The Vintage Hoover Emporium

The fascinating and ingenious Air-Way upright was a huge step away from the traditional upright design of the era. Slimline and lightweight, its swivel-jointed 'Quick-Up' floor nozzle meant the cleaner could be lain on its side, flat to the floor, during use. This allowed it to reach easily under low furniture.

The Air-Way's cleverest innovation was the way in which the suction path could be diverted up the wide, hollow handle by rotating the see-though valve on the motor unit. Dusting tools could then be attached directly to the handle via a flexible suction hose.

The Air-Way could also be used as a blower, a hair-dryer, a floor polisher, and a bug-sprayer!

Air-Way are significant in vacuum cleaner history because they introduced the first disposable dust bags, constructed of multiple layers of cellulose fibre. For the first time, disposing of dust became a quick and clean job, since it did not involve shaking out a messy permanent cloth bag.

The transparent suction valve was made of celluloid, the handle of black phenol plastic, and the protective outer bag was made of knitted silk!

The dusting tools, as seen affixed to the handle of the Air-Way.

The 'Quick-Up' floor nozzle with the floor waxing pad in place. The waxer could also be flipped over to utilise it's bristled side, for cleaning hard floors.

Styled by Allmon Fordyce of New York, the 1933 General Electric Model 111 marks a pinnacle of Art Deco influence in the aesthetic design of domestic appliances.

It shared similar underpinnings to the Premier Grand and the Singer R1; all versions featured the 'backwards-revolving' brush-roll. The advantage of a brush-roll which turned away from, rather than towards the cleaner, was that the machine could be used right to the edge of an area rug, without pulling the rug into the nozzle.

Model 111 offered a number of innovative features, including a sound-muffling fan chamber, a powerful 375w, 2-speed motor mounted on rubber for quiet operation, rear swivel castors which allowed the cleaner to 'steer' around furniture, and a visible rug-height control lever. Several unique patents protected aspects of the engineering, including the fan chamber, handle release mechanism, height adjustment system and cord anchorage mechanism.

General Electric also patented, but declined to use, a handle-mounted bag-full light, which was activated as the dirt in the bag passed a certain weight. Hoover would introduce the first bag-full indicator on a production machine two years later, on the revolutionary Model 150 Cleaning Ensemble.

The dramatic, streamlined frontal aspect suggests aerodynamic speed and efficiency.

The large, raised 'G.E' medallion acts as a cooling vent for the motor. The lever on the left is the handle-release catch, and the lever on the right adjusts the height of the nozzle.

To most people, the phrase 'table vac' conjures the image of a battery-operated, miniature crumb-remover. However, when Bylock used the term in the 1950s and 60s, they meant it much more literally! Their machine was, in fact, a table, which was also a vacuum cleaner!  

Meant strictly for 1-level dwellings such as bungalows and flats (no provision was provided for lifting the machine up stairs), it could be used as needed as a small side table. However, the hose and tools were all stored inside, and could be connected in moments to create an impromptu vacuum cleaner! It followed the user around on 4 swivel castors.

...open it up, and concealed inside are all the workings of a vacuum cleaner!

Plug the hose into one end, feed the cord out of the other, and you're ready to go!

The bags have a transparent celophane section in the top, and bag door is clear too, so you can see when it needs emptying! Very innovative!