As the story goes, it was way back in 1876 when old lady Bissel first expressed her carpet cleaning frustrations to her husband. She was trying to sweep sawdust out of the carpet with a corn broom, and having an unpleasant time with it. Melville took her frustrations on board and devised a mechanical sweeper, with the wheels driving a rotating brush to whisk the dirt into easy to empty trays. The carpet sweeper then swept the nation and helped built Bissel into a cleaning colossus.
The sweeper was ever present, even as the 20th century ground on and on into the 1980s. Something happened though, somewhere between upgrading to hardwood floors while attempting to flip a property and the Shark steam mop, the carpet sweepers ubiquity has been fading.
As enduring as the carpet sweeper has been, and as much as Bissel’s design has been borrowed, can the long moment in the sun for these highly effective human powered vacuums really be done?
Such simplicity, to spot a small pile of crumbs on the carpet, and to reach in to the closet for one of these mechanical brooms. No cord to unwind, no dead battery to worry about. All you have to do is push it back and forth over your mess. Back and forth, back and forth, in an ever widening area as the mess gets strewn all about carefully swept up.
Back and forth, pick it up, try dumping the collection trays, then back to the crumbs, vigorously whisk that mess away!
What could be easier? Sure, the gentlemen on TV will try to convince you that you need the Power of Steam! or the ability to Pick up a Bowling Ball!
<img src="http://www.tuvie.com/wp-content/uploads/irobot-560-roomba-vacuuming-robot4.jpg" width=600 />
We don't need them since the robot of future's past has arrived and taken over. All of our rooms are taken care of by swarms of Roomba's. Right?
What? You don't have one of these?
<img src="http://robotanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/JETSONS-COLOR-6.jpg" width=300>
Ah, you mean the huhduhduhduhduh (at 1 min) [youtube sUuYM8Jk6Yk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUuYM8Jk6Yk youtube]
I always wondered why people kept them around. It never seemed like they did a thing. I remember asking as a kid "where exactly does the dirt go"? And nobody knew.
Now, based on this article, it seems like you can EMPTY them!
I suspect they lost favor in part due to lack of user training.
I saw two of these in the last week- one was being used on an airplane between flights and the other was at a hotel. It would have an advantage on the airplane since it doesn't have a cord or battery. The housekeeper was using it presumably because I was working in the room at the time and it was much quieter than a vacuum.