--- title: Google Doodle Honors British Engineer Hubert Cecil Booth description: Today's Google Doodle marks the 147th birthday of Hubert Cecil Booth, the brains behind one of the first powered vacuum cleaners canonical: https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-04T03:18:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:54.405Z og:title: Google Doodle Honors British Engineer Hubert Cecil Booth og:description: Booth's vacuum cleaner fundamentally changed home cleaning og:url: https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e8653afe2eb34d/6989349e4ee26285cf31240d/screen-shot-2018-07-04-at-9-45-48-am.png?branch=production&width=1020&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1020 og:image:height: 574 og:image:alt: Google Doodle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Honors British Engineer Hubert Cecil Booth twitter:description: Booth's vacuum cleaner fundamentally changed home cleaning twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e8653afe2eb34d/6989349e4ee26285cf31240d/screen-shot-2018-07-04-at-9-45-48-am.png?branch=production&width=1020&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Honors the Inventor of the First Powered Vacuum Cleaner Hubert Cecil Booth > Sponsored content. 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Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jul 4, 2018 3:18 AM UTC  Google Doodle celebrates British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth, inventor of the vacuum cleaner on July 4, 2018. Google Doodle celebrates British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth, inventor of the vacuum cleaner on July 4, 2018. Goodle by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jul 4, 2018 3:18 AM UTC The trusty vacuum cleaner has long been a staple in any home storage closet. But a century ago, it was considered cutting edge technology. Wednesday’s [Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/hubert-cecil-booths-147th-birthday) celebrates the 147th birthday of Hubert Cecil Booth, the brains behind one of the the first powered vacuum cleaners — a product that fundamentally changed home cleaning. In 1901, cleaning machines blew air to push away debris. Booth was struck by the possibility of the inverse method: suction to remove the dirt. Inspired by a demonstration of a machine blowing dirt out of railway cars, the British engineer tested his new idea by putting his handkerchief to his mouth and sucking the air through it, to see how much dust he could remove. From there, he set out on his first design called the “Puffing Billy.” But operating the Puffing Billy was quite a spectacle, as it required experts (and horses) to pull the petrol-powered engine outside a home from where it would suck out the dirt from long hoses. In 1903, Booth launched the British Vacuum Cleaner Company and created a smaller electric-powered device. Despite noise complaints, the machine was embraced by the elite and even the British royal family. Booth’s device was even used to clean the carpets at Westminster Abbey ahead of Edward VII’s coronation.  The invention of the vacuum cleaner is generally credited to Hubert Cecil Booth. He built his first machine in 1901 and this one is very similar. It was made for Osborne House, a training college for naval officers on the Isle of Wight. Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images Booth set out on an engineering path early on. Born in 1871, the Gloucester-native entered the City and Guilds Institute in London in 1889 for a three-year course in civil engineering and mechanical engineering. Booth lent his mind to other engineering products too. He helped build bridges, designed engines for Royal Navy battleships, and Ferris wheels across Europe in England, France, and Austria. But his most enduring design would be a household cleaning device that, albeit is far smaller now, changed the way homes are maintained.  In 1901, Hubert Cecil Booth invented the first successful vacuum cleaner. His first machine, 'Puffing Billy', had a 5 hp piston pump driven by a petrol/gasoline engine or electric motor. Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images Wednesday’s animated Doodle depicts an operator cleaning a carpet using the Puffing Billy, with the engine housed in the company’s iconic red horse-drawn van parked outside. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Honors the Inventor of the First Powered Vacuum Cleaner Hubert Cecil Booth","datePublished":"2018-07-04T03:18:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:54.405Z","description":"Booth's vacuum cleaner fundamentally changed home cleaning","url":"https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e8653afe2eb34d/6989349e4ee26285cf31240d/screen-shot-2018-07-04-at-9-45-48-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e8653afe2eb34d/6989349e4ee26285cf31240d/screen-shot-2018-07-04-at-9-45-48-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Google Doodle","caption":"Google Doodle celebrates British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth, inventor of the vacuum cleaner on July 4, 2018.","creditText":"Goodle","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/","name":"Google Doodle Honors the Inventor of the First Powered Vacuum Cleaner Hubert Cecil Booth"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5330077/google-doodle-hubert-cecil-booth-vacuum-cleaner/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```