Invention
Murray Spangler worked as a janitor in Canton, a small town in Ohio.
Murray suffered from asthma and the dust stirred up while he cleaned
staircases and rugs did nothing but worsen his health. Having given this
matter some thought he came up with an ingenious solution. He took a soapbox,
a fan, a silk pillowcase and a broomstick and he assembled everything into
the first domestic vacuum cleaner ever seen. He tried out his new device and
was very encouraged by the results.
Murray was astute enough to recognise the potential of the new product and
he wanted to market it. Unfortunately he lacked the resources to develop his
idea and knew he needed a sponsor. Before finding a sponsor however he decided
to find out what others thought of his new unusual broom and he offers it to a
friend, Susan Hoover; a move which made his fortune.
Susan was a curious and far-sighted woman. She tried the vacuum cleaner for a
few days in her house and was convinced: the results are excellent, time and
effort are halved and dust is not simply moved, but eliminated.
Susan talked to her husband, William H. Hoover, about it. "Boss" Hoover, as
he will soon be called, manufactured and marketed leather products in his shop in
Canton. Noting his wife's enthusiasm and with his own flair and instinct for an
entrepreneurial opportunity, Hoover quickly understood the market potential of
the new invention. He buys Spangler's patent and starts producing the vacuum
cleaners in a corner of his shop. He hires six workers and starts producing
six units a day.