Google Doodle celebrates British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth

Washington: Google on Wednesday celebrated English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth on his 147th birthday with a special Doodle.

Born in Gloucester in 1871, he is best known for the invention of the vacuum cleaner. Before Booth introduced his version of the vacuum cleaner, cleaning machines blew or brushed dirt away, instead of sucking it up.

"After seeing a demonstration of the "pneumatic carpet renovator" blowing dirt out of railway cars, Booth tried an experiment. Laying his handkerchief on a restaurant chair, he put his mouth on the table cloth and sucked air through it. Inspired by the results he set to work on his first design-nicknamed "Puffing Billy"-which was powered by an engine so big it had to be pulled around by horses and parked outside the house to be cleaned," a Google release read.

He is also credited with designing Ferris wheels and suspension bridges.

Booth died on 14 January 1955 in Croydon, England.