In just over two years, James Dyson has swept through the United States with one of the first great business success stories of the 21st century, as his bag-less vacuum cleaner has, literally, cleaned up.

Appearances of the distinctive cleaners on an episode of Friends, and the product's simple efficiency, despite a price tag that is often twice that of conventional cleaners, has made the Dyson the most popular vacuum cleaner in the United States.

Its devotees now include the likes of Bill Clinton and Tony Benn, although this is likely to be supplemented by many more A list celebs, after gift vouchers for Dysons were included in the goody bags at the Emmys in New York and at last month's Oscars in Los Angeles.

Having cornered 20 per cent of all vacuum cleaner sales in America and boasting of sales growth at 350 per cent last year, ads taken out on network television during the Oscars will not only help to build sales this year, but are considered to be a stamp to show that the company has truly arrived.

"It is most surprising that an unknown company with a very different-looking product can win the number-one spot in America in such a short time," Mr Dyson, 57, said recently. "I've racked my brain to think of when there was another British success of this type, and I can't think of any since the Beatles."

But now the man who wears his status as an engineer-made-good as a badge of honour - "I'm an engineer, and look... I'm not wearing overalls", he told the audience at the Richard Dimbleby Lecture last year - is creating a new challenge for himself and his Wiltshire-based company. Having effectively re-invented the vacuum cleaner, he is now out to re-invent the wheel, or at least his own cleaner, with the launch next week of the Ball.

The development of this new product has been a closely guarded process, as Dyson has invested £50 million in its research and development ahead of its formal launch next week. Dyson has had legal battles with rivals over patents, and has trademarked the Ball under the Patent Office's Class 07 classification, which includes vacuum cleaners, washing machines and other household electrical apparatus. It is believed that the Ball will be pitched as one of the first really practical domestic robots - a vacuum cleaner that sweeps the room all itself.

But as with any success stories, trying to top the success of his first cleaner could be a problem, as another celebrated inventor, Trevor Bayliss, the developer of the wind-up radio, says. "The Ball will have to be something significant for people to give up their old Dyson for a new one," Mr Bayliss said.

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