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.
