The streamlined household aid

Vacuum Cleaner, Model VC6017, President, approx. 1940

People wished for a machine that would facilitate the tiresome floor sweeping and rug beating in the home.

In 1906, the janitor and inventor James Murray Spangler succeeded in creating the first vacuum cleaner, using a fan, a big box and a cushion. He sold this idea and about 30 years later, the President vacuum cleaner went into serial production. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the vacuum cleaner replaced the rug beater and the broom in almost every household. Vacuum cleaners became affordable during this time and simultaneously, fitted carpets became fashionable.

This vacuum cleaner’s streamlined form is reminiscent of the cars, aircrafts and train engines of that time. For their design, the so-called streamline design was applied to make them faster and to reduce fuel consumption. In household appliances, the streamline design symbolised technological progress and, of course, the new appliances were also intended to reduce the time spent on household chores.