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CLEANING UP--INDOORS AND OUT

(*) The invention of the vacuum cleaner almost a century ago took a lot of the drudgery out of household chores. With the work-saving device just three years shy of its centennial, variations on the theme are proving a boon for coping with a vast assortment of tasks within the home, outdoors, in the car, or even aboard pleasure boats. For dirt, dust, vegetation, or whatever you have that can be sucked up, there is a machine that can do the job.

For those tired of dragging home a rental unit, paying an expensive professional rug shampooer, or lugging out a cumbersome machine every time the carpets need a deep cleaning, look no further than Dirt Devil's Easy Steamer, Royal Appliance Mfg. Co., Cleveland, Ohio.

Powerful enough to clean the entire house while convenient enough for everyday spills, the Easy Steamer, available from major appliance retailers for $149.99, has the same capacity and performance as competitive units, but is half the size. While we love the fact it cleans in forward and reverse; that the dirty water tank is clear plastic, so when to empty it is no mystery; and a powerful pump sprays cleaning solution onto the carpet evenly, what we really love is the switch that turns off the revolving brush once the shampooing is completed, allowing the machine to vacuum up much of the liquid from the carpet so it can dry more quickly. After all, how long can you realistically be expected to stay off the rug?

Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc., Towson, Md., provides the ultimate outdoor cleanup tool in the Leaf Hog. By the time its three functions get done with fall leaves, your property will be in near-pristine shape. Handheld with a comfortable carrying strap slung over the shoulder to ease the load, this handy device's bazooka-like barrel literally blows leaves away. Of course, your neighbors will strenuously object to your steering your foliage's fallout in their direction, so it can be used instead of a rake to round it all up into workable piles for less-contentious disposal. Better still, unsnap the blower attachment, connect the vacuum nozzle, and suck the leaves up and through the mulching function into the attached rugged bag. The 10-to-1 mulching ratio means you get one bag of mulched leaves from the equivalent of 10 bagfuls of raked leaves. In turn, the mulch can be used to help grow more things that will require cleaning up, but let's not dwell on that.

This versatile yard tool has a 200 mph blowing velocity that can be ratcheted down with a variable-speed control slide; the Anti-Clog Vortex Vacuum System does just what it sounds like; and, best of all, an ergonomic design cuts down on body aches by keeping the blower and vacuum attachments in the same working position. A mere 7.1 pounds (before filling the mulch bag to its two-bushel capacity), the Leaf Hog can be found at home centers and mass merchants for a suggested $69.

For smaller jobs in the home, car, etc., Black & Decker's versatile DustBuster has been...