In the years that followed, there were some other designs, but the first real success story comes about 20 years later. That is when Melville Bissell invented his push version of the vacuum cleaner for his wife. The Bissell name is still going strong to this day. Melville’s device was so popular that he started Bissell as a company and later his wife ran it and became one of the most success women in business in her day. Bissell’s design was an improvement and was successful, but it still wasn’t quite what you think of compared to what we use in our homes today. But it was pretty impressive for the 1870s.
Over the following years there were several attempts at making a better vacuum cleaning device, but it was James Spangler in 1907 that finally invented a device that resembles the models that we use in our homes today. It was portable, used suction, had a bag for the dust and debris that was sucked up (made using a pillowcase), and had a rotating brush to help loosen and lift the dirt from the carpet.
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