that in 1922 was renamed the Hoover Company. Their first vacuum was the 1908 Model O, which sold for $60. Subsequent innovations included the beater bar in 1919 ("It beats as it sweeps as it cleans"), disposal filter bags in the 1920s, and an upright vacuum cleaner in 1926.
Vacuum
Vacuums are commonly used to produce suction, which has an even wider variety of applications. The Newcomen steam engine used vacuum instead of pressure to drive a piston. In the 19th century, vacuum was used for traction on Isambard Kingdom Brunel's experimental atmospheric railway. Vacuum brakes were once widely used on trains in the UK but, except on heritage railways, they have been replaced by air brakes.
Vacuum pump
A vacuum pump is a device that removes gas molecules from a sealed volume in order to leave behind a partial vacuum. The first vacuum pump was invented in 1650 by Otto von Guericke, and was preceded by the suction pump, which dates to antiquity.
Invention of radio
The Supreme Court of the United States would eventually invalidate the US patent because of an improper disclaimer and, additionally, maintained the technology in the patent was known art when filed. This invention was the first vacuum tube. Fleming's diode was used in radio receivers for many decades afterward, until it was superseded by improved solid state electronic technology more than 50 years later.
Central vacuum cleaner
In 1869 Ives McGaffey patented the first portable vacuum cleaner, or “sweeping machine”. The portable vacuum cleaner is the parent product to the modern central vacuum system.
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
In 1659, Robert Boyle commissioned the construction of an air pump, then described as a "pneumatic engine", which is known today as a vacuum pump. The air pump was invented by Otto von Guericke in 1650, though its cost deterred most contemporary scientists from constructing the apparatus. Boyle, the son of the Earl of Cork, had no such concerns—after its construction, he donated the initial 1659 model to the Royal Society and had a further two redesigned machines built for his personal use. Aside from Boyle's three pumps, there were probably no more than four others in existence during the 1660s: Christian Huygens had one in The Hague, Henry Power may have had one at Halifax, and there may have been pumps at Christ's College, Cambridge, and the Montmor Academy in Paris. Boyle's pump, which was largely designed to Boyle's specifications and constructed by Robert Hooke, was complicated, temperamental, and problematic to operate. Many demonstrations could only be performed with Hooke on hand, and Boyle frequently left critical public displays solely to Hooke—whose dramatic flair matched his technical skill.
Gasparo Berti
In 1630, Giovanni Battista Baliani sent a letter to Galileo Galilei after he noticed that his siphon could not raise water more than about 10 m (34 feet). Galileo proposed that a vacuum held the water up and that it could not hold any more. At the time the existence of vacuums was controversial.
Ultracentrifuge
The vacuum ultracentrifuge was invented by Edward Greydon Pickels in the Physics Department at the University of Virginia. It was his contribution of the vacuum which allowed a reduction in friction generated at high speeds. Vacuum systems also enabled the maintenance of constant temperature across the sample, eliminating convection currents that interfered with the interpretation of sedimentation results.
List of vacuum tubes
The first (1888) incarnation of "La Compagnie des Lampes" produced the TM tube since 1915 and defined one of the first French systems; not to be confused with Compagnie des Lampes (1921, "French Mazda", see below).
Jim Kirby
He invented his first vacuum cleaner, called the Domestic Cyclone, in 1906, which was a hand-powered canister cleaner that used a water filtration system. His first portable vacuum cleaner for home use was manufactured and distributed by Franz Premier Electric which was founded to produce Kirby’s vacuum in 1912. Premier was later acquired by General Electric which continued to utilize Kirby’s innovations. In 1915 Kirby invented the washing machine spin cycle. The LaunDRYette Company was founded to manufacture this invention. The LaunDRYette washing machines became very popular and Kirby’s share of the profits allowed him to buy and expand his farm in Richfield. On the Richfield farm, Kirby could implement his experiments in civil engineering such as the patented lake and the mill wheel which was supported on ball bearings and could produce electricity much more efficiently than a traditional, heavy gristmill wheel.
Vacuum airship
From 1886 to 1900 Arthur De Bausset attempted in vain to raise funds to construct his "vacuum-tube" airship design, but despite early support in the United States Congress, the general public was skeptical. Illinois historian Howard Scamehorn reported that Octave Chanute and Albert Francis Zahm "publicly denounced and mathematically proved the fallacy of the vacuum principle", however the author does not give his source. De Bausset published a book on his design and offered $150,000 stock in the Transcontinental Aerial Navigation Company of Chicago. His patent application was eventually denied on the basis that it was "wholly theoretical, everything being based upon calculation and nothing upon trial or demonstration."
X-ray
In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming invented the thermionic diode, the first kind of vacuum tube. This used a hot cathode that caused an electric current to flow in a vacuum. This idea was quickly applied to X-ray tubes, and hence heated-cathode X-ray tubes, called "Coolidge tubes", completely replaced the troublesome cold cathode tubes by about 1920.
Vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known as a sweeper or hoover, is a device that uses an air pump (a centrifugal fan in all but some of the very oldest models), to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt from floors and from other surfaces such as upholstery and draperies.
History of the automobile
The vintage era lasted from the end of World War I (1918), through to the Wall Street Crash at the end of 1929. During this period the front-engined car came to dominate with closed bodies and standardised controls becoming the norm. In 1919, 90% of cars sold were open; by 1929, 90% were closed. Development of the internal combustion engine continued at a rapid pace, with multi-valve and overhead camshaft engines produced at the high end, and V8, V12, and even V16 engines conceived for the ultra-rich. Also in 1919, hydraulic brakes were invented by Malcolm Loughead (co-founder of Lockheed); they were adopted by Duesenberg for their 1921 Model A. Three years later, Hermann Rieseler of Vulcan Motor invented the first automatic transmission, which had two-speed planetary gearbox, torque converter, and lockup clutch; it never entered production. (Its like would only become an available option in 1940.) Just at the end of the vintage era, tempered glass (now standard equipment in side windows) was invented in France. In this era the revolutionary ponton design of cars without fully articulated fenders, running boards and other non-compact ledge elements was introduced in small series but mass production of such cars was started much later (after WWII).
Vacuum tube computer
Magnetic drum memory was invented in 1932 by Gustav Tauschek in Austria. A drum consisted of a large rapidly-rotating metal cylinder coated with a ferromagnetic recording material. Most drums had one or more rows of fixed read-write heads along the long axis of the drum for each track. The drum controller selected the proper head and waited for the data to appear under it as the drum turned. The IBM 650 had a drum memory of 1000 to 4000 10-digit words with an average access time of 2.5 milliseconds.
Magnetic core memory was patented by An Wang in 1951. Core uses tiny magnetic ring cores, through which wires are threaded to write and read information. Each core represents one bit of information. The cores can be magnetized in two different ways (clockwise or counterclockwise) and the bit stored in a core is zero or one depending on that core's magnetization direction. The wires allow an individual core to be set to either a one or a zero and for its magnetization to be changed by sending appropriate electric current pulses through selected wires. Core memory offered random access and greater speed, in addition to much higher reliability. It was quickly put to use in computers such as the MIT/IBM Whirlwind where an initial 1024 16-bit words of memory were installed replacing Williams Tubes. Likewise the UNIVAC 1103 was upgraded to the 1103A in 1956, with core memory replacing Williams tubes. The core memory used on the 1103 had an access time of 10 microseconds.
History of electronic engineering
Vacuum tubes remained the preferred amplifying device for 40 years, until researchers working for William Shockley at Bell Labs invented the transistor in 1947. In the following years, transistors made small portable radios, or transistor radios, possible as well as allowing more powerful mainframe computers to be built. Transistors were smaller and required lower voltages than vacuum tubes to work.
Hubert Cecil Booth
Booth created a large device, driven by an internal combustion engine. Nicknamed the "Puffing Billy", Booth's first petrol-powered, horse-drawn vacuum cleaner relied upon air drawn by a piston pump through a cloth filter. It did not contain any brushes; all the cleaning was done by suction through long tubes with nozzles on the ends. Although the machine was too bulky to be brought into the building, its principles of operation were essentially the same as the vacuum cleaners of today. He followed this up with an electric-powered model, but both designs were extremely bulky, and had to be transported by horse and carriage. The term "vacuum cleaner" was first used by the company set up to market Booth's invention, in its first issued prospectus of 1901.
Kirby Company
The Vacuette Electric, introduced in 1925 with its removable floor nozzle and handle, became the forerunner of today's multi-attachment Kirby vacuum models. In 1935, the company introduced the Kirby Model C, the first product to carry Jim Kirby's name. The Vacuette was also briefly offered as a manual vacuum cleaner, utilizing a spring-loaded worm gear driven by pulling the vacuum cleaner backwards, then when pushing the machine forward, the worm gear would power a turbine that provided the suction needed. As long as the cleaner was consistently pulled backwards, tension in the spring would remain constant and the turbine would continue spinning. It was designed for rural areas that didn't have electricity, and was very similar to the carpet sweeper.
Vacuum tube computer
In the United States, work started on the ENIAC computer late in the Second World War. The machine was completed in 1945. Although one application which motivated its development was the production of firing tables for artillery, one of the first uses of ENIAC was to carry out calculations related to the development of a hydrogen bomb. ENIAC was programmed with plugboards and switches instead of an electronically stored program. A post-war series of lectures disclosing the design of ENIAC, and a report by John von Neumann on a foreseeable successor to ENIAC, First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, were widely distributed and were influential in the design of post-war vacuum tube computers.
James M. Spangler
James Murray Spangler (November 20, 1848 – January 22, 1915) was an American inventor, salesman and janitor who invented the first commercially successful portable electric vacuum cleaner that revolutionized household carpet cleaning. His device was not the first vacuum cleaner. However, Spangler's device was the first that was practical for home use. It was the first to use both a cloth filter bag and cleaning attachments. Spangler improved this basic model and received a patent for it in 1908. He formed the Electric Suction Sweeper Company to manufacture his device. William H. Hoover was so impressed with the vacuum cleaner that he bought into Spangler's business and patents.
Leybold GmbH
The company divested the pharmaceutical sector to focus on propaedeutic and teaching materials, initiating the serial production of vacuum pumps as of 1906. The collaboration with Wolfgang Gaede resulted in the development of the molecular pump (1911), the mercury diffusion pump (1913), and the invention of the gas ballast design, which allows vapors to be pumped with rotary vacuum pumps (1935).
Economy of Ohio
In 1907, a janitor named James Spangler working for the Hoover family invented the first electronically portable vacuum cleaner. Production of the device began at a factory in New Berlin (later renamed North Canton), and today the company is known as The Hoover Company, with its headquarters still located in North Canton.
Hugh Pembroke Vowles
He was a close friend of Hubert Cecil Booth, inventor of the vacuum cleaner. Booth married Margaret Vowles' sister.
The Hoover Company
The first upright vacuum cleaner was invented in June 1908 by Canton, Ohio department store janitor and occasional inventor James Murray Spangler (1848–1915). Spangler was an asthmatic, and suspecting the carpet sweeper he was using at work was the cause of his ailment, he created a basic suction-sweeper by mounting an electric fan motor on a Bissell brand carpet sweeper then adding a soap box and a broom handle. After refining the design and obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper he set about producing it himself, assisted by his son, who helped him assemble the machines, and his daughter, who assembled the dust bags. Production was slow, just two to three machines completed a week.
Siphon
Siphons were studied further in the 17th century, in the context of suction pumps (and the recently developed vacuum pumps), particularly with an eye to understanding the maximum height of pumps (and siphons) and the apparent vacuum at the top of early barometers. This was initially explained by Galileo Galilei via the theory of "horror vacui" ("nature abhors a vacuum"), which dates to Aristotle, and which Galileo restated as "resintenza del vacuo," but this was subsequently disproved by later workers, notably Evangelista Torricelli and Blaise Pascal – see barometer: history.
Vacuum chamber
NASA's Space Power Facility houses the world's largest vacuum chamber. It was built in 1969 and stands high and in diameter, enclosing a bullet-shaped space. It was originally commissioned for nuclear-electric power studies under vacuum conditions, but was later decommissioned. Recently, it was recommissioned for use in testing spacecraft propulsion systems. Recent uses include testing the airbag landing systems for the Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, under simulated Mars atmospheric conditions.
List of vacuum cleaners
This is a list of vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaner manufacturers. A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a rigid cartridge, which may be emptied and reused. Vacuum cleaners are used in homes as well as in industry, and exist in a variety of sizes and models.
Coffeemaker
Other coffee brewing devices became popular throughout the nineteenth century, including various machines using the vacuum principle. The Napier Vacuum Machine, invented in 1840, was an early example of this type. While generally too complex for everyday use, vacuum devices were prized for producing a clear brew, and were popular up until the middle of the twentieth century.
Beech-Nut
The company was incorporated as the Beech-Nut Packing Company in 1899. Arkell was the first president of the company. In 1900, the company's sales were $200,000. Engineers from Beech-Nut patented the first vacuum jar, with a design that included a gasket and top that could remain intact in transit and became a standard of the industry .
Otto von Guericke
In 1654 von Guericke invented a vacuum pump consisting of a piston and an air gun cylinder with two-way flaps designed to pull air out of whatever vessel it was connected to, and used it to investigate the properties of the vacuum in many experiments. This pump is described in Chapters II and III of Book III of the "Experimenta Nova" and in the "Mechanica Hydraulico-pneumatica" (p. 445-6). Guericke demonstrated the force of air pressure with dramatic experiments.
Vacuum
Vacuum became a valuable industrial tool in the 20th century with the introduction of incandescent light bulbs and vacuum tubes, and a wide array of vacuum technology has since become available. The recent development of human spaceflight has raised interest in the impact of vacuum on human health, and on life forms in general.
The word "vacuum" comes , noun use of neuter of "vacuus", meaning "empty", related to "vacare", meaning "be empty".
Spark-gap transmitter
All these early technologies were superseded by the vacuum tube feedback electronic oscillator, invented in 1912 by Edwin Armstrong and Alexander Meissner, which used the triode vacuum tube invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest. Vacuum tube oscillators were a far cheaper source of continuous waves, and could be easily modulated to carry sound. Due to the development of the first high-power transmitting tubes by the end of World War 1, in the 1920s tube transmitters replaced the arc converter and alternator transmitters, as well as the last of the old noisy spark transmitters.
Vacuum
In the medieval Middle Eastern world, the physicist and Islamic scholar, Al-Farabi (Alpharabius, 872–950), conducted a small experiment concerning the existence of vacuum, in which he investigated handheld plungers in water. He concluded that air's volume can expand to fill available space, and he suggested that the concept of perfect vacuum was incoherent. However, according to Nader El-Bizri, the physicist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen, 965–1039) and the Mu'tazili theologians disagreed with Aristotle and Al-Farabi, and they supported the existence of a void. Using geometry, Ibn al-Haytham mathematically demonstrated that place ("al-makan") is the imagined three-dimensional void between the inner surfaces of a containing body. According to Ahmad Dallal, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī also states that "there is no observable evidence that rules out the possibility of vacuum". The suction pump later appeared in Europe from the 15th century.
Vortex tube
The vortex tube was invented in 1931 by French physicist Georges J. Ranque. It was rediscovered by Paul Dirac in 1934 while he was searching for a device to perform isotope separation, see Helikon vortex separation process. German physicist improved the design and published a widely read paper in 1947 on the device, which he called a "Wirbelrohr" (literally, whirl pipe). 
In 1954, Westley published a comprehensive survey entitled ‘‘A bibliography and survey of the vortex tube’’, which included over 100 references. In 1951 Curley and McGree , in 1956 Kalvinskas , in 1964 Dobratz , in 1972 Nash , and in 1979 Hellyar made important contribution to the RHVT literature by their extensive reviews on the vortex tube and its applications.
From 1952 to 1963, C. Darby Fulton, Jr. obtained four U.S. patents relating to the development of the vortex tube. In 1961, Fulton began manufacturing the vortex tube under the company name Fulton Cryogenics. Dr. Fulton sold the company to Vortec, Inc. The vortex tube was used to separate gas mixtures, oxygen and nitrogen, carbon dioxide and helium, carbon dioxide and air in 1967 by Linderstrom-Lang.
Fantom Technologies
In 1989, British-born James Dyson (inventor of dual-cyclone vacuums) and Canada's IONA Appliances (the predecessor of Fantom Technologies) made a licensing deal in which the company would manufacture and sell a line of commercial dual-cyclonic upright vacuums called Vectron, for SC Johnson Wax, on which Dyson held the patent. Two years later, SC Johnson exited the commercial vacuum business and IONA renamed the vacuums to "Fantom". 1993 brought a successful infomercial for the original Fantom vacuum. One year later, the vacuum offered a HEPA filter as an option. In 1995, the vacuum was renamed the Fantom Thunder.In 1996, IONA Appliances became Fantom Technologies, Inc. and introduced the Fantom Fury. The vacuum was smaller than the Thunder unit and was lighter and less expensive. Again, it achieved success through a television infomercial. It was less able to clean carpets due to a weaker motor.Fantom Technologies offered a canister-style vacuum in 1998 called the Fantom Lightning. It was sold at a price of $329 through a television infomercial hosted by Jim Caldwell (and produced by his then-business Future Thunder Productions). Again, it sold well, but the vacuum had defects including a like poor handle release on the power nozzle and poor wand and hose design.A later model was the Fantom Cyclone XT, released in 1999. Sold again through an infomercial hosted by Cheryl Watson and Jim Caldwell, the vacuum was engineered similar to the Lightning, but as upright. It was successful.James Dyson ended his partnership with Fantom Technologies in early 2001. That same year, Fantom released a single-cyclone vacuum called the Fantom Crosswinds, which unlike the previous vacuums, was a failure due clogging problems.The Wildcat which is equivalent to Westinghouse Unplugged
Vacuum flask
A vacuum flask (also known as a Dewar flask, Dewar bottle or thermos) is an insulating storage vessel that greatly lengthens the time over which its contents remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings. Invented by Sir James Dewar in 1892, the vacuum flask consists of two flasks, placed one within the other and joined at the neck. The gap between the two flasks is partially evacuated of air, creating a near-vacuum which significantly reduces heat transfer by conduction or convection.
Fleming valve
The Fleming valve, also called the Fleming oscillation valve, was a thermionic valve or vacuum tube invented in 1904 by Englishman John Ambrose Fleming as a detector for early radio receivers used in electromagnetic wireless telegraphy. It was the first practical vacuum tube and the first thermionic diode, a vacuum tube whose purpose is to conduct current in one direction and block current flowing in the opposite direction. The thermionic diode was later widely used as a rectifier — a device which converts alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) — in the power supplies of a wide range of electronic devices, until beginning to be replaced by the selenium rectifier in the early 1930s and almost completely replaced by the semiconductor diode in the 1960s. The Fleming valve was the forerunner of all vacuum tubes, which dominated electronics for 50 years. The IEEE has described it as "one of the most important developments in the history of electronics", and it is on the List of IEEE Milestones for electrical engineering.
Hubert Cecil Booth
Hubert Cecil Booth (4 July 1871 – 14 January 1955) was an English engineer best known today for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners.
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.
Edwin Howard Armstrong
Armstrong began working on his first major invention while still an undergraduate at Columbia. In late 1906, Lee de Forest had invented the three-element (triode) "grid Audion" vacuum-tube. How vacuum tubes worked was not understood at the time. De Forest's initial Audions did not have a high vacuum and developed a blue glow at modest plate voltages; De Forest improved the vacuum for Federal Telegraph. By 1912, how vacuum tubes worked was understood, and the advantages of high vacuum tubes were appreciated.
Vacuum cleaner
Central vacuum cleaners, also known as built-in or ducted, are a type of canister/cylinder model which has the motor and dirt filtration unit located in a central location in a building, and connected by pipes to fixed vacuum inlets installed throughout the building. Only the hose and cleaning head need be carried from room to room, and the hose is commonly 8 m (25 ft) long, allowing a large range of movement without changing vacuum inlets. Plastic or metal piping connects the inlets to the central unit. The vacuum head may be unpowered, or have beaters operated by an electric motor or by an air-driven turbine.
Vacuum cleaner
In 1979, James Dyson introduced a portable unit with cyclonic separation, adapting this design from industrial saw mills. He launched his cyclone cleaner first in Japan in the 1980s at a cost of about US$1800 and in 1993 released the Dyson DC01 upright in the UK for £200. Critics expected that people would not buy a vacuum cleaner at twice the price of a conventional unit, but the Dyson design later became the most popular cleaner in the UK.
Vacuum cleaner
In December 2009, Neato Robotics launched the world's first robotic vacuum cleaner which uses a rotating laser-based range-finder (a form of lidar) to scan and map its surrounding. It uses this map to clean the floor methodically, even if it requires the robot to return to its base multiple times to recharge itself. In many cases it will notice when an area of the floor that was previously inaccessible becomes reachable, such as when a dog wakes up from a nap, and return to vacuum that area. It also has the strongest impeller among robotic vacuum cleaners, pulling in 35 CFM (1 m/min) of air.
Numatic International
Numatic have also made many vacuum cleaners differing from the 2010 range. Many of them are not sold as 2016. The Henry and Hetty vacuum cleaners have also gone beyond vacuum cleaners. They have since 2010 expanded to desktop cleaners, toys,
spray mops, boxes, office file holders and a specially made Airo-Brush head has been made for the Henry. When the Henry vacuum cleaner was first released in 1981, consumer had a sticker placed on the Henry. This meant they had to register to the company for insured life of the vacuum. Accessories include stainless steel tubes, HepaFlo dust bags, an upholstery tool, a crevice tool, a Nuflex threaded hose, a double taper hose/full adapter, a Numatic Airo-Brush Head with rotating bristles(For HenryXtra), a soft dusting brush and an upholstery nozzle with a sliding brush.
Vacuum mattress
A vacuum mattress, or vacmat, is a medical device used for the immobilisation of patients, especially in case of a vertebra, pelvis or limb trauma (especially for femur trauma). It is also used for manual transportation of patients for short distances (it replaces the stretcher). It was invented by Loed and Haederlé, who called it "shell" mattress ("matelas coquille" in French).
Liquid-ring pump
The earliest liquid-ring pumps date from 1903, when a patent was granted in Germany to Siemens-Schuckert. US Patent 1,091,529, for liquid-ring vacuum pumps and compressors, was granted to Lewis H. Nash in 1914. They were manufactured by the Nash Engineering Company in Norwalk, CT. Around the same time, in Austria, Patent 69274 was granted to Siemens-Schuckertwerke for a similar liquid-ring vacuum pump.
Power brakes
The vacuum booster was invented in 1927 in order to provide a shorter stopping distance. Vacuum boosters provide brake assist for the driver by multiplying the force out of the booster creating more than the force that was used to push on the brake pedal. The booster works by pulling the air out of the booster chamber with a pump creating a low pressure system inside. When the driver steps on the brake pedal, the input rod on the booster is pushed in which lets atmospheric pressure into the booster. This, in turn, pushes the diaphragm toward the master cylinder.
Vacuum evaporation
This process was invented by Henri Nestlé in 1866, of Nestlé Chocolate fame, although the Shakers were already using a vacuum pan earlier than that (see condensed milk).