A vacuum, as we all know, is a machine that uses suction to extract dirt and debris from floors, upholstery, and drapes. However, the machine considered the first motorized vacuum actually was not a vacuum by that definition.

The first floor-cleaning invention by John Thurman was a horse-drawn system that he took door to door in St. Louis. In 1903, the $4 price of his services was actually quite expensive. But, people paid to have him come clean their floors anyway.

Thurman developed a gasoline-powered vacuum in 1899, patented on October 3rd of that year. It used compressed air to blast away the dirt.

In 1906, Thurman got even more high-tech with his central cleaning system, installed into people’s homes, that also used compressed air to blow dirt into a receptacle. What is interesting is that the machine did not, in essence, create a vacuum. No suction at all led to a ruling on a patent litigation that Thurman did not have claim to the invention of the motorized vacuum cleaner as his was not truly a vacuum.

That being said, for his time Thurman was ahead of the rest, offering homeowners a new way to clean their floors. And without his advancements in floor-cleaning technology driving the competition onward, it is likely that we would not have progressed as far as we have today in vacuum technology.