Few types of some “aspirators” already existed in 1901. These machines were usually operated by two people, one of whom was in charge of the blowpipe. In the same year, a sir called Herbert C. Booth went to the St. Pancras railway station in London, where the new way of cleaning the railway carriages should be performed. The dust was puffed away from the seats and floors with compressed air. Its result wasn’t naturally very good, the dust was raised in the air. Booth immediately came to a conclusion, that it would be more reasonable to vacuum the dust rather than to try to blow it away. After he came home he lay down on the floor, put a handkerchief in front of his mouth and leaned closely to the carpet. Then he drew the air in his mouth. A lot of dust remained on the tissue – and that was the first step which lead to the invention of a modern vacuum cleaner. He succeeded in constructing it in 1902. Because only few houses had the electricity, Booth solved its use very authentically. He placed the vacuum cleaner on a wagon with a 252 metres long hose. This hose could reach any house in the surrounding. It only had one fault: the vacuum cleaner was so loud, that other horses in the street were bauling and speeding away. Booth really scored at the coronation of king Edward VII. in the Westminster Abbey in 1902. He had offered his services and few hours after the offer had been accepted the carpets were shining with tidiness. The king was so much pleased with it, that he ordered two vacuum cleaners – one for the Buckingham palace and the other for the royal castle in Windsor. The portable vacuum cleaner was made by Booth in 1906, but this time he was not the first one. In 1905 he was overtaken by the American firm Chapman and Skinner from San Francisco.

The electric vertical vacuum cleaner with a dust-bag was invented by James Murray Spangler, the administrator of a department store in Canton – Ohio. This “tin model” was made from wood and tinned sheet metal, broom’s handle and an old pillow-case. His vacuum cleaner did look unsightly, but it worked very dependably. W.M. Hoover started its production in 1907 and in 1908 the “0 Model” was born. The portable products of The Hoover Suction Sweeper Company weighed only 40 pounds.

The Model "0" made by The Hoover Suction Sweeper Company from 1908
(later  expression "hoover" becomes the synonym for a vacuum cleaner in English speaking countries)

In that time still more and more producers manufacturing vacuum cleaners appears. The year 1921 became a milestone, Axel Wenner-Gren established the Electrolux company and was producing the first vacuum cleaner called “Lux 1”. In 1921 the “V Model” appears – the first step to the cleaners suitable also for the households. The firm’s marking “lux” becomes the synonym for a vacuum cleaner. The Swedish Electrolux company starts to swallow up other concurrence from Europe, Australia and America and in 1974 it becomes the greatest producer of vacuum cleaners on the Earth.

The nowadays hoovers are characteristic with very low loudness and sufficiently large paper or textile filters. Then they are equipped with electronic regulators of the suctorial effort and also with micro-filters, which prevent the microscopic dust particles from escaping. The accessories also ease the work.

The Czech vacuum cleaner made by ETA (model 3408).
In this company were first vacuums made in 1952.
(from http://www.eta.cz/karty/3408_kar.html)