Vacuum Cleaners Discussions |
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DysonInventsBig
Location: USA
Joined: Jul 31, 2007
Points: 1454
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Little vacuum cleaner men in big YouTube chairs...
Original Message Feb 15, 2009 4:22 pm |
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How long until someone exposes the rubbish and lies of [vacuum cleaner] *clubbers and *dealers who use YouTube as their platform? DIB *Not all, just many (are dirty).
This message was modified Feb 15, 2009 by DysonInventsBig
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DysonInventsBig
Location: USA
Joined: Jul 31, 2007
Points: 1454
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Re: Little vacuum cleaner men in big YouTube chairs...
Reply #53 Mar 6, 2009 5:39 pm |
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Q) Was Spangler a tinkerer prior to inventing the upright? A) Yes, he was an inventor. His former, less famous inventions included a grain harvester, a velocipede wagon, and a ‘combined hay rake and tedder’, which he invented when he was just 18! He lived off the proceeds of these devices until his finances were depleted, as he reinvested his earnings into new projects. His financial situation forced him to take a temporary evening job as a janitor, cleaning rugs in the Folwell Building. Lucky for us that he did - this was where the idea of a machine which would sweep up and remove the dust, without stirring it into the air, first came to him.
Q) How long until the vacuum business became successful? A) Building up sales was a very gradual process; in 1908, Hoover found just 372 customers. During the years 1909-11, just over 2000 a year were sold. But in 1918, 70,000 Hoover cleaners found owners! By 1923, Hoover had sold their 1,000 000th cleaner. Hoover’s market was severely limited by the price of their product, and most significantly, by the fact that very few homes at this time were wired for electricity!
Q) What was the reaction from people when they saw a vacuum cleaner for the first time? A) Curiosity, I suppose – as we will be when the first hover-cars appear for sale! When H C Booth first introduced his horse-drawn vacuum cleaner in Britain, society ladies would hold dinner parties while their house was being cleaned, so their friends could witness the spectacle of several long hoses being fed through the windows and doors of the house, while uniformed men did the cleaning! Owning a vacuum cleaner was the height of luxury, and became a status symbol among those who could afford them.
Q) How did Spangler and Hoover get along? How was Spangler compensated? Was he part owner or an employee? A) I’m not sure about Spangler’s relationship with Hoover - W H Hoover’s wife was Spangler’s cousin, so he was a member of Hoover’s extended family. Spangler was the Company Superintendent, on salary and royalties. He went on to design several other machines for the company, as well as many small improvements to the suction sweeper design. He died suddenly in January 1915, but his family continued to receive income generated by his many patents until 1925.
Q) Do you have any pictures of Spangler or Spangler working on the vacuums or Spangler and Hoover together? A) Whenever Spangler is mentioned, online, in books etc, one particular photo is always used. This is the only one I know of:
Q) Did Hoover pioneer DTD or any other business ideas? A) Hoover did pioneer door-to-door sales, and over its 100 years in existence so far, too many other business ideas for me to list! They led the way. Model2, Wow! I have to rush out, I will comment more later. Many, many thanks, DIB
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Model2
~ It Beats...as it Sweeps...as it Cleans ~
Location: England
Joined: Jan 8, 2009
Points: 155
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Re: Little vacuum cleaner men in big YouTube chairs...
Reply #55 Mar 7, 2009 3:53 pm |
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I'm not so sure. Maybe for sentimental reasons. Buy for practical reasons? BOSS HOOVER was a practical business man. The plant was over 100 years old. What would it have taken to bring it up to current standards? Alot. Too much. Raze and start over. It was a good run. Time to begin anew. Carmine D.
I can't see 'Boss' Hoover looking kindly on the termination of so many, many loyal workers' jobs. As someone who took such good care of his local community - as preacher, as mayor, as generous (and frequently anonymous) benefactor - I'm sure he would be just as disgusted with what happened as many of the rest of the rest of us were. When he passed away, two services had to be held to accomodate the sheer number of mourners who had travelled to pay their respects. He wasn't your average cold, ruthless 'captain of industry'. He was a real humanitarian, and I don't think he could fail to overlook the human impact caused by the closure of his beloved, century-old factory.
Not for nothing have the North Canton locals branded TTI 'Totally Tradition Ignorant'.
This message was modified Mar 7, 2009 by Model2
~ However Clean - Hoover Cleaner ~
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Model2
~ It Beats...as it Sweeps...as it Cleans ~
Location: England
Joined: Jan 8, 2009
Points: 155
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Re: Little vacuum cleaner men in big YouTube chairs...
Reply #57 Mar 7, 2009 5:39 pm |
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BOSS HOOVER was a business man with a heart and a sense of service to his workers and the community. All good business men know that things don't stay the same forever. BOSS HOOVER was, after all, a leather goods man who reinvented himself and his business to survive. He understood the need for practicalism and realism for business to survive and flourish. Carmine D. The company Boss Hoover built is long-since dead. It's just a name now. I suppose it must do what it can to survive.
~ However Clean - Hoover Cleaner ~
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CarmineD
Joined: Dec 31, 2007
Points: 5894
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Re: Little vacuum cleaner men in big YouTube chairs...
Reply #59 Mar 7, 2009 7:14 pm |
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I disagree. The HOOVER company as you and others like to remember it is dead. I'm sure some believed that when J. Murray Spangler died, HOOVER was over. When HOOVER went from metal to plastic vacuums, HOOVER was over. When BOSS HOOVER died, HOOVER was over. When HOOVER went from d-t-d sales and small independent vacuum dealers to big box retailers, HOOVER was over. When HOOVER stopped making beater bars, HOOVER was over. When Maytag bought HOOVER, HOOVER was over. When Whirlpool bought HOOVER, HOOVER was over. When TTI Floorcare bought HOOVER and closed the HOOVER stores and the NC, Ohio plant, HOOVER was over. None of them were correct. These events individually and in total did not make HOOVER over [despite the letters on the smoke stack]. With them over, eras in HOOVER were over. Traditions were over. Not HOOVER. Like Trebor said, in the final analysis, what matters is who's left standing. BOSS HOOVER can take comfort in Heaven knowing that HOOVER is still standing. Changed? Yes. Different? Yes. But alive and doing well and still going strong after 100 years. Carmine D.
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Trebor
Joined: Jan 16, 2009
Points: 321
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Re: Little vacuum cleaner men in big YouTube chairs...
Reply #60 Mar 7, 2009 10:48 pm |
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The message the companies never understand is that the bottom line is never really the bottom line. Customer service becomes lip service once the stockholders gain control and start demanding more profit each quarter. Amazon was written off by Wall Street, but they kept investing in themselves to position themselves as the #1 global e-tailer, which they have become. Their motto could be 'forever better', but it's taken. The people at Amazon still constantly strive to improve the customer's experience. Once the easier road is taken, it turns quickly into a steep, treacherous slope, where all thoughts of the direction one is headed are lost in trying to remain upright (no pun intended) while avoiding collisiions with obstacles and looking for a soft place to land. I think if the Hoover company had made choices true to Boss Hoover's legacy, instead of expediency, the new Hoover factory would be underconstruction right now. I think Hoover would have stayed in the housewares business, and perhaps expanded into lawncare tools, power tools, and sewing machines. I do not believe the all metal beater bar would have been totally abandoned, perhaps remaining as an option. Hoover vacuums would still be found in better stores, where the salesman would talk to the customer about her home and preferences and budget, and taken the right mix of product to show her for total home care, with the Norca name supplying the big box retailers with stripped down bare bones vacs to compete with Eureka and BisselI, and a generous 'trade-UP' allowance on a real Hoover. You can be sure Hoover would have a vacuum approved by CRI and carpet manufacturers for use on frieze. I think Boss Hoover would have grabbed up Dyson's invention of cyclonic technology, and made him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Oh, I think he would have produced bagless vacuums, but they would have been attractive, durable and convenient, and properly launched on Hoover's terms in the marketplace. The sale to Maytag never would have happened, and Hoover would be a flourishing multi-national manufacturing corporation, green before it became a buzzword, a model of egalitarian and humanitarian employment and decorum in the marketplace. Trebor
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