In 1860, Daniel Hess from IOWA of the United State invented the manual vacuum cleaner.
In 1883, German brothers Carl and Adolf Vorwerk founded Vorwerk. The company has been developing rapidly in the vacuum cleaner industry with its convincing product quality and unique direct selling mode.
In 1883, Melville Reuben Bissell and Ann Bissell formally established Bissell to market carpet sweepers.
In 1884, Robert Weintraud founded Robert Weintraud GmbH & Co KG and developed the brand Rowenta (Chinese name “haoyunda”). Up to now, Rowenta has become the most valuable brand of French SEB Group.
In 1889, 49-year-old Melville Bissell died of pneumonia, leaving behind five children and businesses. His wife Anna Bissell took over the businesses and successfully turned Bissell from a small player into a giant.
In 1899, Germany-based Miele & Cie was founded. It launched the first vacuum cleaner in 1927. Later Miele became the pronoun of high-end vacuum cleaners.
In 1905, the PA Geier Company was set up by Philip Geier and in 1953 was renamed as Royal Appliance Manufacturing. Boasting its most noted brand Dirt Devil, it was later acquired by TTI.
1906, Danish Peder Andersen Fisker and Hans Marius Nielsen founded Nifisk that was named after Nielesen and Fisker. On the European continent, Nilfisk is the first one to sell vacuum cleaners.
In 1906, James Kirby founded Kirby. After one-century development, Kirby’s vacuum cleaner products exist in the form of direct selling.
In 1908, Henry Hoover purchased a patent from Spangler. Afterwards, it established Hoover and rolled out the Model O vacuum cleaner. The Hoover brand still plays a big role in the North American market.
In 1910, Nilfisk produced the first vacuum cleaner in continental Europe, C1.
In 1919, Electrolux began to produce its vacuum cleaners that were then known as Lux AB. After a large number of acquisitions, Electrolux led in the vacuum cleaner market in Europe. Up to now, it has been a multinational home appliance giant through a series of mergers and acquisitions.
In 1953, ShopVac company was established in the UK. It later played an indispensable role in the field of barrel-type vacuums that work dry or wet.
In September 1954, Shen Yanmin, an engineer at Shanghai Yongtaihe Electric Motor Factory, developed a 200W and 400W vertical vacuum cleaner with reference to foreign prototypes. In 1955, he developed a 200W DC electric vacuum cleaner with a total output of 372 units, which was mainly used for international trains to and from the Soviet Union.
In 1956, Bissell introduced the manual carpet shampooer, which makes Bissell’s sales grow five times.
In 1958, Nilfisk began to produce the G70 model with a dust bag.
In 1966, Dahua Hardware Factory was changed to Shanghai Electric Factory No.3. It produced “Happy Brand” vacuum cleaner, with a workforce of 115 employees. In 1968, it made 2,627 vacuum cleaners.
In 1967, Robert Bosch GmbH and Siemens AG jointly established BSH Home Appliances. BSH became the largest home appliance company in Europe relying on its strength. Bosch acquired 50% shares of Siemens shares in 2014, making BSH its wholly-owned subsidiary.
In 1977, Alan Brazier founded VAX in the UK. VAX was once the best-seller in the UK.
In 1979, Black& Decker officially announced launch of the Dustbuster cord-free handheld vacuum cleaner, which was first of the kind in the world then. One million units were sold that year. The Dustbuster cord-free vacuum cleaner was developed by Black & Decker for NASA’s Apollo Lunar Probe Project for astronauts’ use in space.
After experimenting with 5,127 plates between 1979 and 1984, James Dyson finally invented the first vacuum cleaner without a dust bag. Dyson showed his new creation to Black & Decker, Eletrolux, Hoover and other noted makers then. Since these manufacturers mainly work on and benefit from products with dust bags at the time, they did not show interest in distributing such products that subverted their business models.
At an exhibition in Lisbon in 1981, Numatic showed their latest bucket vacuum cleaners. Out of sheer boredom, their engineers drew a big smile on the bucket, which unexpectedly turned out so popular. That was how Henry vacuum cleaner with a smile was created.
In 1985, Japan-based Apex contacted James Dyson and improved the new machine DC02 on the basis of the first-generation machine. This pink model was warmly welcomed despite the high price of $2,000. It also bagged all kinds of design awards.
In 1985, Hitachi exhibited the indoor cleaning robot sample HCR-00 at Domotechnica, which features gyroscopes and ultrasonic radar positioning.
In 1985, Techtronic Industries (TTI) was formally established with an investment of $20,000. The name was given by Roy Zhong Zhiping after inspired by ITT. Horst Pudwill worked on sales, while Roy took charge of management.
In 1986, Suzhou Vacuum Cleaner Factory produced the first generation of household vacuum cleaners in China—Chunhua branded vertical vacuum cleaner. Afterwards, it prevailed in China together with Changchen fan, Xiangxuehai refrigerator and Kongque TV. Suzhou people proudly called them “four great names”.
In 1987, Ni Zugen (later the owner of Kingclean) was transferred to civilian work from the army. At the end of the year, he served at the Suzhou Vacuum Cleaner Factory. He has served as the engineer of the motor, the director of the motor branch, and the deputy director of the plant.
On April 12, 1988, Chunhua Vacuum Cleaner General Factory was established with 7 branch factories of motor manufacturing, injection molding, stamping processing, packaging materials, accessory assembly and product assembly. Its annual output reached 8.995 million units. Reputed as Whampoa Military Academy of the vacuum field, it had direct ties with a diverse range of vacuum cleaner giants then.
In 1988, Japan-based Ryobi came to China to seek partners in production. After negotiations, Ryobi invested 20% in TTI and began to place orders. After cooperation with Ryobi, TTI got remarkably improved in quality and technology and won clients including Bissell and Royal.
In 1988, Frence-based small household appliance giant SEB Group acquired German Rowenta brand. In recent years, Rowenta vacuum cleaners have been vigorously marketed in Europe and have occupied a large market share.
In 1999, Pudwill prepared for the transformation after recognizing the limitations of the contract making. It acquired the British vacuum cleaner brand Vax from VAX International for more than $7 million.
In 1990, Ecovacs owner Qian Dongqi began to test the water in the vacuum cleaner industry. Then he formally started contract making, OEM and order-based production and processing of foreign brands.
In 1991, with the success in Japan,James Dyson started Dyson Appliances and began to sell vacuum cleaners.
In 1992, Bissell rolled out shampoo carpet cleaning machine Promax (later renamed the Powerlifter given the patent issue with Hoover). Next, Bissell launched another product, the deep carpet cleaning product Big Green. Then the smaller Little Green debuted in 1993. (The picture below shows the latest Big Green and Little Green).
In 1994, Mark Bissell replaced his father, John Bissell, as the new generation leader of Bissell until now.
In May 1994, Suzhou Chunhua Electric Co., Ltd. was established by Suzhou Vacuum Cleaner General Factory, Wuxian Microcomputer Factory and Changzhou Xushi Town Asset Management Company by the private placement. That year, Suzhou Vacuum Cleaner General Factory was granted import and export rights, and the vacuum cleaner output increased to 753,500 units, of which, 370,000 units were exported.
In August 1994, Bian Zhuang, then deputy director of the Suzhou Light Industry Bureau, resigned and set up Suzhou Aipu Electric Co., Ltd. (EUP). In the following ten years, EUP, Kingclean and TEK were noted as Top Three Vacuum Cleaner Makers.
In October 1994, Ni Zugen left Chunhua Electric and borrowed $30,000 to establish Kingclean for the ODM export business of vacuum cleaners and other products with motors as the core components.
In 1994, Nilfisk acquired the American company Advance Machine Company and began to enter the US professional cleaning market.
In May 1995, Chunhua Electric and the Philips Company of the Netherlands jointly established Suzhou Chunfei Household Appliances Co., Ltd. Philips contributed technology and orders to the development of China’s vacuum cleaner industry, presenting the most important foreign vacuum cleaner brand introduced.
In 1995, Royal faced severe market competition. TTI planned and manufactured Broom Vac for Royal that sold for $40 and was of sales of 800,000 units.
In 1996, Ningbo Fuda Electric Co., Ltd. went listed and became the first IPO of the vacuum cleaner industry.
In 1996, Li Jukun that specialized in vacuum cleaner components and parts at first founded Suzhou Chunju Electric. Through the cooperation with Philips, he became a crucial member of the second echelon of the vacuum cleaner industry.
In 1996, Dongguan Hongda Electric Co., Ltd. was formally established by the German Miele Group and Melitta Group in a 50:50 joint venture to produce Miele vacuum cleaners and other home appliances.
In 1996, Bissell acquired the Singer brand from Ryobi Motor Products, a brand of sewing machines and vacuum cleaners. Bissell thus improved its own vertical vacuum cleaner and filled the gap in the low-end product line. Over the next 8 years, Bissell outran another century-old brand Hoover (now TTI brand), and once occupied the 20% shares of the market.
In 1996, Electrolux launched the Trilobite robot vacuum cleaner (the modeling resembles the ancient creature trilobite), which is the world’s first robot cleaner equipped with an ultrasonic sensor that automatically transmits obstacle positioning. The model sold for $2,000 or so.
In 1998, Qian Dongqi founded Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (formerly Taiyikai) and began to independently develop and produce vacuum cleaners.
In 1999, Eureka, the North American subsidiary of Electrolux, unveiled a robot cleaner at the Chicago show.
In 2000, Yaochuan Electronics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd(Airtek). was established to manufacture vacuum cleaners for brands such as Electrolux, SEB, Philips, TTI.
In 2001, Dyson developed the robotic vacuum cleaner, DC06, which has 70 sensors, 54 batteries, 3 processors, 2 huge wheels and a typical Dyson-style dust bucket. Some describe “5% vacuum cleaner, 95% robot”. Given its big and bulky modeling and the possible production difficulty as well as the cost as high as $6,000, DC06 was not marketed in the end.
In 2001, LG staged the Roboking robot cleaner, no smaller than Dyson DC06, which was obviously not a good solution.
In 2002, TTI owner Horst Pudwill got the hearsay that their main customer, vacuum cleaner manufacturer Royal Appliance (owning Royal and Dirt Devil) was to be sold. He immediately contacted Royal CEO Mike Merriman and concluded the acquisition.
In 2002, Dyson moved the vacuum cleaner factory to Malaysia, sparking controversy in the UK.
In 2002, iRobot, a military robot maker, launched the real home cleaning robot Roomba, which sold for $199.95. It opened the era of intelligent robot cleaner. The first-generation Roomba 400 series used a random collision cleaning mode. It proved a big success immediately after marketed.
In May 2002, the RoboCleaner was rolled out by German company Karcher, which sold for around $1,300. Unlike its counterparts, it was fitted with a huge charging base that automatically sucks the garbage from the robot cleaner into the paper bag in the base, saving the time for cleaning.
In 2002, Ningbo Fujia Industrial Co., Ltd. was established. By virtue of the cooperation with SharkNinja, it later became a member of the second echelon of the vacuum cleaner industry.
In 2002, SIP Cinderson Motor was established, and later became the largest third-party factory in China’s vacuum cleaner motor industry. 
Dyson released the DC11 vacuum cleaner in 2003. Currently, the double-barrel or even three-barrel-type vacuum cleaners on the market all use Dyson for reference.
In May 2003, Hitachi released the Cleaning robot, HCR-03
In 2003, Samsung released the robot cleaner VC-RP30W
In 2004, Shenzhen Bona Robot entered the robot cleaner OEM industry.
In 2004, Electrolux launched the Ergorapido cord-free vacuum cleaner, which became a hit in the next 10 years, with total sales of more than 10 million units.
In 2005, Shenzhen Xrobot was established. As an early comer, it has delivered a large number of talents to the industry.
In April 2005, Jiangsu Chunhua and Guangdong Midea Electric Co., Ltd. became a joint venture that was named Jiangsu Mideamotor Electric Co., Ltd. Jiangsu Chunhua factory director Xiao Jianfu served as its general manager.
In 2005, iRobot released the Scooba mopping robot.
On November 9, 2005, iRobot was listed on NASDAQ with a great success in robot cleaner.
In 2006, Chen Hong left Positec Group and founded the CLEVA Group. CLEVA later became the largest factory in China to produce vacuum cleaners that work wet or dry. What is more, most of its brands are its own.
In 2007, Euro Pro steam mop was a great success in the North American market. As the third generation of the family, Mark Rosenweig successfully transformed the main business from sewing machine to cleaning product, and in the next decade Mark Rosenweig (Mark R.) and his partner Mark Barrocas (Mark B.) led Euro Pro to raise the market share from a 1% to 30%. In 2015, Euro Pro changed its name to SharkNinja.
In 2007, Nilfisk acquired the professional cleaning equipment company Dongguan Viper
In 2007, TTI acquired the floor cleaning business of the Hoover brand from home appliance giant Whirlpool for $107 million in cash, and merged the original Royal and Dirt Devil businesses. TTI Floor Care became the largest cleaning appliance manufacturer in North America.
On June 11, 2007, Puppy electric appliance store opened on Taobao.com, as one of the early home appliance brands on this platform. With the rapid development of e-commerce over ten years, Puppy Appliances has worked hard alongside to build its own brand in the e-commerce industry.
In 2009, Ecovacs launched the Deepoo series of robot cleaner products. It has rapidly developed in the robot cleaner industry and become the industry leader.
In 2010, Guangdong Xinbao Electric Co., Ltd. established the Anhui Chuzhou factory and entered the vacuum cleaner industry. In 2014, Xinbao Electric went listed in the main board with the brand in China “Donlim” developed.
In February 2010, the Neato XV-11 robot cleaner was launched for $399. This is the first laser range finder that can rotate 360 degrees to scan the surrounding environment and perform instant positioning and environmental map construction (SLAM). Based on a reasonable planning of the cleaning route, the robot cleaner began to give up random cleaning and embrace the planned cleaning. Neato can also perform breakpoint memory recovery. When it automatically returns for charging due to insufficient power, it can resume the unfinished work smoothly.
In 2010, Verwork, a German home appliance company, led a $12 million financing in Neato’s D-round.
In 2010, iRobot, a smart robot cleaner company, announced that it reached an agreement with Jabil Electronics and the latter was to manufacture its intelligent robot vacuum cleaners in China 
In 2010, Dyson sued competitor VAX (under TTI) in the UK, claiming that his opponent’s Mach Zen vacuum cleaner infringed Dyson’s patent for vacuum cleaner DC02, a product made 15 years ago. At last, the British court rejected Dyson’s claim.
In 2011, Bissell also announced its new rental business of Big Green’s carpet washing machine, directly challenging the giant Rug Doctor in this field. At that time, Rug Doctor’s machine sold for $600, and rented a day for $24.99 (not including cleaning agent), while Bissell entered the market at $400.With the support of the chain store Lowe’s, Bissell’s Big Green carpet deep cleaning machine quickly spread to more than 800 stores.
In 2011, Verwork launched the model VR-100 robot cleaner, with Neato as its contract maker. 
In 2012, Shenzhen ILIFE Technology began to produce robot cleaner. In the future, ILIFE became an indispensable part of the robot cleaner industry with the cooperation with Ecovacs.
In 2013, Oreck filed for bankruptcy and TTI acquired Oreck to enter the commercial cleansing system.
In 2013, TTI closed its own vacuum cleaner factory in China, and sought full contract making (TTI vacuum cleaner business worth as high as 1 billion US dollars). Ningbo Dechang Motor served as one of key contract makers of TTI.
In June 2013, iRobot sued five companies in German courts for violating iRobot’s Roomba patent.
The five companies are: Pardus GmbH, Emparanza y Galdos Internacional SA, Elektrogerate Solac Vertrieb GmbH, Electrodomesticos Solac SA, and Celaya. (The picture below shows the comparison between the two models)
On September 1, 2014, the European Union officially implemented the first phase of the energy efficiency standard (ErP) for vacuum cleaners, utterly altering the shape of the vacuum cleaner in the EU market.
In 2014, after Jiejiabao, a subsidiary of Hong Kong Chiaphua Industries, withdrew from China, Bissell and contract making giant Flextronics (Flex) reached an agreement that Flex continued to make vacuum cleaners in the original Chiaphua Industrial Park.
In September 2014, Dyson released 360 Eyes for $999. Dyson, the noted traditional vacuum cleaner brand, finally returned to the robot cleaner market in 2014 after the failure of the robot cleaner program. In 2014, the high-end robot cleaner 360Eye was launched. The robot used the camera mounted on the top to observe and analyze the surrounding environment in an all-round way instead of more than 70 sensors applied to DC06. It applied the algorithm to get the map of the room and make navigation, judge the current moving route according to the position change of each landmark in the front and rear images, and update and adjust the environment model it builds. However, Dyson 360Eyes has also been criticized for its high noise and failure to clean the bottom of some sofas due to high thickness.
In 2015, Dyson accused European giants Siemens and Bosch of cheating in the EU vacuum cleaner energy efficiency test. Dyson announced that Bosch and Siemens use sensors to send signals to the vacuum cleaner motor to win the AAAA rating in the dust-free test environment, while in actual use environment only E or F rating may be achieved.
In 2015, Dyson released the Dyson V6 handheld rechargeable vacuum cleaner and began to lead the trend of the vacuum cleaner industry (digital motor of 120,000 rpm, in contrast with the previous motor of 25,000 rpm, and the current motor applied to vacuum motors in China of 80,000 rpm. The cord-free charging products in the entire vacuum cleaner industry enjoys an annual growth rate of 30-40%.
On May 13, 2015, LEXY successfully landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Ni Zugen family was once the richest in Suzhou.
On November 12, 2015, Suzhou Ittar Technology (834236.OC) was listed on the New Third Board.
In 2015, Panasonic launched the triangular-shaped robot cleaner Rulo.
In September 2015, iRobot launched the robot cleaner Roomba 980 (priced at $899). The latest iAdapt 2.0 pathfinding technology was applied and VSLAM and overall planning function were highlighted. At the top of the Roomba980, unlike the lidar used in the past, a camera with an angle of about 45 degrees is mounted, and the captured image is processed by a positioning algorithm to identify the features. In this way, while the program is running, the robot will establish an environmental map while estimating its position in the environment to realize a precise cleaning path and a high level of cleaning coverage.
In October 2015, Bissell, a North American vacuum cleaner brand with more than 140 years of history, launched the Smart Cleaner robot cleaner.
In 2016, Dyson released the V8 cord-free vacuum cleaner. Dyson started to prevail globally, relying on the powerful performance of the V8.
In August 2016, Xiaomi Roborock launched the Mijia robot cleaner, which uses the laser radar navigation technology and the overall planning in algorithm. It was priced at RMB 1,699 while products of this kind usually sold for over RMB 4,000. In this way, the model enjoyed sales of more than 1 billion yuan.
On December 6, 2016, Puppy Appliance Internet Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (abbreviation: Puppy Appliance, Securities Code: 870077) was officially listed in the National SME Share Transfer System.
On December 6, 2016, due to the significant decline in Eureka’s business in North America, appliance giant Electrolux sold the Eureka brand to the Midea for $60 million.
In September 2017, US-based robot cleaner manufacturer iRobot filed a lawsuit against 11 competitors accusing them of violating the company’s six technical patents (valid patent registration numbers in the US: 6809490, 7155308, 8474090, 8600553, 9038233, 9486924). It applied for the 337 investigation and issued a limited exclusion order and prohibition order, targeting 3 Chinese companies and 8 foreign companies, including Shenzhen ILIFE Technology Co., Ltd., Suzhou Realpower Electric Co., Ltd., Shenzhen XRobot as well as American Bissell, Hoover (TTI) and Royal Appliance (TTI), Canadian bObsweep (US and Canada), American Black& Decker, China Taiwan Matsutek and MSI. MSI subsequently reached a settlement agreement with iRobot to exit the robot cleaner market.
In September 2017, SharkNinja, a noted small household appliance brand in North America, unveiled the first robot cleaner ION Robot, which was priced at $299. It was widely recognized that iRobot would face significant pressure, which made iRobot’s share price fall by more than 15%.
On August 18, 2017, CDH Investment announced the acquisition of SharkNinja, the leading brand in the North American market (the amount of the acquisition is said to be over 10 billion). The acquisition was faintly related to listed Joyoung and also led to the OEM pattern change in this industry.
On September 1, 2017, the second phase of the EU Energy Efficiency Standard (ErP II) was officially implemented, requiring that the power of the whole machine no more than 900W, and the actual power no more than 700W in the general sense.
On September 15, 2017, China Dive announced it terminated the plan of the equity acquisition of Guangdong Bona Robot Co., Ltd.
On September 22, 2017, the noted German home appliance brand Verwork (with a turnover of $3.6 billion in 2016) announced the acquisition of the remaining shares of Neato, No.2 robot cleaner player. Neato became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Verwork.
On December 22, 2017, Ecovacs submitted a prospectus, and founder Qian Dongqi and his son Qian Cheng became the largest shareholders.
At the end of 2017, Matsutek Industrial used the Taiwan Industrial Technology Institute VSLAM patent to sue iRobot to the China Intellectual Property Office. Finally, Matsutek Industrial and iRobot reached a settlement agreement that they did not prosecute each other, and had access to the US market.
On March 20, 2018, the Ecovacs Robot IPO was approved. According to the Ecovacs prospectus, Ecovacs sales reached 1.966 billion in January-June 2017. Shenzhen ILIFE made Ecovacs robots worth 490 million yuan in 2016.
In March 2018, Roborock launched a robot priced at RMB 999 in ways to seize the low-end random robot cleaner market. Will it carry forward the brilliance?
In March 2018, Dyson unveiled the latest cord-free vacuum cleaner V10, and announced no more development of corded vacuum cleaners. Thus, the vacuum industry started to go cordless.
In 2018, Airtek closed its businesses and its customers were shifted to other makers. 
In August 2018, Bissell acquired the Sanitaire brand from Electrolux and entered the commercial cleaning market.
On November 8, 2018, after repeated appeals from Dyson, the EU energy efficiency standards were to be abolished.
In 2017-2018, Spain’s Cecotec (Conga brand) emerged from the e-commerce business, and in a short period of time, the annual shipment of robot cleaner vacuum cleaner reached several hundred thousand, another sign of the rise of the global e-commerce industry.
In March 2019, Dyson revealed the latest V11 cord-free vacuum cleaner equipped with smart sensors, which marked the vacuum cleaner industry entered the intelligent era. In addition, the 21700 battery applied to the V11 also leads the industry toward a larger capacity battery.
In March 2019, TTI debuted the strategic One Power series, re-establishing a universal battery platform for home appliances. If it works, a standardized sample for the entire small appliance industry going cord-free will be offered.
