In 1978, James Dyson became frustrated with his vacuum cleaner's diminishing performance. Taking it apart, he discovered that its bag was clogging with dust, causing suction to drop. He'd recently built an industrial cyclone tower for his factory that separated paint particles from the air using centrifugal force. But could the same principle work in a vacuum cleaner. He set to work. Five years and 5,127 prototypes later, he had invented the world's first bag less vacuum cleaner.