Most vacuum cleaners operate based on the physics of air pressure – a series of blades on a rotating motor create a pressure differential, which is then used to create a vacuum, and dirt and debris are carried along with the resulting air flow.

A leaf blower is designed to operate in a slightly different manner. Instead of creating a vacuum, the blades are designed to move as much volume of air as possible, basically to blow rather than suck.

In this project, the idea was to create an attachment for a commercial leaf blower that would provide the consumer a functioning vacuum at a small incremental cost. The consumer would attach the device to the inlet port of the blower, and use the hose and attachments like a standard vacuum cleaner. A number of shapes and sizes were explored, along with different venturis for the inlet port. Each design had advantages and disadvantages for portability, air flow, ease of cleaning, etc. Ultimately, the marketing team decided against offering the attachment, and this product was never produced commercially.