Either those are 40’s GE vacuums made to compete with the filter queen vacuums from the 40’s (I had one of the FQ’s) or they were the very early GE vacuums made for special cleaning when they were doing alot of specialized manufacturing for WW2. I know hepa filtration was invented around that time for ww2 cleanup of bunkers.
I know Black and decker made a real shop vac in the 50’s and it was much larger than these, so I would lean that these were probably more for use in commercial settings given that they don’t have the household styling, but I’m guessing st this point. Either way very cool, I just don’t believe they were intended originally to be a shop vac, more like a cannister vac.