Loft debris

[AMc]

I assume that this call out happens regardless and no-one else has such insurance?

I think it will replace it though if things go wrong.

Indeed £55 - just ask them http://www.dyson.co.uk/survey/default.asp?id=SERVICE_REQUEST

IMHO Henry's are also good cleaners and if I was going to do the job the OP suggested I would probably hire the industrial jobs that my chimney sweeps use

(I'm stopping talking about hoovers now)

 

[Geoff Flegg]

We must be posh, we're a multi-hoover family - Dyson and an ancient Henry. Dyson is like everyone else says - works great, but built badly.

Henry is an ancient metal one - we must have had it at least 20 years and it was secondhand then. Nowhere near as powerful as the Dyson, not much use for day to day cleaning but brilliant for clearing up after really mucky building jobs and it seems to be near indestructible. I don't even bother putting bags in it - just let the metal drum fill up and when I empty it I bang the fabric filter beneath the motor on the side of the bin! Makes it horribly messy to empty but I'm usually mucky from the building job anyway and it saves on bags! I also attach it to power tools like planers and wall chasers - it does a great job.

I'll shut up now - when did this turn into Period Vacuum UK anyway....

 

[Nemesis]

It's interesting how many people talk about hoovering... when I suppose it should be vacuuming or Dysoning of Henrying...

http://www.numatic.co.uk/history.asp


William Hoover did not invent the upright vacuum cleaner. He bought the patent from his wife's cousin, James Murray Spangler. So rightfully we should be 'spanglering' the carpet rather than 'hoovering' it.


I have a friend who swears by Siemens, but I haven't tried one.

Anyhow - period property vacuuming:



[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]



http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/vacuums/index.asp


http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/vacuums/pottedhist.asp


http://www.vachunter.com/history.htm

http://www.history.com/exhibits/hometech/vacuum.html

And from Transactions, the journal of the wonderful Newcomen Society:

http://www.newcomen.com/excerpts/vacuum_cleaner/index.htm

 

[Penners]

It's interesting how many people talk about hoovering

No it isn't.

 

[Nemesis]

Bog off Penners and be grumpy on another thread!

It's interesting to me.

We should be Henrying and Dysoning but we aren't.

 

[skier-hughes]

Cos we are busy sellotaping......

 

[Moo]

It's interesting how many people talk about hoovering

No it isn't.

Hear, hear.

 

[Nemesis]

Actually I find the usage of language, and its additions and alterations over time, fascinating.

Part of our cultural heritage.

http://www.worldwidewords.org.uk/

I'm also interested in the history of certain types of techological innovation. Refrigeration is one of them.

 

[Me!]

OK, a question for all you learned scholars of the English language out there. Is there a word in the English language that means a trade name that has been adopted as a generic term for something? Things like Hoover or JCB.

 

[Nemesis]

Eponym (noun) is when a name is derived from the name of a person, not too sure that as yet there is a specifically one for trade names only.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Article1443.html


It can be a real or a mythical person though!

Eponymous is the adjective.

It's 19th c in origin and derived from the Greek word which means 'giving a significant name'.

There may be more info if you delve on the 'Other sites' part of World Wide Words, which links to a number of others.

 

[DaveBrigg]

Diesel was invented by Rudolf Diesel, Ladislo Biro invented a pen, Earl Tupper discovered how to make cheap plastic containers with lids that never kept their shape, Henry Shrapnel was a British artillery officer who played with explosives, and a "Method of Making Insoluble Products of Phenol and Formaldehyde" was patented by Leo Hendrik Baekeland (Bakelite) Not to mention the help with communications provided by Samuel Morse and Louis Braille.
As for trade names, sellotape has already been mentioned, and America Band-Aid now refers to any brand of plaster.
I'm off now to look for references to fast food pioneered by Mr Ken Tuckeyfriedchicken.

 

[piper]

Cos we are busy sellotaping......

I'm not absolutely 100% certain of my ground here - but I THINK in Australia they call sellotape Durex. Could be painful....

 

[AMc]

I mentioned an announcement "over the Tannoy" to an Ozzie, an American and a Kiwi colleague - they all just looked at me like I was mad.
Turns out of course "Tannoy" is a brand name for a public address system based on an AC/DC rectifier developed to charge radio batteries before WW2. http://www.tannoy.com/Default.asp?Id=3747

[Guy FOuntain] perfected an electrolytic rectifier, which was simple and reliable enough for home use. Production of this rectifier used two different metals: tantalum and a lead alloy. Thus the name Tannoy was coined.

 

[Me!]

Eponym (noun) is when a name is derived from the name of a person, not too sure that as yet there is a specifically one for trade names only.

Thank you very much. Sad old git that I am, I've actually been wondering about that for years now! Dictionaries are fine for finding the meaning of a word, but useless for finding the word for a meaning :?

 

[Lime]

Dictionaries are fine for finding the meaning of a word

...but you've got to be able to spell the word first.

 

[arl]

OK, a question for all you learned scholars of the English language out there. Is there a word in the English language that means a trade name that has been adopted as a generic term for something? Things like Hoover or JCB.

Yes, courtesy of my father who is a bit of an expert in all things trademark, there is a word, recently invented, to identify such words - GENERONYM.

See definition at http://www.answers.com/topic/generonym

and here are some:

ACROW-PROP building supports
BANDAID US Elastoplast
BIC ballpoint pen
BIRO ballpoint pen
BLUTAK silicone mastic
BULLDOG clips
CROMBIE overcoats
CROWN corks
ELASTOPLAST British bandaids
ESCALATOR moving staircases
FORMICA plastic surface
HOOVER vacuum cleaners
JUBILEE clips
OPTIC spirit measures
PERSPEX acrylic plastic
POST-IT sticky notes
PRITSTICK stationery adhesive
SCOTCH US sellotape
SELLOTAPE British Scotch tape
SNOPAKE tippex
STILSONS adjustable spanner
TILLEY oil lamps
TIPPEX snopake
TRAVELATOR moving walkways
VELCRO hook and eye loops
XEROX photocopy
YO YO bandalore
WHEELIE rubbish bins
ZIMMER walking frames

 

[Nemesis]

Thanks for that!

Wonder if that is as yet in the OED...

 

[NT]

My period hoover is surprisingly effective if I use it at running speed... but alas I'm not willing to do all the housework at that speed these days. The suction fan is powered by the wheels, no electricity.


NT

 

[Penners]

How could you all have missed the Whitehill Block? A spindle-moulder cutter block that holds a pair of loose cutters. The original was made by Whitehills but it's now a generic term for any block of that type.

 

[Nemesis]

We hang our heads in shame.