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Jim Kirby
James B. Kirby (September 28, 1884 – June 9, 1971) was an American inventor and self-taught electrical engineer who focused his career on "eliminating the drudgery of housework". He is known mostly for inventing the Kirby vacuum cleaner and the wringerless washing machine. In 1935, the famous news reporter and radio personality Lowell Thomas wrote a book entitled "The Man Who Revolutionized the American Household" about Jim Kirby and his drive to harness electricity to ease household chores. Much of Lowell's work was devoted to describing Kirby's whimsical, innovative home in Richfield, Ohio. Kirby had purchased the land in 1919 at the age of 35 after making his fortune with the invention of the washing machine spin cycle. He devised and patented a system of filtration dams that would keep silt out of the new lake he created. He situated his house on a hillside overlooking the lake and powered it with an experimental hydroelectric mill. In 1923 he constructed a new typ ...
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Kirby Company
The Kirby Company (stylized as KIRBY) is a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and home cleaning accessories, located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is a division of Right Lane Industries. Dealers are located in over 50 countries throughout the world. Kirby's products are only sold via in-home door-to-door demonstrations and the company is a member of the Direct Selling Association. All of the vacuum cleaners are built in either Ohio or Texas. History Jim Kirby (1885–1971) designed the first Kirby vacuums for George Scott and Carl Fetzer after World War I, although the Kirby name was not used on a vacuum cleaner until the 1930s. James Kirby invented the "vacuette" circa 1920. The company's primary competitors included The Hoover Company and The Eureka Company, both of which began operations in 1909, as well as Bissell that started building carpet sweepers in 1876. Their primary European competitor was Electrolux, which started 1924. Dyson, Miele and Sebo followed i ...
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Vacuum Cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal. Vacuum cleaners, which are used in homes as well as in industry, exist in a variety of sizes and models—small battery-powered hand-held devices, wheeled canister models for home use, domestic central vacuum cleaners, huge stationary industrial appliances that can handle several hundred litres of dirt before being emptied, and self-propelled vacuum trucks for recovery of large spills or removal of contaminated soil. Specialized shop vacuums can be used to suck up both solid matter and liquids. Name Although ''vacuum cleaner'' and the short form ''vacuum'' are neutral names, in some countries (UK, Ireland) ''hoover'' is used instead as a genericized trademark, and as a verb. The name comes from ...
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Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen system. In 1954, he led a group of New York City-based investors to buy majority control of Hudson Valley Broadcasting, which, in 1957, became Capital Cities Television Corporation. Early life Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio, to Harry and Harriet ( née Wagoner) Thomas. His father was a doctor, his mother a teacher. In 1900, the family moved to the mining town of Victor, Colorado. Thomas worked there as a gold miner, a cook, and a reporter on the newspaper. In 1911, Thomas graduated from Victor High School where one of his teachers was Mabel Barbee Lee. and began work for the ''Chicago Journal'', writing for it until 1914. Thomas also was on the faculty of Chicago-Kent College of Law (now part of Illinois Institute of Techn ...
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Richfield, Ohio
Richfield is a village in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,648 at the 2010 census. The village and the adjacent Richfield Township are approximately equidistant between the downtown areas of Akron and Cleveland. It is part of the Akron metropolitan area. Richfield is the sister city of Wolfach, Germany. History Richfield was founded in 1809 and incorporated in 1967. The village was named for the richness of their soil. In 1850 William Cullen Wilcox was born here.William Cullen Wilcox
Ancestry.com, accessed 1 August 2013
He was honoured by the South African Government in 2009. In 1970, Mayor Kenneth Swan signed an ordinance declaring Richfield Village the first "world city" in the United States. Richfield was the home of the

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Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus, with the Columbus metro area, Greater Cincinnati, and Greater Cleveland being the largest metropolitan areas. Ohio is bordered by Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the west, and Michigan to the northwest. Ohio is historically known as the "Buckeye State" after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as "Buckeyes". Its state flag is the only non-rectangular flag of all the U.S. states. Ohio takes its name from the Ohio River, which in turn originated from the Seneca word ''ohiːyo'', meaning "good river", "great river", or "large creek". The state arose from the lands west of the Appalachian Mount ...
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Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes, which are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario and are in general on or near the Canada–United States border. Hydrologically, lakes Michigan and Huron are a single body joined at the Straits of Mackinac. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes. The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and are second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is , and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is , slightly less than the volume of Lake Baikal (, 22–23% of the world's surface fresh water). Because of their sea-like characteristics, such as rolling waves, sustained wi ...
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Engineering Officer (ship)
An engineering officer or simply engineer, is a licensed mariner qualified and responsible for operating and maintaining the propulsion plants and support systems for a watercraft and its crew, passengers and cargo.Wise Geek''What is the Engine Department on a US Merchant Ship?''/ref> Engineering officers are usually educated and qualified as engineering technicians. Ship engineers are responsible for propulsion and other ship systems such as: electrical power generation plant; steam boilers; lighting; fuel oil; lubrication; water distillation and separation; air conditioning; refrigeration; sewage treatment and water systems on board the vessel. They require knowledge and hands-on experience with electric power, electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics, chemistry, steam generation, gas turbines and even nuclear technology on certain military and civilian vessels. Ranks and titles There are several types and ranks of engine officer that are employed in the engine department ...
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Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. maritime border with Canada, northeast of Cincinnati, northeast of Columbus, and approximately west of Pennsylvania. The largest city on Lake Erie and one of the major cities of the Great Lakes region, Cleveland ranks as the 54th-largest city in the U.S. with a 2020 population of 372,624. The city anchors both the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton combined statistical area (CSA). The CSA is the most populous in Ohio and the 17th largest in the country, with a population of 3.63 million in 2020, while the MSA ranks as 34th largest at 2.09 million. Cleveland was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River by General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city was ...
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YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), George Williams in London, originally as the Young Men's Christian Association, and aims to put Christian values into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit". From its inception, it grew rapidly and ultimately became a worldwide movement founded on the principles of muscular Christianity. Local YMCAs deliver projects and services focused on youth development through a wide variety of youth activities, including providing athletic facilities, holding classes for a wide variety of skills, promoting Christianity, and humanitarian work. YMCA is a non-governmental federation, with each independent local YMCA affiliated with its national organization. The national organizations, in turn, are part of both an Area Alliance (Europe, A ...
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Lamplighter
A lamplighter is a person employed to light and maintain candle or, later, gas street lights. Very few exist today as most gas street lighting has long been replaced by electric lamps. Function Lights were lit each evening, generally by means of a wick on a long pole. At dawn, the lamplighter would return to put them out using a small hook on the same pole. Early street lights were generally candles, oil, and similar consumable liquid or solid lighting sources with wicks. Other duties Another lamplighter duty was to carry a ladder and renew the candles, oil, or gas mantles. In some communities, lamplighters served in a role akin to a town watchman; in others, it may have been seen as little more than a sinecure. In the 19th century, gas lights became the dominant form of street lighting. Early gaslights required lamplighters, but eventually systems were developed which allowed the lights to operate automatically. Today Today a lamplighter is an extremely rare job. In Bre ...
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Downtown Cleveland
Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out by city founder General Moses Cleaveland in 1796. Downtown is bounded by Lake Erie to the north, the Cuyahoga Valley to the west, and Interstate 90 to the south and east. It encompasses several subdistricts, and its diverse architecture includes the Cleveland Mall, one of the most complete examples of City Beautiful design in the United States. Downtown's residential population has grown significantly since the 2000s and especially 2010s, registering the largest population growth, by percentage, of any Cleveland neighborhood over that time. Districts Public Square The heart of downtown, Public Square was laid out by city founder Moses Cleaveland in 1796 and has remained largely unchanged. Based on the New England town square, ...
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General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing and venture capital and finance, but has since divested from several areas, now primarily consisting of the first four segments. In 2020, GE ranked among the Fortune 500 as the 33rd largest firm in the United States by gross revenue. In 2011, GE ranked among the Fortune 20 as the 14th most profitable company, but later very severely underperformed the market (by about 75%) as its profitability collapsed. Two employees of GE – Irving Langmuir (1932) and Ivar Giaever (1973) – have been awarded the Nobel Prize. On November 9, 2021, the company announced it would divide itself into three investment-grade public companies. On July 18, 2022, GE unveiled the brand names of the companies it ...
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