First lift off style machine?

[blackheart]

The recent acquisition of a sanyo transformax has me wondering. With what machine did the lift off trend start? It's been popularized, i think, mostly due to Shark in recent years but where did it begin? The bissell lift off/plus?

 

[eurekaprince]

It would be interesting to research whether the Bissell Lift Off came first, or the Sanyo Transformax. The Sanyo Transformax was the top-rated stick-vac in Consumer Reports tests when it first came out in the early 1990's. Not sure if the Lift-Off debuted before the Transformax.

But the idea of a canister vac with a hose that stores on the wand of the carpet/floor nozzle was a very innovative idea.

 

[fan-of-fans]

The original Bissell Lift Off came out in either 1994 or 95, I have one of the first models. Not sure on the Transformax, I remember them around 1997 or so though.