1800's Agan Vacuum

When I first went to the Hoover Historical Center in August/September of 1980, Stacy Krammes, gave me a series of black and white glossies. One of those was the picture posted above of the non electrics. She also gave me descriptions of various machines which included the Whirlwind and the Agan. For years I took this a factual information, but have since come to learn it was completely incorrect. According to Hoover, the Agan was manufactured by Whitehead and Hoag in Newark, New Jersey, only months after Mc'Gaffy's Whirlwind and the name was not based on that of F. W. Agan, both were completely separate. Unfortunately, I have never been able to figure out what Whitehead and Hoag had to do with the earliest of vacuum cleaners, as they were a company which made buttons. What is correct is that it WAS the second vacuum cleaner introduced.

Sometime after 1875, vacuum cleaners were a dime a dozen with everybody jumping on the band-wagon with new ideas. The first of the tank styles was the Hercules manufactured in Rochester, New York by the father and son team of Peck and Peck, but again I haven't found any documentation other that the patent dates. It seems that like Mc'Gaffy, these were all a design conjured up in some basement, but quickly died on the vine.

As for the Hoover company, they were not in the business of research, the person who wrote the documentation took the data, which was hopelessly incorrect and printed it. If any of the historians here at Vacuumland can figure out exactly who produced the Agan, let me know, I'd love to get he answer to that one.


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Post# 424254 4/25/2020 at 19:57 (1,451 days old) by Bvac6 (Fort Wayne, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Super cool, wish I had money to buy it! It appears to be missing the brush roller. CLICK HERE TO GO TO Bvac6's LINK on eBay

Post# 424484 , Reply# 1 4/30/2020 at 04:51 (1,447 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Holy moly what a cool find - I wonder why or how it escaped a museum? Maybe it was on a loan? I've never seen anything like that. I guess this is how the concept came about of using a rotating handle to maintain suction like those friction sweepers. I wonder if the seller maybe mis-credited this vacuum to a different Agan? There was an F.W. Agan that made a rotating wheel type vacuum cleaner that had just a hose on it to suck dirt up that made and patented it in 1907. Much earlier (32 years earlier) I found a blurb about another Agan from 1875. "Another, the Agan sweeper of 1875, was the first to combine manual suction with rotating brushes. It�s difficult to imagine operating these early vacuums proficiently, let alone with the sort of ease that would justify their purchase. Models of this period seemed to be designed for humans with four arms instead of two." www.saturdayeveningpost.c... Also I found what might be the exact same one (I can't imagine there being more than one) on page 58 of "The Vacuum Cleaner: A History By Carroll Gantz" tinyurl.com/y8lg25dv... It looks like it came from the old Hoover museum in the 1950's? (if that is what HHC means, Hoover Historical Collection). It's amazing how these pass around through time - glad it's still around. View Full Size

Post# 424488 , Reply# 2 4/30/2020 at 08:20 (1,447 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky)
Checkrate/Likes *Belt driven vac with hose* This? 1898revenues.blogspot.com/2012/09...

Post# 424509 , Reply# 3 4/30/2020 at 13:26 (1,446 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Correct. The patents for that are from 1907. The Agan sweeper on eBay is from 1875. There's a 30 year difference between the two so unless Mr. Agan was a child when he made the sweeper, I do not think the same Agan made the 1907 one.

Post# 424511 , Reply# 4 4/30/2020 at 13:29 (1,446 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Just found a piece of info that Frank W. Agan was born in 1868 and died in 1950. If this is the same Agan sweeper - he made it when he was 7 years old. I don't think its the same person - but you never know - the 1800's was a different time.

Post# 424587 , Reply# 5 5/1/2020 at 13:07 (1,445 days old) by Caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *A hard nut to crack.* When I first went to the Hoover Historical Center in August/September of 1980, Stacy Krammes, gave me a series of black and white glossies. One of those was the picture posted above of the non electrics. She also gave me descriptions of various machines which included the Whirlwind and the Agan. For years I took this a factual information, but have since come to learn it was completely incorrect. According to Hoover, the Agan was manufactured by Whitehead and Hoag in Newark, New Jersey, only months after Mc'Gaffy's Whirlwind and the name was not based on that of F. W. Agan, both were completely separate. Unfortunately, I have never been able to figure out what Whitehead and Hoag had to do with the earliest of vacuum cleaners, as they were a company which made buttons. What is correct is that it WAS the second vacuum cleaner introduced. Sometime after 1875, vacuum cleaners were a dime a dozen with everybody jumping on the band-wagon with new ideas. The first of the tank styles was the Hercules manufactured in Rochester, New York by the father and son team of Peck and Peck, but again I haven't found any documentation other that the patent dates. It seems that like Mc'Gaffy, these were all a design conjured up in some basement, but quickly died on the vine. As for the Hoover company, they were not in the business of research, the person who wrote the documentation took the data, which was hopelessly incorrect and printed it. If any of the historians here at Vacuumland can figure out exactly who produced the Agan, let me know, I'd love to get he answer to that one.