A box, a fan, a silk pillowcase and a broomstick - this is how the first vacuum cleaner in history was born. The idea that transformed these simple elements into one of the most revolutionary technologies of the past century belongs to James Spangler, a night watchman in New Berlin, Ohio, who suffered from asthma and was tired of breathing the dust raised by the upright in the shop he worked in. James patented the invention and dreamt of bringing it into every house in America. He needed someone who believed in his project and with the skills and the resources to execute it.
