James Murray Spangler (Caroline Era)

James Murray Spangler (20th November, 1848 - 22nd January 1915) was a janitor and inventor. An asthma sufferer, he invented a domestic version of the vacuum cleaner and marketed it successfully by offering it for free for a trial period before charging for it. This enabled him to take over his relative William Hoover's ailing leather company and build it up, but he died in 1915 after a short illness.