Dust bunnies

The first vacuum, operated by hand pump, was patented in Chicago in 1869.

The first gasoline-powered vacuum, developed in Great Britain in 1901, was so large that horses pulled it to the client's building, where it operated outside after workers fed long hoses through the windows of the house.

Disposable vacuum bags should be changed when they're half full because suction begins to degrade and the vacuum's motor starts to labor, according to the Vacuum Dealers Trade Association (vdta.com). Never empty and reuse a disposable bag, because it can cut cleaning efficiency severely.

In Canada, about 90 percent of homes built in the last three years were plumbed for central vacuums, while in the United States last year, only about 10 percent of new homes were. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (aham.org) expects this figure to increase 50 percent over the next five years.

Electrolux has introduced the Trilobite, which it says is the world's first robotic vacuum (as in, ''we made ours before the Roomba, even if you heard of that one first"). It is named for a prehistoric creature that once walked the ocean floor, ''cleaning" as it went.

Sources: www.gizmohighway.com and www.about.com