The figure above illustrates Mr. Davison's apparatus which was issued a patent for cleaning swimming pools and the like. *
In 1912 while the air was black with the smoke of the great steel mills in Pittsburgh, local citizen John M. Davison submitted an application of a "Cleaning Apparatus For Swimming Pools and the Like."
It read: "My invention is related to the art of dredging and is particularly designed for cleaning the bottoms of swimming tanks, and the like, where sediment collects, and it is desirable to remove without emptying the water in the tank." Although it is safe to say that Mr. Davison did not invent the first pool cleaner, he certainly was issued the first patent in the United States for the first pool cleaner.
* From The History of Pool Cleaners, by Richard K. Cacioppo, Sr., J.D., director of marketing, Water Tech Corp. Click here.
Photo from article in 1919 issue of Popular Science depicts the classic pool vacumming pose
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