The Hoover Company
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| Hoover | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Division |
| Genre | Home Care |
| Founded | 1907 |
| Founder | James Murray Spangler |
| Headquarters | Glenwillow, Ohio |
| Products | Vacuums, Deep Cleaners, Hard Floor Cleaners, Stick Vacs |
| Owner | TTI Floor Care North America |
| Divisions | VAX, Dirt Devil, Ryobi |
| Website | http://www.hoover.com/ |
The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name became synonymous for vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Hoover Company in the United States was part of the Whirlpool Corporation but sold in 2006 to Techtronic for $107 million. Hoover UK/Europe (split from Hoover U.S. in 1993) is owned and operated by the Brugherio, Italy-based Candy company. It continues to use the original Hoover logo with the slogan "Generation Future"
Hoover was also an iconic domestic appliance brand, particularly well known for its washing machines and tumble dryers in the UK and Ireland and, also had significant sales in many parts of Europe. Today, the Hoover Europe Brand, as part of the portfolio of brands owned by Candy Group, remains a major player in the European white goods and floor care sectors in a number of countries.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origins
The first Hoover vacuum was invented by a Canton, Ohio department store janitor named James Murray Spangler, who created a prototype vacuum cleaner using a soap box, electric motor, broom handle, and pillow case in 1907. Spangler suffered from asthma attacks, and he suspected the carpet sweeper he was using at work was the cause of his ailment. This may not be true.
Spangler then gave one of the vacuums to a friend, Susan Hoover, who used it at her home. Impressed with the machine, she told her husband about it. Her husband was W.H. "Boss" Hoover, a leather-goods manufacturer in North Canton, then called New Berlin. Hoover bought the patent from Spangler in 1908 and retained Spangler as a partner in the new vacuum cleaner business.
Hoover then placed an ad in the Saturday Evening Post offering customers 10 days free use of his vacuum cleaner to anyone who requested it. Using a network of local retailers to facilitate the offer, Hoover thus developed a national network of retailers for the vacuums. Over time, his company's sales expanded globally, and, in British English, the word "Hoover" became a verb meaning "to vacuum a floor".
Hoover's business flourished, and, a year after Hoover acquired the patent from Spangler, he established a research and development department for his new business. In 1926, Hoover invented the "beater bar"; a metal bar attached to the rotating "agitator", situated in the floor nozzle cavity of the upright vacuum cleaner. The beater bar alternated with the sweeping brushes to loosen dirt and grit trapped in carpets. This cleaning action was marketed by Hoover as "Positive Agitation", and gave rise to the famous marketing slogan: "It Beats-As It Sweeps-As It Cleans". Ten years later, in 1936, Hoover got another patent -- this time for a new self-propelling mechanism for vacuum cleaners.
In the mid 1950s Hoover introduced the Convertible (in the UK known as the "Senior", later the "Senior Ranger", and latterly, the "Senior Powerplus") that came with a new feature allowing the user to easily convert the cleaner to above floor cleaning with the hose using a converter. This, though now discontinued, is still the most popular cleaner ever sold. Hoover discontinued the Convertible in 1996, a year before the Windtunnel was first sold. However, there is a model still sold by the Commercial division, under the name of "Guardsman".
Then during the 1960s, Hoover came out with the Dial-A-Matic in the US (also known as the DAM), and then later in the UK the Convertible, the same machine as the DAM but the same name as the US cleaner. This was the first ever Clean-Air upright cleaner. The principle is similar to the flow of air through a cylinder/canister cleaner, but in an upright design. Hoover continues to market clean-air designs, but with modern improvements. The most comparable model in the modern model range, is most likely the Hoover Tempo. This cleaner, even though it had a huge advantage, did not sell as well as the Convertible, or in the U.K, the Senior. It is currently harder to find one of these than a Convertible.
In the UK, the term "hoover" has long been colloquially synonymous with vacuum cleaner, owing to the Hoover Company's dominance there in the first half of the 20th century. Although the company is no longer the top seller of vacuum cleaners in the UK, the term "hoover" has remained as a genericized trademark.
Over the years, Hoover diversified into other product lines, including kitchen appliances, hair dryers, and industrial equipment.
[edit] Ownership transitions
The company was owned by the Hoover family until the 1940s, when it then became a publicly traded company. The company's stock was first traded on August 6, 1943. In 1985, the company was purchased by Chicago Pacific Corporation and, in 1989, Chicago Pacific was purchased by Maytag.
In 2004, Maytag announced that it would consolidate its corporate office and back office operations in Newton, Iowa and close almost all of Hoover's overlapping functions. This effectively meant that most white-collar jobs at Hoover's North Canton location would be eliminated. The company had previously closed another manufacturing facility in Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio, and the facility was sold to a church. Like many manufacturing companies in the U.S., Hoover is facing pressures as consumers demand lower-priced goods. Hoover has operations in Mexico, where operating costs are lower than in the U.S.
After Maytag was acquired by Whirlpool in 2006, that firm reached an agreement to sell Hoover to Hong Kong, China-based firm Techtronic Industries.[1] TTI has announced its intention to close the original plant in North Canton in September 2007.
[edit] Free Flights Promotion
In 1992, the British division of Hoover announced the Hoover free flights promotion, the demand for which rose far beyond the company's expectations, resulting in major costs and public relations problems for the British division and Maytag, which eventually led to its sale to the Italian manufacturer Candy. In 1993, Sandy Jack became the first person in the United Kingdom to take Hoover to court over the Hoover free flights promotion. Upon the decision in Hoover v. Sandy Jack at Sheriff Court in Kirkcaldy, Fife, a precedent is set. Hoover Holiday Pressure Group furthered court action against Hoover at St. Helens in Merseyside.
[edit] Hoover Constellation - The Canister without Wheels
Hoover is also notable for an extremely unusual vacuum cleaner, the Hoover Constellation, which is canister type but lacks wheels. Instead, the vacuum cleaner floats on its exhaust, operating as a hovercraft. Introduced in 1952, they are quite collectable today, and are easily identified by the spherical shape of the canister. Hoover later brought out a development of the Constellation design, the Celebrity. Lighter and more powerful, they were excellent cleaners and floated almost too well, skidding across the carpets behind the user! Both designs remain very interesting machines; they work well in homes of nostalgia buffs. Hoover have now relaunched the Constellation, although in the UK, it is now known as 'The Maytag Satellite'. Almost identical to the original, it has such modern refinements as a powerful 2000w motor, HEPA filtration and an air-driven turbobrush.
[edit] Products available in the USA
Note: Some model designs may be available in foreign markets, under a different brand name, i.e. not Hoover.
[edit] WindTunnel
In 1997, Hoover launched vacuums with patented WindTunnel technology that have dual air ducts that lift and trap dirt without scattering it. WindTunnel Technology is available in bagged and bagless vacuums, including the WindTunnel + Cyclonic that debuted in mid-2007. It uses cyclonic technology, lifetime belts and an automatic cord rewind. WindTunnel 2 was launched in 2006. The vacuums were created to give the consumer less maintenance on the vacuum, with self cleaning HEPA filters that are equipped only in bagless vacuums, lifetime belts, and an extra reach hose.
Note: Windtunnel Technology is also employed in certain UK Vax vacuum cleaners, notably the "Mach" Series.
[edit] Fusion
Fusion is a line of bagless vacuums with cyclonic technology, the vacuums are sold under $150 at many retailers, The Fusion removes dirt and kills allergies layer around the home with a powerful suction. The PowerMax Fusion Vacuum debuted in early 2007 and created exclusively for HSN became one of their #1 Hoover Vacuums at the network and one of the most popular vacuum cleaners in addition to Dyson and iRobot's "Roomba".
[edit] Tempo
The bottom line Hoover for home customers, is a mock of the late Hoover Elite. It comes in bagless and bagged models, and is like the WindTunnel but without the WindTunnel technology.
[edit] EmPower
In 2005, Hoover introduced the Hoover EmPower. It has a "Hush mode" for quieter vacuuming and a "Power Boost" for hard-to-clean messes. It is the first Hoover vacuum with a variable power control.
[edit] SteamVac
Introduced in the early 1990s, the SteamVac shampoos carpets using a mixture of water and detergent to pick up deep down dirt in the carpet and collect it in a separate recovery tank. In 2003, Hoover developed SpinScrub brushes, which are round-shaped powered brushes that massage carpet fibers on all sides. Most original SteamVacs and high-powered SteamVacs have SpinScrub brushes.
[edit] FloorMate
Introduced in 2004, it is designed to vacuum, wash, and dry bare floors. Original models used a stationary brush, but later they had SpinScrub brushes. It has once became one of America's best-selling hard floor cleaners. Hoover recommends Old English Hard Wood Floor Cleaner & Lysol Hard Floor Cleaner designed for the FloorMate.
Hoover is a major supplier to Wal-Mart, HSN, Kohl's, & other big name retailers.
[edit] Competition
Hoover, over the past decade, has lost its dominant position in the UK and in the US and now faces strong competition from a whole array of brands. Some of those brands are Dyson, Eureka, Electrolux, Vax, Dirt Devil, Panasonic, Bissell and Kenmore (Parent company Panasonic)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Hoover official site (US)
- Hoover official site (UK)
- Hoover official site (Canada)
- Hoover official site (Italy)
- Maytag official site
- The Vintage Hoover Emporium
- Old Merthyr Tydfil: Hoover Ltd.- Historical Photographs of the Hoover Factory at Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
- TTI Floor Care North America
- Vax official site (UK)
