A carpet sweeper is a mechanical device for the cleaning of carpets in place. They were popular before the vacuum cleaner and have been largely superceded by them. A carpet is any loom-woven, felted textile or grass floor covering. ... Canister vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from carpeted floors. ...
A carpet sweeper typically consists of a small box. The base of the box has rollers and brushes, connected by a belt or gears. There is also a container for dirt. The arrangement is such that when pushed along a floor the rollers turn and force the brushes to rotate. The brushes sweep dirt and dust from the floor into the container. Carpets sweepers would frequently have a height adjustment that enabled them to work on different lengths of carpet, or carpetless floors. The sweeper would usually have a long handle so that it could be pushed without bending over.
Carpet cleaning before the advent of the mechanical carpetsweeper was a laborious task.
Carpets were swept with hand-held whisk brooms and, once or twice a year, were taken outside, hung over a clothesline, and pounded with a carpet beater.
The Bissells' vigorous promotion of their sweepers, coupled with the machine's effectiveness and the new public awareness of the existence of germs, secured the widespread popularity of their carpetsweeper.