In 1901 powered vacuum cleaners using suction were invented independently by British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth and American inventor David T. Kenney. They invented the first successful vacuum cleaner called 'Puffing Billy', had a 5 hp piston pump driven by a petrol/gasoline engine or electric motor.
In 1908 a janitor from Ohio James Murray Spangler invented the first upright vacuum as he suffered from asthma and needed a device to ease it. Spangler sold his idea to William Hoover in 1908 and the rest is history!