Has anyone else noticed...

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vintagehoover

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...how much the Dyson DC18 Slim resembles the Airway twin-motor uprights of the 30s? Besides a few visual links (screw your eyes up and look at the picture below!), it seems to be a modern spiritual successor in more ways than one. For instance:

- Both lightweight uprights share compact, slimline profiles
- Visually, the Dyson's floorhead is strongly reminscent of the Airway's
- Both machines allow the user to divert suction down the handle for above-floor cleaning via a change-over valve
- Both have a set of rear wheels for stability which are not in contact with the floor during use
- Both use their unusual manoeuverability as a selling-point

Of course, the most obvious difference, aside from the Dyson's clean-fan design and plastic construction, would be the fact that Airway introduced disposable paper bags, and Dyson launched the system which made them obsolete!



12-8-2008-10-17-11--vintagehoover.jpg
 
Slim

That floorhead looks so retro-futurist. The little extentions at each side remind me both of the Airway, and the Ohio/Ohio-Tuec uprights...

12-8-2008-10-29-36--vintagehoover.jpg
 
...

The whole rear-wheel extend/retract mechanism is very sturdy, made of very tough plastic, and even lightweight metal alloy componants. It actually feels quite sturdy, unlike the version used on the intial DC15 Ball model, which felt flimsy and delicate.

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..

I like the way the handle-strengthening ribs are made part of the aesthetic design, and look like cooling fins on a motorbike engine...

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It pivots, not a ball...

...but on a short, fat, cigar-shaped roller. I can't tell you how much I prefer this design to the 'Ball'. It's so much more compact, and lower in profile - yet it works just as well.

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has anyone else noticed

You are right. They do look simular. I didn't have a good experience with either of the two Dysons I tried. Both chewed up my rugs. I like the canister design. I didn't care for the bagless design. It was just too messy but it is cool looking machine.
 
Speaking of the Dyson DC15

During the summer, mine developed a small fault. The rear wheels fold up and in the process, activate a microswitch that engages the agitator, as it should.

When put back into the upright position, the microswitch disengages and the agitator stops, as it should.

But on mine, it stuck in the 'on' position; so that when using the hose, the agitator kept brushing the carpet!!!

I used WD40 to release the switch. But I came to realise that Hoover and Electrolux had the right idea with their uprights: raise the agitator cavity well clear of the carpet.
 
Well it wouldn't be the first time he copied. After all the other Dysons are mirror images of the old Fantom Fury's and so are the canisters.
Too many fiddly bits with those Dysons. Not to mention all the creases and folds and places for dust and dirt to settle into on the casing, after a year or two making them hard to keep clean on the outside. You just can't wipe them down, you'll need a toothpick and pipecleaners to get the dirt out.
 
Pete, the Fantom range were produced licencing James Dyson's own Dual Cyclone technology! And although the same technology was at the core of the early Dyson machines, they're actually totally different to the Fantom cleaners. When Fantom went bust, Dyson had to bid against competitors to buy back his own licence and patents.

I've got an illustrated list of US machines which used Dyson's Dual Cyclone techology - I'll scan it tomorrow and post it here...
 

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