Vacuum Cleaner Spares
@ Comet
- Vacuum cleaner spares for Dyson, Hoover, Dirt Devil, LG, Vax, Aqua Vac, Henry, LG, Miele, oreck, Philips and many more manufacturers. The site contains "exploded diagrams" to help you locate the part you need more quickly. The range of spares sold includes not only bags and filters, but also individual components such as seals, valves, thermal cut outs, screws, wheels, washers and more.

There is also a wide selection of upright and cylinder models, together with wet and dry, hand helds and accessories. Many of the products on sale are at web exclusive discount prices.

Vacuum cleaners - information and a brief history

A vacuum cleaner is an electrical appliance that uses a pump to provide suction to remove dirt from carpeted and solid floors. Many vacuum cleaners have different attachments to suit different surfaces - for example a brush attachment is used to beat a carpet to release the dirt and dust that is held within it, whereas for solid floors no brush is required, as it would just disperse the dirt. This is why upright vacuum cleaners are used more for floors with carpets, and cylinder cleaners are used more for solid floors (eg wooden or tiled floors.)

The first vacuum cleaner was invented in 1869 and was called the "Whirlwind". It had a hand powered suction fan, but no brush. In 1875, a hand powered vacuum cleaner that incorporated both a brush and suction was invented. The first electrically powered vacuum cleaner was invented in 1905, by Chapman and Skinner - however, it was so big and bulky it never gained popular appeal.

The first vacuum cleaner reminiscent of those in use today was invented by Hoover in 1908. It was called the "Model O" and had both a filter bag and cleaning attachments. The development of different enhancements to Hoover vacuum cleaners, and the dominance of Hoover in this field, meant that for many years the word "Hoover" became interchangeable with "vacuum cleaner".

James Dyson

James Dyson, (1947 - ), is an engineer and designer, best known for his invention of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, a bagless vacuum cleaner that uses a cyclone to create a centrifugal force that extracts dirt from the air without losing suction.

After being unable to sell his design to the major vacuum cleaner manufacturers of the time, he set up his own manufacturing company to produce the "Dysons". They became very popular with buyers as there is no bag to buy and replace (although the various filters inside the Dyson have to be washed or replaced from time to time).

Once his cyclone vacuum cleaner had gained popular appeal, it was copied by other manufacturers who marketed their own bagless vacuum cleaners. However, Dyson sued Hoover for breaching his patent, and won £3 million damages.

Dyson also invented the ball wheelbarrow. He has now incorporated this "ball design" into the Dyson DC15, which is designed to be more manouvreable than the standard models.

What does the future hold?

Ultimately, these floor cleaners will clean carpets and floors without any assistance from you or me. Already in existence are robot vacuums which will clean your floor unaided, using in built cameras so that they don't bump into your furniture. However, the current models are not sufficiently powerful and take a long time to clean rooms. Also, some are too bulky to fit underneath furniture such as sofas (but if you never move your sofa to clean underneath it, what does that matter?)

How to get the best from your vacuum

• Ensure that you empty the bag or cylinder when it is less than 70% full - this will make the suction more efficient.
• Clean or replace the filters regularly in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
• Try not to suck up money, sweet wrappers, hair, straws, bits of lego and other rubbish usually left around by children. These items tend to lodge themselves in various pipes and you will need to perform surgery on your appliance in order to remove them and restore full suction.