Transcript

Section 2: You will hear a radio broadcast about a new museum which specializes in vacuum cleaners.

A new museum has just opened dedicated to vacuum cleaners.

Yes, that’s right—vacuum cleaners, the machines powered by electricity that suck up the dust and dirt from the floor.

The museum’s opened in a town called Eastwood in central England.

Until now, Eastwood used to be an industrial town where people used to be employed as coal miners, but then a local resident called James Brown became frustrated with the nation’s failure to recognize the importance of vacuum cleaners, and he decided to set up his own museum.

James first fell in love with vacuum cleaners when he was only four years old. At the time, his mother was unwell, so he used to help her out by vacuuming the house, and it was to be the start of the lifelong love affair with this humble household appliance.

However, it wasn’t until James was eight years old that he first acquired his own vacuum cleaner. After it had been thrown away on the streets, he took it home, cleaned it up, and plugged it in. Amazingly, it still worked, and that was the beginning of his collections.

By the time he was in his teens, his collection had grown to 30. The collection continued to grow until it reached the final count of 126, which it stands at today.

James is delighted to share his enthusiasm for vacuum cleaners with visitors. One of his favorite party tricks is to blindfold his eyes so he can’t see and ask someone to switch on one of the machines. When I tested him out on five different machines, switching them on and pushing them across the floor, he had no problem telling me the manufacturer of each one, and he could even tell its age.

Although now a common household appliance, it wasn’t until the 1950s that most people could afford to buy a vacuum cleaner, as before that, they were very expensive. In today’s money, you would have had to pay around a third of the price of an average car, which is around three months’ wages for most people. Like most modern appliances, the invention of a production line halved the price almost immediately.

But James is not the only vacuum cleaner aficionado out there, and a few years ago, he made a special trip to the USA to the factory of his favorite—the Kirby vacuum cleaner. There is also an American website called Vacuumland that’s dedicated to vacuum cleaner collectors. This year, they’re even holding a convention in Texas with competitions, awards, and lectures on the subject. So James might want to pop back to the United States to meet some vacuum lovers.

So if you’ve been inspired and want to visit James’s vacuum cleaner museum, what days could you go to visit? Well, they’re open all year round from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., from Tuesdays to Saturdays, except Thursdays when they’re open until 7 p.m., and Mondays when the museum is closed.

The history of the vacuum cleaner is an interesting one. The first commercially available powered vacuum cleaner was invented in 1901 and was called the Puffing Billy. It was so large it had to be pulled by horses and parked outside the house where the cleaning was being done. It was initially driven by an oil engine, although it was later adapted to be powered by electricity, and it was used to clean the carpets and the palace of King Edward VII in London.

One of the most famous electric vacuum cleaners is known as the Hoover. This was developed in the USA in 1908. It’s often thought that it was created by a Mr. Hoover, but in fact, it was created by a James Spangler who worked as a cleaner in a department store. Mr. Hoover was a businessman who bought the idea and then developed and marketed it in the USA and other countries.

The Electrolux Model 5 was developed in 1925. Up until that time, vacuum cleaners had been heavy devices which were not easily bought. This was a lighter model which laid on the floor and could be pulled along on two strips of metal, and this was an idea that was copied by many other manufacturers.

Then there’s the Electrolux 30 or XXX which was developed in 1937 in the USA and is perhaps the most visually elegant vacuum cleaner of all, with its sleek lines inspired by the Art Deco architecture popular in the 1930s.

The most prized model in James’ museum is the Kirby model which is actually gold-plated. Kirby made pieces as trophies, but they also manufactured vacuum cleaners for everyday use, sold only by salesmen who demonstrated them directly in the customer’s home. But even the everyday model might eventually become a collectors’ item.

Now if you want to visit the museum…