In 1907, the janitor James Murray Spangler, who was asthmatic, came up with a new method of removing dust from carpets by suction using an easily moved device resembling a carpet sweeper. He successfully marketed this product by taking out an advertisement in a local newspaper offering them for a week's free trial before payment. The company later took over that of his cousin's husband W H Hoover, which had previously produced leather goods. They were later to develop Hooverene, a durable but flexible synthetic rubber with a high softening temperature, which was used as a leather substitute.