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James Murray Spangler was an asthmatic janitor in Canton Ohio who in 1907 built a machine that would transform cleaning. His work in a department store stirred up dust that worsened his breathing, so he used a ceiling fan motor, a soap box, a broom handle, and a pillowcase to create the first portable electric vacuum cleaner. After patenting his electric suction sweeper in 1908, he showed it to his cousin Susan Hoover and her husband William Hoover, who helped form the Electric Suction Sweeper C