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Posted On: 09/02/2004

A question of clean?

Have you ever wondered where things like vacuum cleaners, soaps, carpet sweepers, brooms and so many other items we use every day came from, who invented them and what mysteries may lurk in the products’ past?

 

As an inventor, Bob Robinson Sr., president of Kaivac Inc., invites you to take the “Where did it come from test.”  Learn more about some common household and commercial cleaning products and test your knowledge about their origins.

 

Soap

 

Which of the following is NOT true?

 

1.   The Phoenicians in 600 B.C. developed the first soap by blending goat fat and wood ash.

 

2.   At one time, soap was taxed so high in parts of Europe that people secretly manufactured it themselves.

 

3.   “Spic-and-span” came from the old English Navy expression, “spick-and-span-new,” meaning the ship was clean and brand-new.

 

 

Carpet Sweepers

 

Which of the following is NOT true?

 

1.   The first floor sweeper was developed by Anna and Melville Bissell in 1876.

 

2.   In the 1800s, Florence Nightingale was one of the first scientist to be concerned about indoor air pollution saying, “Air can be soiled just like water.”

 

3.   The Bissell sweeper never really sold that well outside of the United States.

 

 

No-Touch Cleaning Machines

 

Which of the following is NOT true?

 

1.   The first no-touch cleaning system was developed by Bob Robinson Sr. in 1998

 

2.   The International Sanitary Supply Association Inc., (ISSA) has not officially recognized no-touch cleaning systems as a method of cleaning.

 

3.   Another term for no-touch cleaning systems is spray-and-blow dry.

 

 

Vacuum Cleaners

 

Which of the following is NOT true?

 

1.   H. Cecil Booth, an English inventor, received the first patent for a suction cleaner in 1901.

 

2.   The look and size of the first commercial vacuum cleaners were surprisingly similar to the vacuum cleaners we use today

 

3.   The Hoover vacuum cleaner was invented by a janitor.

 

 

 

Brooms

 

Which of the following is NOT true?

 

1.   The medical profession advised women in the early 1900s to “take up housework, especially sweeping, to offset their ills.” They also said that women can “sweep … and still be sweet

 

2.   The broom manufacturing industry was never the same after World War II when vacuum cleaners became popular.

 

3.   There never was a “Fuller Brush Man.”

 

 

 

Answers and Clarifications

 

Soap: All answers are true

No. 2: clarification. For centuries, soap was taxed as a luxury item.

 

Carpet Sweepers:

No. 1 is false. The first sweeper was a street sweeper patented in England in 1699.

 

No. 2: clarification. Dust and indoor air pollution were prime motivators for the development of carpet sweepers

 

No. 3 is false. The Bissell carpet sweeper was so popular in England that the expression “to bissell” meant “to clean.”

 

No-Touch Cleaning Machines:
No. 2 is false. In 2003, the ISSA’s 447 Cleaning Times first recognized no-touch cleaning systems, listing times to clean various surfaces

 

Vacuum Cleaners:

No. 2 is false. Early vacuum cleaners were huge, the size of a large refrigerator, and usually transported by horse and buggy.

 

No. 3: clarification. James Murray Spangler was a custodian in Ohio, and developed the first vacuum cleaner to help him clean a department store.

 

Brooms:

No 1 is false: These were advertising slogans developed by the Fuller Brush company to combat the growing interest in vacuum cleaners.

 

No. 2 is false. The commercial and residential broom industry is alive and well.

 

No. 3 is false. Alfred Fuller was known as the Fuller Brush Man.