| By :
Mark Etinger
Anyone who has been watching HBO's Boardwalk Empire, a historic drama based on the illegal bootlegging activities in Atlantic City during the times of Prohibition, will remember the scene where one of the male characters brings the mother of his child a new kitchen appliance called a vacuum. At first, the mother refuses to use it, as the loud noise her new kitchen appliance makes startles the couples young son, and despite the obvious convenience she still prefers to sweep with her broom and dustpan. Eventually, however, the advantages of the new kitchen appliance become too obvious to ignore, and the mother is seen using it despite how much it obviously startles her son. Of course, fans of the show would argue the reason the mother starts using the vacuum is a respectful tribute to the father, since she doesn't start using it until after he has mysteriously deserted her. However, I'm not writing this to discuss the hidden cinematic messages of Boardwalk Empire. What I found surprising was my own personal initial reaction, as I caught myself thinking; Wow, I didn't realize how long vacuums have been around. After all, the show takes place during Prohibition, and the idea that they had vacuums before World War II was a total shock to me. And then I paused, and realized, I really have no idea when vacuums were invented, and there was no reason for me to make the assumption that they wouldn't be around in 1918. I guess I just jump to the assumption that the majority of discount home and discount kitchen appliances are relatively new kitchen appliances. I couldn't be more wrong. The toaster oven was first introduced back in 1905, even before the vacuum. The microwave was first getting patented in the 1930s. And even some of the more advanced and commonly used new kitchen appliances were developed as long as forty years ago. The discount cuisinart food processor first became available in the early 70s. The crock-pot, or slow cooker, was also introduced around the same time. Now, some of you may remember a time before cuisinarts and slow-cookers... but surely there isn't a soul still around that remembers a time before a Shopvac Vacuum. And in case you were still wondering, the vacuum was first patented by Ives McGaffey on June 8th of 1869.... Over forty years BEFORE the HBO show Boardwalk Empire takes place. In 1901 a British engineer by the name of Hubert Cecil Booth publically displayed a vacuum cleaner... though to consider it anything remotely related to the vacuum cleaners of today would seem preposterous. The new kitchen appliance couldn't even fit into the home; it was ahorse-drawn, gasoline-powered device that had to be parked outside of a building and had long hoses that would go into the home to be used for cleaning. Imagine how that would have petrified the son in HBOs Boardwalk Empire?
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