The Singer company has a very important place in vacuum cleaner history. The revolutionary Singer upright of the 1950's (designed by Raymond Loewy, if I remember correctly), was the first upright vacuum in which the motor was turned sideways so that it could be positioned closer to the handle to allow for a very sleek, low-slung power head. As well, that revolutionary upright had the industry's first cord reel on an upright, the first headlight in the front edge of the power head, and the first floating power head that could automatically adjust to any carpet height. Though Hoover took the side-to-side motor configuration one step further by placing it in the upper handle body in the Dial-a-Matic, it was Singer that first placed it sideways. Very innovative design development.