Numatic started making apperances in Catalogues and shops like Currys and Comet in the late 90's. About 1998-99. Prior to this, they were purely aimed at the commercial market.
Ty for posting Chris! Looking forward to the next!
The Moulinex hand held has been out for many years before the 1980s. Available in some unusual colours such as red, yellow and even a combo of yellow and brown.
I was about to ask the same thing - plus the odd name!
My book arrived today that I ordered from Amazon UK - "The Vacuum Cleaner - A History," by Carroll Gantz. I've found it really impressive.
I didn't know for example that the Black and Decker dust buster design isn't actually Black and Decker.... Quite an impressive book and a must for others on here. There's already a thread about this but in the archives (see http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?19896)
Amazon UK are also offering the Kindle version of this.