To illustrate Doug's explanation.
An original 1205 electric hose with metal hand-grip & suction relief valve. Integrated blade contacts at the connector end. The first electric hose had an extended pigtail instead of the blades for connection to Model Gs.
Electrolux offered the electric hose with any combination of connection options so that owners of previous machines supplied with, or retrofitted with a PN power socket, could add an older or the new Power nozzle alone. The ultimate brag was to have a brand spankin' new 1205 with the new self-connecting hose and polished aluminum/chrome PN designed for it.
This adaptability is the main reason the hose pigtail seems overly long. It also kept the cord looped away from the freely swiveling hand-grip so as not to entangle Milady's manicured fingers. The plastic hand-grip & redesigned wand with integrated & enshrouded pn connections solved this last inconvenience, although the thicker handle did limit where Milady could comfortably grip the hose to steer the pn over, under, around and between.
Besides having to include freshly engineered electric slip-tings and and contact fingers - to retain the swivel action hose - the new plastic handle shape also introduced an abrupt 45 degree corner into the air path which was great for catching large clogging objects like toy Cowboys, Injuns and Soldiers, toy blocks, teething rings, Crock marbles, escaped hamsters on the loose, wood chips & twigs, pet turtles out for a slow race, and such for easy removal...where the gently curved one-piece metal handle allowed some snarly items to pass into the coiled hose where they could get snagged and a broom handle would have to be engaged to dislodge them.
Electrolux introduced its first power nozzle on the late 1958 Model F and the plug went into an outlet on the side of the front wheel assembly.
It all seems so obvious to our eyes now but at the time it was one clever invention and innovation rapidly superseded by the next great development of that idea...to reliably energize a powernozzle from the vacuum cleaner point of origin rather than a separate long corded plug-in accessory...but with backward compatibility always in mind. Other companies burned the midnight oil coming up with their own variation on the Power Nozzle concept without infringing on Electrolux's patents...with interesting results and some unfortunate incidents. Next out of the gate was Lewyt with their gear driven brushroll powered by 120 VAC through a long cord back to the machine which plugged a regular bladed AC plug into a supplied socket. Their mistake was in getting too clever utilizing low voltage to run their Electronic PN.
As Lewyt's disaster unfolded, no vacuum company wanted to risk ending up with their ass sued into oblivion like Lewyt. Hoover quickly abandoned further development of their 1959/60 electric hose Constellation model 87 under the very real possibility it would be compared unfavorably to the Lewyt Electronic. The next Hoover to feature a handle mounted on/off switch was the early 1970s S3007 Celebrity with the pneumatic pump system running through the hose, gasketed at the vacuum connection, continuing the pneumatic hose into the lower vacuum body, spiraling around the hinge, ending up at a plungered micro-switch in the top lid. Now that's over-the-top engineering. LOL
So who made the first motor-driven Power Nozzle? I nominate the 1935 Air-Way Chief.
just my rambling thoughts. Any errors are entirely my own speculations.
Dave
This is my ugly old couch's scratchy polyester upholstery fabric - I found a dated "Kroehler Manufacturing Co. Limited, Stratford Ontario" label under the cushions for 1969. It was gently used when I got it and it was the sheer length and low height that made me have to have it. Certainly not the colour. UGLY! No wonder I made a white canvas cover for the whole thing when I moved into the house in 1986.
