The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name became synonymous for vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Hoover Company in the United States was part of the Whirlpool Corporation but sold in 2006 to Techtronic Industries for $107 million. Hoover UK/Europe (split from Hoover U.S. in 1993) was owned and operated by Candy, a company based in Brugherio, Italy. It used the original Hoover logo with the slogan "Generation Future" until it shut down in 2007.
Hoover was also an iconic domestic appliance brand, particularly well known for its washing machines and tumble dryers in the UK and Ireland and, also had significant sales in many parts of Europe. Today, the Hoover Europe Brand, as part of the portfolio of brands owned by Candy Group, remains a major player in the European white goods and floor care sectors in a number of countries.
History
The first upright vacuum was invented in 1908 by a Canton, Ohio department store janitor and occasional inventor named James Murray Spangler. Spangler suffered from asthma attacks, and he suspected the carpet sweeper he was using at work was the cause of his ailment. He created a basic suction-sweeper, first by adapting his existing carpet-sweeper with an electric fan motor, then creating his own prototype from a soap box, electric motor, broom handle, and pillow case. After refining the design and being granted a patent, he set about producing the 'Electric Suction Sweeper' himself. He was aided by his son, who helped him assemble the machines, and his daughter, who made the dust bags. Production was slow; he was completing just 2–3 machines a week.
Spangler then gave one of these Suction Sweepers to his cousin, Susan Hoover, who used it at her home. Impressed with the machine, she told her husband about it. W. H. "Boss" Hoover was a leather-goods manufacturer in North Canton, which at the time was called New Berlin. Hoover's leather goods business was threatened by the introduction of the Motor Car. Seeing in the Suction Sweeper a marketing opportunity, Hoover bought the patent from Spangler in 1908 and retained Spangler as company Superintendent, on royalties in the new business. Spangler continued to contribute to the company, patenting several further Suction Sweeper designs, before his death in 1915. His family continued to receive royalties from his original patent until 1925.
Faced with a total lack of interest by the public in his expensive and unfamiliar new gadget, Hoover placed an ad in the Saturday Evening Post offering customers 10 days free use of his vacuum cleaner to anyone who requested it. Using a network of local retailers to facilitate the offer, Hoover thus developed a national network of retailers for the vacuums. By the end of 1908, the company had sold 372 Model O's. By 1912, sales had been made to Norway, France, Russia, Belgium, Holland and Scotland.
In 1919, Gerald Page-Wood - an Art Director of Erwin, Wassey & Company, Hoover's advertising agency - came up with a succinct slogan which summed up The Hoover's cleaning action - 'It Beats...as it Sweeps...as it Cleans'. At this time, it referred to the action of the brushes from the brush roll, which tapped at the carpet and helped vibrate out the trodden-in grit. This offered an advantage over competitors machines, which used suction alone to remove dirt, and therefore were not as efficient as The Hoover. 7 years later, the famous slogan was to take on even more significance.
Hoover's business began to flourish, and, a year after Hoover acquired the patent from Spangler, he established a Research and Development department for his new business. By 1926, Hoover had perfected the 'beater bar'; a metal bar attached to the rotating brush-roll, situated in the floor nozzle cavity of the upright vacuum cleaner. Introduced on Models 543 and 700, the beater bar alternated with the sweeping brushes to vibrate dirt and grit trapped in carpets. It provided a more distinct 'tap' than the bristle tufts used on the former machines, and lead to a 101% increase in efficiency. This cleaning action was marketed by Hoover as "Positive Agitation". 'It Beats...as it Sweeps...as it Cleans' rang more true now than ever.
In 1932, Hoover introduced a new feature - an optional headlamp, called the Hoover Hedlite, on Models 425, 750 and 900. By March 1932, it had become standard equipment on Models 750 and 900, and a $5 extra-cost option on Model 425. The Hoover Hedlite illuminated the floor ahead of the cleaner, useful for dimly-lit rooms and corridors, and under furniture. This feature brought in several new slogans, including 'It shows you the dirt you never knew you had!', and 'It lights where it's going...it's clean where it's gone!'.
Hoover filed another significant patent in 1936 - this time for a new self-propelling mechanism for vacuum cleaners.
In the late 1950s, the sombre and restrained colours of the previous decades gave way to bright, striking modern colour-schemes. This was part of their policy of the continual development and modernisation of their output.
In 1957 Hoover introduced the Convertible Model 65 (the De Luxe 652 in the UK). Designed again by Henry Dreyfuss, this cleaner introduced a feature Hoover termed 'Automatic Shift' - a system whereby the tool converter plugged into the rear of the cleaner. This wasn't a new idea - instant tool conversion for 'above-floor cleaning' had been introduced in 1935 with the Model 150 Cleaning Ensemble. However, new to Model 65 - and slightly later in Britain on the 652A - was the introduction of a switch which automatically shifted the motor to a higher speed as the converter was inserted. The Convertible - or the Senior, in Britain - remains Hoover's worldwide best-selling cleaner. Although the domestic line was finally discontinued in 1993, a version called the Guardsman is still available in the commercial sector.
1963 saw the introduction of the Dial-A-Matic in the US - sold in Australia as the Dynamatic, and in Britain, confusingly, as the Convertible. This was the first ever clean-air upright cleaner. The clean-air principle is similar to the flow of air through a cylinder/canister cleaner. Rather than the dirt passing directly through the suction fan and being blown into the bag, it passes through the bag first, leaving only clean air - hence the name! - to pass through the fan. This principle was soon adopted by many manufacturers, and continues to be used today. Despite the Dial-A-Matic's improvement on vacuum cleaner design, it was heavy and expensive, and could not manage to outsell the popular Convertible line.
Hoover further refined the Dial-a-matic's design in 1969, when they launched the 'Powerdrive' self-propulsion system. This idea took a lot of the effort out of pushing the cleaner, because, by using a system of gears, belts and cables, the cleaner used its own power to drive itself forward and backwards, as directed by the user though the 'Triple-Action' handgrip. It was so efficient, the user could drive the heavy cleaner forward with a single finger. This extra technology made the Dial-A-Matic even heavier than the original, and at around $150, it was very expensive. The 'Powerdrive' system was carried over into the Concept range, which replaced the Dial-A-Matic line in 1978.
On Friday, 6 March 2009, Hoover confirmed that it was to cease production of washing machines and other laundry products at its Merthyr Tydfil factory, South Wales, UK from Saturday, 14 March 2009; giving the reason, the company stated that it could no longer manufacture competitively priced laundry products at the plant.
Hoover had initially announced its closure intentions on Tuesday, 18 November 2008, beginning a period of staff consultation. The company was established in the town over 60 years ago, its factory at Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil, opening on 12 October 1948.
Though 337 jobs will be lost because of this decision, Hoover UK anticipated retaining its Headquarters, logistics, storage and after sales service functions at the site, with some 113 workers retained.
Slogans
- "However clean, Hoover cleaner" - 1912
- "Just run the Hoover over" - 1918
- "A Hoovered home is as clean as it looks" - 1918
- "Don't compromise with dirt. Have a Hoover." - 1918
- "It Beats...as it Sweeps...as it Cleans" - 1919
- "It shows you the dirt you never knew you had" - 1932
- "It lights where it's going...it's clean where it's gone" - 1935
- "It Lights...as it Beats...as it Sweeps...as it Cleans" - 1935
- "Give her a Hoover and you give her the best" - 1938
- "You'll be happier with a Hoover" - 1948
- "Hoover fine appliances around the house....around the world" - 1954
- "Floorcare for people who care" - 1962
- "Hoover helping you has made us a household word" - 1971
- "Insist on Hoover" - 1974
- "America trusts Hoover to take care of its homes" - 1977
- "America trusts Hoover" - 1984
- "Hoover keeps making it better" - 1986
- "Hoover invented it" - 1988
- "Nobody does it like Hoover" - 1993
- "Deep down you want Hoover" - 1998
- "Hoover gets it" - 2004
Popular Hoover machines
The Junior : Introduced by Hoover Limited (UK) in the 1930s, the Hoover Junior is a smaller upright type vacuum for apartments or small houses which was easy to carry around. The Junior was very popular in
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