THE first portable electric vacuum cleaner was invented in 1907 by James Spangler. Spangler was working as a janitor at the Zollinger Department Store in Ohio when the idea of a portable electric vacuum cleaner first came to him.
The carpet sweeper he used on the job caused him to cough a lot and this was dangerous because Spangler was an asthmatic. Unfortunately, he didn’t have many other options because standard “vacuum cleaners” at that time were large, unwieldy affairs pulled by horses and not exactly conducive to indoor cleaning.[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
Spangler decided to come up with his own version of a vacuum cleaner, one that wouldn’t affect his health.
He began tinkering with an old fan motor, which he attached to a soap box stapled to a broom handle.
He then converted an old pillow case into a dust collector and attached that as well. Spangler’s contraption eventually became the first vacuum cleaner to use both a cloth filter bag and cleaning attachments as he improved his basic model. He received a patent for it in 1908.
Spangler’s asthma was better, but his vacuum got off to a somewhat shaky start. He wanted to manufacture what he called his “suction sweeper” on his own and formed the Electric Suction Sweeper Company to make it happen.
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