The History of Carpet
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Us here at Shirley's ChemDry love carpets, it’s what we do! We are passionate about our superior cleaning methods, but there’s one question even our most experienced technician might not know: what exactly is the history of carpet, and in turn, the history of carpet cleaning?

Ever since the dawn of humanity, we’ve been trying to find the best tools to help us rest. The first evidence of carpets are as far back as 2,000-3,000 B.C.E in the Middle East. These carpets were made from common materials such as sheep wool or goat hair and their main purpose was to make the ground just a little less hard. 

Now let’s flash forward several thousand years. Homo Sapiens have been perfecting carpets and using them for everything from comfort to decor. It is now 1791 in the fairly new state of Philadelphia in the United States. A man named William Sprague opened the very first woven carpet mill, making carpets cheaper, quicker, and more accessible. 

Almost 50 years after Mr. Sprague’s mill, a man named Erastus Bigelow shook the carpet manufacturing industry in 1839 with his new invention: a power loom for weaving carpets. By 1850 carpet output had tripled. 

The main fiber used to make carpets was cotton. In 1947, a man-made synthetic fiber named nylon began to be used in carpets. Other synthetic fibers shortly followed. Slowly cotton was replaced for this cheaper and easier material. 

What began with ancient humans, became a billion dollar industry in 1963. This massive demand for carpets laid the foundation for Chem-Dry to come onto the scene as a quick-drying and effective cleaner of your carpets.

Your carpets have a long and rich history, so you should treat them to a nice relaxing clean from Shirley's Chem-Dry!


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