Centuries ago wealthy people had someone clean their carpets and they used whatever carpet cleaning supplies that were available.
The homeowner had a choice of cleaning them himself of hiring someone to do the work.
Hiring someone was the preferable choice.
The wealthiest people would employ a complete workforce to undertake every household duty, which included maids, servants, etc.
The job of carpet maintenance was done by the maids and servants.
There weren't any 'fitted' carpets in those days, and the maids and servants had to manually remove them.
The first step would be to carefully remove any stains.
Maids that knew what carpet cleaning supplies to use to remove the stains safely were in great demand.
Next they would hang them outdoors on a clothesline and beat out the dust using a rug beater.
This though was a danger to the health of the person doing the job because of the flying dust.
Carpets in those days were made of dyed wool yarn and using any sort of cleaner had to be done prudently in order to keep the dyes from running.
The carpets then came from places like Persia or Japan, and from far away exotic places.
Today they are in demand as antiques and can cost up to $10,000 for a small prayer rug.
Today pure wool carpets are rare and are usually a wool blend.
Nylon alternatives in both area and wall-to-wall styles are readily available.
Carpet cleaning supplies for the do-it-yourselfer or the professional are endless making cleaning much less back breaking than it once was.