Vacuum & Sewing Hall of Fame

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The Vacuum & Sewing Hall of Fame was created in 1994 to honor the men and women of the past and present that have made significant contributions to our industry.

Do you know someone involved in manufacturing, distributing or retail that should be in the Hall of Fame?
Click HERE for a nomination form. (Adobe Acrobat file)

The list below combines floor care & sewing
inductees in alphabetical order. The year
column indicates when they were inducted.

LAST

FIRST

Archer

Cecil W.

2008 Hall of Fame Inductees
The following professionals were inducted into the Vacuum & Sewing Hall of Fame during the VDTA/SDTA Convention & Show, Las Vegas NV, February 20, 2008.

Gary Phillips

Edwin Price

Diana Richards

Contributors to the invention of the sewing machine

The sewing machine was actually invented several times, although Elias Howe eventually won the rights in court to collect the royalties.

Charles Weisenthal, German inventor, patented the first machine identifiable as a sewing machine in 1755. It was designed for embroidery and introduced the first pointed needle with an eye in both ends and the middle.

Thomas Saint, English cabinet maker, patented the first English sewing machine in 1790. The patent however, was so busy describing what the machine would accomplish that it failed to describe the machine, and the patent never held.

Barthelemy Thimonnier, French journeyman tailor, in 1830 patented the first machine that actually performed. Thimonnier’s machine was the first used commercially. However, like all of the predecessors, the machine formed a chain stitch, which easily became unraveled.

Walter Hunt, American mechanic, got away from the principle of hand sewing and invented the first sewing method designed specifically for a machine. Hunt designed the first lock stitch using a top and bottom thread. There is no record of this machine being patented, although it was used by many.

John J. Greenough first American sewing machine patent, February 21, 1842.

Benjamin W Bean second American sewing machine patent, March 4, 1843.

George H Corliss third American sewing machine patent, December 1843.

Elias Howe fourth American sewing machine patent, September 10th, 1846.

Contributors to the invention of the vacuum cleaner

The actual inventor of the first vacuum is hard to determine. Four names come up, and the credit differs depending on to whom you are talking.

Corrine Dufour, Savannah, Ga., “Electric Sweeper and Dust Gatherer.”
John S. Thurman, St. Louis, Mo., motor driven vacuum cleaner patent # 634,042 issued October 3, 1899, on a “pneumatic carpet renovator.”

Ives W. McGaffey, Chicago, Ill., patent # 91,145 issued June 8, 1869, on a “sweeping machine.” The machine contained a hand operated fan. It was manufactured by American Carpet Cleaning Co., Boston, under the trade name Whirlwind. The unit contained all elements of modern electric cleaners except the electric motor.

David E. Kenney, New Jersey, patent applied for in 1901, and issued in 1907, on a “renovator,” patented so well that until the patents ran out in 1923, every vacuum manufactured in America was under his license, for which he received a royalty. Had someone done a better and more thorough search of patent records prior to his patent being issued, his claim probably would not have held. He formed a company in New York, Suction Cleaner Company

Ash Can vacuum was introduced somewhere between 1905 - 1907. Used to clean offices, it weighed 60 - 70 pounds

The first self-contained vacuum was introduced in 1905 by a man named Chapman. It contained a mechanically driven rotary brush. The dust was sucked up by a two-stage 24-inch turbine fan and discharged into a tin can mounted on the handle. The machine was mounted on wheels and contained a direct connected motor.

The first horizontal tank type of cleaner was introduced by a man named Sturtevant between 1910 - 1912.

By 1945, 48.2%, or 13,700,000 homes had a vacuum

The number of vacuum cleaners introduced from 1900 to 1930 is unknown, but there were hundreds of them.

Curt E.

Dave

Kenneth

David O.