Dyson Medic

After 5 years of prototyping, the Kleeneze Rotork Cyclon was the first production vacuum cleaner created by James Dyson.

He was funded by Rotork (his former employer) and these were made for him by Zanussi in Italy.

They were sold through Kleeneze’s distribution network and at the Ideal Home Exhibition through 1983 & 1984.

These (and the visually similar later Japanese G-Force machines) are usually regarded as prototype Dysons, and are VERY rare. Very seldom do they come up for sale.

Around 550 were made, for the UK market only. Interest in this initial model lead to licensing agreements in Japan where a slightly modified version of the “Cyclon” was sold by Apex inc. as the “G-Force”.

Licensing revenue from the “G-Force” in Japan and another Dyson designed vacuum, the “Fantom” in the USA, plus the proceeds of successful litigation for a patent infringement, enabled James Dyson to set up his own company and launch the DC01 in 1993.

You can see, very clearly that the Cyclon is the DC01’s older brother. The cylone shape, the wheels, the fins, the bin release/handle etc, are extremely similar.

Cyclons are quite rare; only about 550 were originally made.

Dyson Malmesbury has one. The Zanussi museum in Italy has one (Zanussi built them). The design museum in London has one. The Frenchay museum in Bristol has one. Qualtex (spare parts supplier) has one. A dysonforums.com member called Heidi has one. A shop called Killis in Sheffield has one. A couple of guys in the US have one. Manchester Vacs have two (of which this is one). There may be a few more out there.

There are perhaps 20-30 in total remain worldwide. All in the hands of collectors, enthusiasts and museums, so very few people have seen one of these as this machine is a piece of Dyson history.

However, the one in the photo is for sale on an eBay auction that finishes Friday 8th April 2016 at 7pm.

It comes with a a copy (not an original) of a Cyclon instruction manual. And a copy of its original receipt from the Ideal Home Exhibition dated March 1984.

As an ultra-rare domestic appliance from 1984, you will seldom find a perfect one. This isn’t perfect; but is pretty decent and quite complete.

No spares are available for these, so anything you need has to be made.

On these, the upper cord hook always breaks, as does the wand release mechanism (and this one is no exception). As nobody is going to be using them, that doesn’t present a great problem, as most people only want them for display or looking at.

If you are reading this before Friday 8th April 2016, and you would like to own it, the link is >>here<<.