17 strange and hilarious old-timey vacuums

Vacuum cleaners weren't always sleek handhelds or self-directing robots.

This image of an early vacuum cleaner came from a handbook for architects, circa 1911. The text advocated wiring new buildings to be vacuum-cleaner friendly, citing "the inestimable value of a portable cleaning system in apartments, hotels, churches and homes."

This is what portable cleanliness looked like around the dawn of the 20th century: "A dust receiver and motor are mounted upon an iron frame, which in turn is carried on two 16-inch rubber tired wheels, enabling the operator to easily move it around," raved an electrical news publication of the era.

Around the year 1890, magazines and catalogues sang the praises of vacuums like this Bissell, with its ball-bearing technology.

The Reeves Suction Sweeper from the early 20th century looked pretty sleek for the era.

In the early 1900s, hygiene handbooks also advocated boxy "hand-run vacuum cleaners" as an alternative to "the barbarous broom" in battling "those baleful twins, bacteria and dust."

This is how trains used to get clean -- with a vacuum cleaner on 20-inch wheels.

From a 1908 railway journal: "The entire equipment consists of one 12-in. carpet sweeper; two 4-in. renovating nozzles...one 50-ft. piece of vacuum hose; one reducer, for reducing from hose nipple to small tools, and one blower to nozzle."

Vacuums from the Spencer Turbine Cleaner Company were apparently what all the fashionable gents were wearing circa 1909.

This cello-like vacuum cleaner was used around 1912.

A doctor in 1917 described this generously sized Hoover cleaner as "being the most practical for use in our Sanitarium."

This 1912 Eureka vac "only weighs nine pounds, and is only eight inches high," a hardware merchandizing publication raved.

In 1911, a hardware merchandizing publication marveled that this vacuum cleaning "machine with the double tank" was "built entirely of malleable iron and steel (others use tin and wood)."

Around 1916, homebuilders experimented with permanent vacuum cleaning systems built right into homes. "The stationary cleaner is installed in the house much on the same plan as the heating or plumbing system," one hygiene handbook explained.

This supercool retro-futuristic design appeared in a 1919 magazine.

In the early 1920s, makers of this hulking Tuec vacuum claimed the appliance "changes the very air in every room."

The squat vacuum cleaners of 1948 boasted a "modern finish."

The Ladies Home Journals of the 1940s were festooned with ads for trash-can-like vacuums that emptied "as easy as I empty an ash tray."

This is what vacuuming in Holland looked like in the 1950s.