James Murray Spangler (November 20, 1848 – January 23, 1915) was an American inventor, salesman, and janitor who invented the first commercially successful portable electric vacuum cleaner that revolutionized household carpet cleaning.

Spangler engaged in agricultural pursuits for his early career and then worked in threshing in Plain Township.

By his peculiar arrangement, he was able to provide a combined hay rake and tedder in one machine, thereby reducing the cost.

[1][citation needed] In 1897 he was granted a patent for a velocipede wagon and sold his invention to a company in Springfield, Ohio.

He attached a leather belt from the motor shaft to the wood cylinder brush roll and a broom stick provided the handle.

Bringing his ingenuity to bear on the problem, Spangler fashioned a tin box, a pillowcase, an electric fan, and a broom handle into something we might recognize today as a crude vacuum cleaner.

Ray Harned, nephew and financial representative of F. G. and W. H. Follwell, formed a partnership with Spangler in the fall of 1907.

[5][citation needed] In August 1908, he dissolved his partnership with the Follwells and formed the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company.

With the automobile gaining popularity, William Hoover was concerned about the market for his horse collars and harnesses, and was eager to diversify.

In 1908 he bought Spangler's patent, and he soon had a small staff toiling in the corner of his leather shop, turning out six suction sweepers a day.

William Hoover made further improvements to the vacuum cleaner that resembled a bagpipe attached to a cake box, a novel look that was very functional.

Hoover's success means that most people today associate the vacuum cleaner with him, rather than with Spangler.