April 19, 1987
By Deborah Curtis Drummy
Vigo County Historical Society
1st vacuums aided era’s housewives
Not long ago I heard a quotable quote which ran something like, “Behind every immaculate house is a very dull woman.” I admit to having mixed feelings about the expression; to begin with, it’s unfair. Some nicely kept homes have behind them a whole family working together, or perhaps a paid housekeeper, or even one of those “superwomen” I read about who manages to do everything well with time to spare for fascinating hobbies. But then there’s the side of me which likes the expression because it provides me with a great excuse for having a home several degrees short of tidy, let alone immaculate.
Whether or not the phrase rings true, modern women are generally not judged exclusively by their housekeeping habits. Women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, however, were much more narrowly confined in their roles as housekeepers. Cleanliness was not only next to godliness; it was the essential ingredient in a happy home.
“A clean, fresh, and well-ordered house exercises over its inmates a moral, no less than physical influence, and has a direct tendency to make members of the family sober, peaceable, and considerate of the feelings and happiness of each other.”--from “Our Homes and How to Make them Healthy” (1883).
The most arduous job of all for middle-class Victorian women was rug cleaning. Cane rug beaters and brooms were the only tools used until the invention of the carpet sweeper late in the century. The sweeper consisted of two brushes mounted on the axles of its wheels, and the brushes swept dirt up into the sweeper box as the device was pushed across the rug. These carpet sweepers were one of the most efficient household inventions of the 19th century and remain in use today in basically the same design.
The first vacuum cleaners were not nearly as goo an alternative although their operation was about as simple. When the vacuum cleaner piston was pumped up and down by its user, a partial vacuum was created in the outer cylinder. As air rushed in to fill the vacuum, a few particles of dust and dirt were lifted off the rug and into the cleaner. The main problem was that the manual pumping was just a laborious as sweeping with a broom, and less effective. And the cleaners were expensive, ranging in price from $4.15 to $16.50 in Sears Roebuck catalogue in 1911. The expense made them more popular as status symbols than as practical household appliances.
This week’s historical treasure, a hand-pump vacuum cleaner called “The Columbia,” was patented on Dec. 26, 1911, by the Reimiller Sales Co. of Columbus, Ohio. It very closely resembles a model manufactured by the Hugro Manufacturing Co. of Warsaw, Ind., that same year. The museum’s vacuum cleaner was donated by Fred W. Dierdorf in 1958 and is displayed in the tool room.
The application of electric power to vacuum cleaners early in the 20th century rendered hand-pump models nearly obsolete, while providing a dramatic improvement in cleaning efficiency and ease.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.