Just came across this image I scanned ages ago from a library book, showing the output of students at the Royal College of Art in London.

A modern take on a classic theme...

Panasonic did something like that ;p

Very cool looking. Practical, hard to say. I think those dual hoses might get in the way

Care to elaborate? Pictures?

Well the twin hoses coming out of the nozzle to the bag are like the Panasonic i'm thinking of, only had it in america.

Get on msn Jack :P

As can be seen here :)

Both of the vacuums are real lookers. How new is the Panasonic?

Brand new far as I'm aware, Alan :)

I thought that Panasonic had come and gone a couple of years ago. Sears here carried them not sure about the US stores though.

It has been a few years since that design first came out. I hear the hoses just get in the way! The counter rotating brushes make the vacuum hard to push, I know that for a fact... we sold one at Sears that was a pastel green... bagless, w/o the dual hoses, but with the opposing brushrolls. It was supposed to clean both sides of the carpet fiber. Give me a break!

But I do remember the Panasonic out in the stores, maybe around 2000 or 2001?
The Hoover Dual V Windtunnel was a variation on this, and a big flop!

Dual suction was not really all that new anyway, Singer brought that out in 1949!